It is amazing to see Wayfarer reaching 4.0. It is now the most advanced web browser released for any Amiga compatible operating system period.
Wayfarer 4 is now Supporting the latest WebKitGTK 2.36.3, cURL and other libs are updated and HLS stream qualities are now accessible from the Media menu. It makes MorphOS a nice choice for PowerPC Mac owners and for AmigaONE to name a few.
Now you can check Twitter and other sites using the HLS technology. But remember to have at least a 1.5GHz G4 PowerPC computer. It also works nicely on my iBook G4 1.33GHz with the latest MorphOS installed.
So,… Why is an HLS stream important for MorphOS?
HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming which Apple invented. In short, HLS is a media streaming protocol for delivering visual and audio media to viewers over the internet. Apple launched the HTTP live streaming (HLS) protocol in the summer of 2009 and now it is a web browser standard to have. Many websites including Twitter use it which means that you shouldn’t just see a frozen picture when watching something from a site supporting an HLS stream.
HTTP Live Streaming protocol was learned from the drawbacks of Quicktime Streaming Service at the beginning of iPhone life, and the protocol was made so that it wouldn’t get blocked by a firewall. Due to this and many other features, HTTP Live Streaming has become one of the most used streaming protocols.
HLS is here as a solution for iPhone but also as a great solution for watching streams when web browsing. Thanks to the amazing developers behind Wayfarer 4, this protocol is also available for MorphOS users. Awesome! So now even more sites can be reached by MorphOS users. Websites using Dacast and other streaming video services should all work in MorphOS now. Just remember to have a 1.5GHz G4 or better for the best web streaming experience on MorphOS.
Using WordPress with Wayfarer 4 on MorphOS
For each version of Wayfarer. WordPress is running better and better. Now in Wayfarer 4, I can personally reveal that Media is 2-3 times faster than Wayfarer 3.x! Also checking posts, settings and users is fast. However, the new text editor handling is still a bit slow. Something makes it slow when writing. However, if you write something in a text editor and paste it into the WordPress editor. That is fast.
I’ve reported this issue to Jacek. Because in Wayfarer 4 I noticed that the Facebook writing editor got no issues anymore.
My conclusion is that Wayfarer is becoming a mature web browser for MorphOS and I really hope to see the last bits improved. I love it and Wayfarer is now a great reason for PowerPC Mac users to install MorphOS.
Wayfarer 4 is Free to download for existing MorphOS users and it also comes as standard with the latest version of MorphOS releases found on www.morphos-team.net
