MicroB
 | |
 MicroB on Internet Tablet OS 2008 | |
| Developer(s) | Nokia's maemo project |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 1.0.4
/ September 29, 2008 |
| Operating system | Maemo |
| Type | Mobile browser |
| License | Proprietary EULA Engine under MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license |
| Website | http://browser.garage.maemo.org/ |
MicroB is the unofficial name for Nokia's "Mozilla based browser for maemo", a mobile browser that is shipped with their N800 and N810 Internet Tablets, and available for the 770 through both the Internet Tablet OS 2007 and 2008 Hacker Editions. In place of Mozilla's XUL-based user interface, MicroB uses the Maemo-native (GTK-based) Hildon API and widgets.
History
MicroB was initially released as a public beta for Internet Tablet OS 2007 on July 17 2007 to allow 3rd party developers and community members to develop and port plugins, and help shape the development of the browser.[1] It was updated several times before it replaced Opera as Internet Tablet OS's default browser with the release of Internet Tablet OS 2008 on November 18 2007 with the N810.[2]
Architecture
MicroB is Mozilla-based and uses the Gecko engine, but a number of features are omitted due to platform-specific limitations. In particular, SVG support is disabled due to unacceptable performance, and XUL is not included to reduce size and decrease memory consumption.[3] As XUL is not included, most Firefox plugins require porting and repackaging before they can be used with MicroB. In place of XUL, MicroB uses GTK and the Hildon UI toolkit to provide a native interface.[4]
Plugins
As mentioned above, despite being Mozilla-based, most Firefox plugins cannot be used directly in MicroB (largely due to the lack of XUL support), so porting is usually necessary. The Maemo Browser Extras project is responsible for a large number of the available plugins.[5]
Some MicroB Plugins
- Adobe Flash 9 (bundled with Internet Tablet OS)
- Windows Media Player Stream and Real Player stream supports via the built-in Media player
- Google Gears[6]
- Greasemonkey - All scripts that work on the desktop version of Firefox work fine in MicroB, extending the capabilities of the browser and even replacing the need for some extensions which are not available for MicroB.[7]
- Adblock Plus[8]
- MPlayer plugin[9]
- Flashblock[10]
- wmlbrowser [11]
See also
Notes
- ^ Mozilla based browser engine available for testing MicroB beta announcement
- ^ MicroB ships as the official browser for IT OS 2008
- ^ MicroB whitepaper - 4.3 Supported web standards
- ^ MicroB whitepaper - 2.2 Browser User Interface
- ^ Browser Extras
- ^ Google Gears Plugin
- ^ Greasemonkey Plugin
- ^ Adblock Plus Plugin
- ^ MPlayer Plugin
- ^ Flashblock Plugin
- ^ Wmlbrowser Plugin