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Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 17th 18, 07:36 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Bill in Co
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,927
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version (and
is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues on some
sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and mp4)
capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point - try to
watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a somewhat jerky
flash version).

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get the
benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5 video
playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers could you
go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum", which is
a plus, to me).


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  #2  
Old October 17th 18, 08:26 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version (and
is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues on some
sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and mp4)
capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point - try to
watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a somewhat jerky
flash version).


Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get the
benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5 video
playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers could you
go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum", which is
a plus, to me).


FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.
  #3  
Old October 17th 18, 05:32 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Bill in Co
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,927
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version
(and is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues on
some sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and mp4)
capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point - try
to watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a
somewhat jerky flash version).


Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get the
benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5 video
playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers could you
go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum",
which is a plus, to me).


FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.


Thanks for the correction on that. But my question was regarding
"installability", and if anyone had even tried to install and run an updated
version (updated beyond 52.9). I know it's not "supported", but that
doesn't mean you can't install it and run it. I figured somebody here might
have tried, and was curious as to their results.


  #4  
Old October 17th 18, 09:44 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

Bill in Co wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version
(and is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues on
some sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and mp4)
capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point - try
to watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a
somewhat jerky flash version).


Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get the
benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5 video
playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers could you
go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum",
which is a plus, to me).


FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.


Thanks for the correction on that. But my question was regarding
"installability", and if anyone had even tried to install and run an updated
version (updated beyond 52.9). I know it's not "supported", but that
doesn't mean you can't install it and run it. I figured somebody here might
have tried, and was curious as to their results.


The stub installer (aka web installer) you get from Mozilla will check
your OS to determine which is the latest version of Firefox it will
retrieve and install under your OS. Even with the best compression
possible, there is no way all of the Firefox product is contained inside
a 308KB stub installer.

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/05/11/ho...ne-installers/

To get the full installer aka offline installer, see:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

As I recall, some of the "all" downloads were accidentally stub
installers, so I can't be sure which are stub versus full installers.
Size would indicate which; however, the "all" page doesn't list file
size, so you have to download to check the installer's file size. I
suspect the offline installer will also perform an OS check.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...fox-on-windows

You could see if using an offline installer gets you up to the "Set up
shortcuts" dialog in the installer or if the installer immediately balks
at running on Windows XP. That is, run the offline installer to see if
it even starts. You aren't trying to install Firefox but just see if
the offline installer even lets you proceed.

You could trying copying the following folders from a Windows 7+ host to
your Windows XP host:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
%appdata%\Mozilla
%localappdata%\Mozilla

but those won't include all the registry entries for Firefox.

Note that Mozilla didn't just say FF ESR 52 would be the last supported
version of Firefox on Windows XP. They also stated ESR 52 would be the
last /compatible/ version of Firefox on Windows XP.

Other than the warning in Mozilla's article below, why can't you use FF
ESR 52 (52.9) on Windows XP?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...s-xp-and-vista

Anytime you use an old versioned web browser, sites may not behave or
they refuse connections or somehow throttle their site (because they
want to use new features in the web browser that you won't have with an
old version). Complain to the site that they still need to provide
backward compatibility (alternate content) for old web browsers.
Windows XP is down to 4.6% of the marketshare, so don't expect a site to
bother with requests from a tiny share of their visitors. The sites
move forward to use new or enhanced features in the newer versioned web
browsers, and they don't retain compatibility of their site with old and
unsupported web browsers. There are sites where you cannot visit using
IE3, either.

By the way, Adobe is dropping Flash at the end of 2020. So, those sites
where you are still watching Flash streamed videos will stop working or
get worse (since Adobe won't be providing an updated plug-in).

https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...ven-years-ago/
  #5  
Old October 17th 18, 11:08 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Bill in Co
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,927
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version
(and is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues
on some sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and
mp4) capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point
- try to watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a
somewhat jerky flash version).

Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get
the benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5
video playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers
could you go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum",
which is a plus, to me).

FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.


Thanks for the correction on that. But my question was regarding
"installability", and if anyone had even tried to install and run an
updated version (updated beyond 52.9). I know it's not "supported",
but that doesn't mean you can't install it and run it. I figured
somebody here might have tried, and was curious as to their results.


The stub installer (aka web installer) you get from Mozilla will check
your OS to determine which is the latest version of Firefox it will
retrieve and install under your OS. Even with the best compression
possible, there is no way all of the Firefox product is contained inside
a 308KB stub installer.

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/05/11/ho...ne-installers/

To get the full installer aka offline installer, see:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

As I recall, some of the "all" downloads were accidentally stub
installers, so I can't be sure which are stub versus full installers.
Size would indicate which; however, the "all" page doesn't list file
size, so you have to download to check the installer's file size. I
suspect the offline installer will also perform an OS check.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...fox-on-windows

You could see if using an offline installer gets you up to the "Set up
shortcuts" dialog in the installer or if the installer immediately balks
at running on Windows XP. That is, run the offline installer to see if
it even starts. You aren't trying to install Firefox but just see if
the offline installer even lets you proceed.

You could trying copying the following folders from a Windows 7+ host to
your Windows XP host:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
%appdata%\Mozilla
%localappdata%\Mozilla

but those won't include all the registry entries for Firefox.

Note that Mozilla didn't just say FF ESR 52 would be the last supported
version of Firefox on Windows XP. They also stated ESR 52 would be the
last /compatible/ version of Firefox on Windows XP.

Other than the warning in Mozilla's article below, why can't you use FF
ESR 52 (52.9) on Windows XP?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...s-xp-and-vista

Anytime you use an old versioned web browser, sites may not behave or
they refuse connections or somehow throttle their site (because they
want to use new features in the web browser that you won't have with an
old version). Complain to the site that they still need to provide
backward compatibility (alternate content) for old web browsers.
Windows XP is down to 4.6% of the marketshare, so don't expect a site to
bother with requests from a tiny share of their visitors. The sites
move forward to use new or enhanced features in the newer versioned web
browsers, and they don't retain compatibility of their site with old and
unsupported web browsers. There are sites where you cannot visit using
IE3, either.

By the way, Adobe is dropping Flash at the end of 2020. So, those sites
where you are still watching Flash streamed videos will stop working or
get worse (since Adobe won't be providing an updated plug-in).

https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...ven-years-ago/


Thanks for that info. I can - and am - using FF version 52.9, and so far
it works fine *except* when accessing some websites with videos, like
ted.com. That website (and a few others now) expect .h264 compatibility to
work (unless you fall back to flash). And as you have already pointed out,
flash is deprecated, and is going away soon. But I've finally found an
article that resolves that .h264 issue for this old version of FF, but it is
a bit tedious setting it up.


  #6  
Old October 17th 18, 11:24 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version
(and is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues on
some sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and mp4)
capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point - try
to watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a
somewhat jerky flash version).
Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get the
benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5 video
playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers could you
go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum",
which is a plus, to me).
FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.

Thanks for the correction on that. But my question was regarding
"installability", and if anyone had even tried to install and run an updated
version (updated beyond 52.9). I know it's not "supported", but that
doesn't mean you can't install it and run it. I figured somebody here might
have tried, and was curious as to their results.


The stub installer (aka web installer) you get from Mozilla will check
your OS to determine which is the latest version of Firefox it will
retrieve and install under your OS.


You can avoid the stub and get a file directly.
The EXE is an installer.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/fire...4/win32/en-US/
Firefox Setup 57.0.4.exe 34MB

If a person compiles the program from source, there
will be an opportunity to bypass the NSIS installer.
Or, find some article that mentions how to make
Firefox "portable", and bootstrap that way.

AFAIK, the NSIS installer is a Windows installer which
was available for free. Which is why they're using it
for the Windows builds.

Paul
  #7  
Old October 17th 18, 11:42 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Bill in Co
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,927
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

Paul wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version
(and is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues
on some sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and
mp4) capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in
point - try to watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall
back to a somewhat jerky flash version).
Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get
the benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5
video playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers
could you go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum",
which is a plus, to me).
FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.
Thanks for the correction on that. But my question was regarding
"installability", and if anyone had even tried to install and run an
updated version (updated beyond 52.9). I know it's not "supported",
but that doesn't mean you can't install it and run it. I figured
somebody here might have tried, and was curious as to their results.


The stub installer (aka web installer) you get from Mozilla will check
your OS to determine which is the latest version of Firefox it will
retrieve and install under your OS.


You can avoid the stub and get a file directly.
The EXE is an installer.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/fire...4/win32/en-US/
Firefox Setup 57.0.4.exe 34MB

If a person compiles the program from source, there
will be an opportunity to bypass the NSIS installer.
Or, find some article that mentions how to make
Firefox "portable", and bootstrap that way.

AFAIK, the NSIS installer is a Windows installer which
was available for free. Which is why they're using it
for the Windows builds.

Paul


I hate those stub installers, no matter who or what they are for (and that
includes the ones for Adobe Flash. Adobe just loves to make things
difficult).

But as Vanguard pointed out, it's easy to see if that's what your getting,
by simply checking the file size when you click on the download link (if it
doesn't already state it). If it's just a few KB, or even MB, chances are
it's a stub.


  #8  
Old October 18th 18, 02:16 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default Latest version of Firefox for Windows XP query

Bill in Co wrote:

I can - and am - using FF version 52.9, and so far it works fine
*except* when accessing some websites with videos, like ted.com.
That website (and a few others now) expect .h264 compatibility to
work (unless you fall back to flash). And as you have already pointed
out, flash is deprecated, and is going away soon. But I've finally
found an article that resolves that .h264 issue for this old version
of FF, but it is a bit tedious setting it up.


Don't know what is the unidentified solution you found. If the problem
is not having the appropriate decoder to match whatever coder was used
in the video (hence the name codec: coder-decoder), maybe you don't have
the needed codec installed with the old version of Firefox. Many media
filetypes are passed onto handlers; i.e., the program itself as the
player doesn't decode the video but has a codec do that. Codecs are
code, so often they are installed and reused just like other libraries.

You may need to install the necessary codecs for whatever videos you are
trying to watch. I use the K-Lite Codec Pack to install and register
many codecs. Some programs bring along their own private library of
codecs which reside in a fixed location the program knows about, like a
subfolder under the installation path for the player program. For
example, VLC has its own private codec library. Other players relie
upon already installed codecs that are found through their handler
defintions in the Windows registry (hence registering the codecs). With
VLC, if there is a problem with a codec in its private library, you have
to hope that a later version of VLC comes with a fixed codec. With
programs that use registered (global) codecs, you can update the codec,
and that's why I use the K-Lite Codec Pack to get most of them.

I only get the standard package of codecs. I don't every codec
available. K-Lite comes in several flavors: basic, standard, full, and
mega. I've never needed the mega pack but do use the full pack.
However, I don't bother installing the included MPC-HC (Media Player
Classic - Home Cinema). It's redundant to the other media players that
I already have.

It is also possible some compression method was used in reducing the
size of the video hence its bandwidth consumption. At one time, I had
to get the DivX codec because lots of video authors liked that
compression scheme. K-Lite includes DivX codec support; see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-Lite_Codec_Pack

In Windows 7, Windows Media Player uses the MPEG-4 decoders that
Microsoft bundled in Windows but those can cause playback problems.
K-Lite suggest changing the default preference order for codecs; see
https://codecguide.com/faq_playback_issues.htm#item44 (CTT = their Codec
Tweak Tool program). I don't know if that applies back on Windows XP,
or Window XP came with anything other than Microsoft's own codecs which
are limited in scope.

Been way too long since I used Firefox 52, or earlier. As I recall,
there was a preferences or settings on which handler to use for various
media types. There was a list and you could specify what to use.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...-handles-files

That only lists handler definitions within Firefox. If a MIME type is
not defined in Firefox, presumably it uses whatever is the currently
registered handler for the MIME type (and why I suggested K-Lite).
 




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