[Falkon: formerly known as] QupZilla [discontinued]

Submit portable freeware that you find here. It helps if you include information like description, extraction instruction, Unicode support, whether it writes to the registry, and so on.
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smaragdus
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Re: QupZilla

#31 Post by smaragdus »

@JohnTHaller
First, thanks for mentioning of PortableApps.com AppCompactor, I wasn't aware that such a tool existed and it seems to be very interesting.
I have 2x1TB internal drives and several external ones, space is not an issue for me, it is just I don't like bloat.
I haven't tested QupZilla version 2.0.0 yet, so I can't say whether it is better or worse but I am suspicious- once Opera developers were also trying to convince the users how great switching from Presto to Blink would be.
Off-topic
I suggest that you release a portable version of Gajim, which is a straight Jabber client that can be extended via plug-ins. In fact I know that it can be run in portable mode using specific parameters but somehow I failed. I browsed PortableApps instant messaging category and I saw there was no Jabber-only client in the list.

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JohnTHaller
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Re: QupZilla

#32 Post by JohnTHaller »

smaragdus wrote:@JohnTHaller
First, thanks for mentioning of PortableApps.com AppCompactor, I wasn't aware that such a tool existed and it seems to be very interesting.
I have 2x1TB internal drives and several external ones, space is not an issue for me, it is just I don't like bloat.
I haven't tested QupZilla version 2.0.0 yet, so I can't say whether it is better or worse but I am suspicious- once Opera developers were also trying to convince the users how great switching from Presto to Blink would be.
Off-topic
I suggest that you release a portable version of Gajim, which is a straight Jabber client that can be extended via plug-ins. In fact I know that it can be run in portable mode using specific parameters but somehow I failed. I browsed PortableApps instant messaging category and I saw there was no Jabber-only client in the list.
AppCompactor isn't really intended for bloat. Just for size issues. It causes launches to take a fraction of a second more and the app itself to consume a small percentage more RAM while running. It also causes the download package to wind up a bit larger because original EXE/DLL -> LZMA installer compresses better than original EXE/DLL -> UPX -> LZMA installer.

As for Gajim, there was a Dev Test of it back in 2008 of a user that is no longer active. You could add a comment to one of the requests for it and see if we can generate interest.
PortableApps.com - The open standard for portable software | Support Net Neutrality

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smaragdus
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Re: QupZilla

#33 Post by smaragdus »

@JohnTHaller
As for Gajim, there was a Dev Test of it back in 2008 of a user that is no longer active. You could add a comment to one of the requests for it and see if we can generate interest.
Done.

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JohnTHaller
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Re: QupZilla

#34 Post by JohnTHaller »

In my testing, QupZilla 2.0.0 and 2.0.1 don't work on my Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 virtual machines. On XP, the entire virtual machine crashes when you attempt to launch qupzilla.exe (the only app I've ever seen do this). On Vista and 7, QupZilla will launch, force Windows to use the Windows Basic theme (disabling Aero) and then show with a window frame around whatever was on the screen. This frame never shows the browser and doesn't update except pulling whatever window is dragged over it. Other users report seeing a black screen: https://github.com/QupZilla/qupzilla/issues/1943

This last issue likely wouldn't affect Windows 8/8.1/10 as they do not use Aero. It runs seemingly without issue on my Windows 8.1 x64 machine.

Due to these issues, QupZilla Portable at PortableApps.com is remaining at version 1.8.9 for now. We're considering dropping the app due to security reasons - hopefully temporarily - until these issues are resolved.
PortableApps.com - The open standard for portable software | Support Net Neutrality

freakazoid
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Re: QupZilla

#35 Post by freakazoid »

QupZilla 2 uses QtWebEngine, which uses Chromium as its engine.

This increases the filesize by almost three times(!), but should provide better stability and rendering.

If you liked v1, which used QtWebKit as its engine, consider Otter.
is it stealth? ;)

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webfork
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Re: QupZilla

#36 Post by webfork »

JohnTHaller wrote:Due to these issues, QupZilla Portable at PortableApps.com is remaining at version 1.8.9 for now.
This didn't crash my VM but it's definitely to be avoided. Note added to entry. Thanks.

Very disappointing given that this is one of the few serious browsers out with a GPL license.

billon
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Re: QupZilla

#37 Post by billon »


billon
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Falkon (formerly QupZilla)

#38 Post by billon »


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webfork
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Re: Falkon (formerly QupZilla)

#39 Post by webfork »

Well it's a better name than QupZilla, especially since it's not Mozilla-based.

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smaragdus
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Re: QupZilla/Falkon

#40 Post by smaragdus »

There will be no more QupZilla releases:
There will be no more QupZilla releases, please switch to Falkon.
Source

Links
Website
Windows Releases
AlternativeTo
Wikipedia

Screens

Falkon - program window:

Image

Falkon - configuration information:

Image

Falkon - preferences - general:

Image

Test
I did a brief test of Falkon version 3.0.0 (released on 2018-03-27), I chose the x32 version no matter that I am on x64 system, several observations:
  • Falkon is relatively very light- with 6 tabs open it used about 70-110 MB of RAM (I suppose the x64 version would use more RAM), when I opened a video (YouTube) RAM usage skyrockets to 250+ MB;
  • I was able to integrate Falkon with an external download manager using program preferences;
  • Importing bookmarks from HTML file generated by Firefox was smooth;
  • The extensions it comes bundled with are scarce- as of version 3.0.0 there are only 10;
  • Falkon offers more customization than the two big enemies of the internet- Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, for example "Tabs on Top" can be easily disabled from "View" menu;
  • Falkon comes bundled with only 3 themes and the only one I find usable is Mac theme;
  • Opening pop-up windows from live score sites (example) was choppy;
  • Playing YouTube videos was also choppy;
  • Falkon was unable to play videos from certain websites (Dailymotion, LiveLeak, etc) even though "Allow Pepper Plugins (Flash plugin)" was enabled- Falkon either could not play the videos or started downloading them, it seems that Pepper Plugin should be installed separately;
  • Falkon comes with 4 search engines- DuckDuckGo, StartPage, Wikipedia (en) and Google, more can be added manually;
  • The default Speed Dial wallpaper is dull, ugly, unpleasant;
Conclusion
I have to test Falkon more thoroughly to be able to draw some conclusions. At first glance this browser doesn't seem to be suitable for regular use. Anyway, in the browsers wasteland it is a gulp of fresh air. Since Falkon is now KDE Project I hope that more developers would get involved- a single developer building a browser is a mammoth task. I suppose that Falkon needs its own forum thread and database entry.

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smaragdus
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Re: QupZilla

#41 Post by smaragdus »

@webfork
Well it's a better name than QupZilla, especially since it's not Mozilla-based.
I agree that Falkon is better name. I was never able to decipher the meaning of the name QupZilla. The name "zilla" is not copy-righted by Mozilla, FileZilla is not Mozilla-based either.

freakazoid
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Re: QupZilla

#42 Post by freakazoid »

We should probably switch over the QupZilla listing to Falkon. Portableapps.com has a version for download here: https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/falkon-portable

There hasn't been a release in over a year though. Current version is using Chrome 69, which is way outdated.
Last edited by freakazoid on Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
is it stealth? ;)

igec
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Re: QupZilla

#43 Post by igec »

I clicked on QupZilla's website URL and it redirected to https://www.cc.cc/, which is an almost empty website

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webfork
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Re: QupZilla

#44 Post by webfork »

igec wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2020 3:07 pm I clicked on QupZilla's website URL and it redirected to https://www.cc.cc/, which is an almost empty website
They dumped the old name and the old website, it's now https://www.falkon.org/

EDIT: I see what you mean, the entry is pointing to the old website as well. I'll see about an entry update.

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webfork
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Re: QupZilla

#45 Post by webfork »

Update: so although Falkon distributes a portable version, I'm having issues with my test process. Expecting that other users could see similar problems, I'm going to point to the PA version. In short, we try to point to whatever the developer points users to as the "portable" version for support purposes.

EDIT: I've completed the entry, but looking at how the last update being over a year ago, so I'll maintain the original disclaimer about possible security issues that are on many of the oudated browser entries.

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