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Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 8:23 am
by Czernobyl
Hi ! I'm mightily interested as a potential Slimjet adopter, but before I even download it I have to ask :
is Slimjet - as it should be IMHO - compiled to run on a processor, such as my Athlon XP, that does not feature the SSE2 extension to the X86 instruction set ? If not, it would be (like Google Chrome itself after v.34) totally useless to me as well as numerous millions of computer users worldwide.

Regards and TIA

--
Czerno

Re: Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 5:29 pm
by oftentired
Slimjet is based on the same engine. It has the same CPU requirements.

• An Intel Pentium 4 processor or later that's SSE2 capable

Re: Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 3:43 am
by Czernobyl
oftentired wrote:Slimjet is based on the same engine. It has the same CPU requirements.
• An Intel Pentium 4 processor or later that's SSE2 capable
Hi ! Is the stated 'requirement' not only, or mostly only, a compile option ?
I mean, can't the smart Slimjet team try and build the Chromium without it ? Maybe a few corners of the code really /require/ SSE2 to operate, possibly parts of the graphic rendering engine, but I'm quite skeptical, and even if it were the case, alternate codepaths could be selected - at the worst, some obscure function or 'acceleration' wouldn't be available, which most users wouldn't care or notice ! OTOH flatly refusing to even try to install in the absence of SSE2, like the official Chrome does, if imnsho unacceptably rude...and stupid. Prove me wrong !

IOW, Google's Chromium teams are just being lazy and taking the easy path. I had hoped an independent development like slimjet would try and serve the public better than those mega-corps.

Thanks for your reply, Oftentired ! Are you a developer ?

Re: Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 7:11 am
by DiadoNiki
I still have a PC with Pentium 3 at 1 GHz and I use it mainly for office work. With such a PC it is nearly impossible even to browse the current web. I don"t know a modern Chromium based browser that support CPU without sse2. Something more, there are no other officially supported browser (except Kmeleon) that work on CPU without SSE2. There is an unofficially build of Pale Moon and that is all.
I am grateful that Slimjet make efforts to support XP and Vista.

Re: Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 8:57 am
by oftentired
Czernobyl wrote:Thanks for your reply, Oftentired ! Are you a developer ?
Your welcome. And no, I am a user like almost everyone else here. The developer posts under the name, "Flashpeak".

Re: Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:21 pm
by Czernobyl
@DiadoNiki : if it were only Pentium IIIs, it wouldn't be so bad. But all AMD Athlon XPs, quite capable CPUs (in many ways superior to Intel Pentium IVs, but predating the introduction of SSE2) are thus barred by Google developpers' arbitrary decision :=)

@ Oftentired : do you know if Slimjet is compiled from Chromium sources ? If it is, as I guess is the case, then could the developer attempt to make a non-SSE2 build (using appropriate compiler options) ? What gives ?

Re: Does Slimjet work on CPU without SSE2 ?

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:13 pm
by oftentired
Czernobyl wrote:@ Oftentired : do you know if Slimjet is compiled from Chromium sources ? If it is, as I guess is the case, then could the developer attempt to make a non-SSE2 build (using appropriate compiler options) ? What gives ?
I do not know the answers to your three questions.