Amelinium, the free lightweight web browser for classic Amiga computers by Paweł “Juen” Nowak, has been updated to versions 1.3.0 and 1.3.1.
The browser is unique because it runs on almost any Amiga. From an original Amiga 500 with Kickstart 1.3 (text-only mode) up to high-end Amiga AGA home computer with PiStorm, RTG graphics, and 68060 accelerators. There are also versions for AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, PowerUP accelerator cards, and AROS. All builds use the same engine. Also it includes auto-detection of a new version… so if you have a previous version. Just load up Amelinium and let it download the latest version.
What Amelinium does is try to make today’s web way more compatible and readable on Classic Amiga. It supports HTML5, CSS 2.1 and parts of CSS3, images, caching, TrueType fonts, downloads, bookmarks, and video playback. The _JS builds include a built-in JavaScript engine, so it doesn’t need external libraries.
What is new in 1.3.0 and 1.3.1
The focus for this release is compatibility, making websites that rely heavily on scripts and modern styling work correctly:
- Better JavaScript compatibility: Core features like Shadow DOM (used for custom page components), correct number handling, typed arrays, and custom elements now work as they do in mainstream browsers. Error handling is also closer to modern browsers, which helps pages detect problems correctly.
- Better performance and memory use: Pages that build large amounts of text or run long scripts now use much less memory. Unused data is cleaned up while the page is open, and large scripts are compiled only when needed, so they load faster.
- Improved styling: Support for the CSS
scaleproperty has been added, and issues where page styles didn’t update after a script changed an element’s class have been fixed. Selector matching for complex rules has also been corrected. - Video and UI polish: The fullscreen button for videos is now only on the player itself, and very long videos no longer get stuck on “Fetching the movie… 1%”.
- System fixes: A crash in the screen mode selector on 64-bit hosted AROS has been fixed, with proper listing of 24-bit modes.
Version 1.3.1 also keeps improvements from 1.2.8, including smoother YouTube playback, more efficient MP3 and AAC internet radio (using about 25% less CPU), and a e-mail client, Emalinium that shares the same rendering engine for HTML emails.
In short: sites that previously failed because of missing JavaScript or CSS support now have a much better chance of loading, without needing more powerful hardware.
The browser is free and available at juen.in/latest/amelinium/ and on Aminet later, with full changelog in Amelinium.readme.
