It looks more like a Mac app because it uses Cocoa and is fully OS X native. Ĭamino is a version of Firefox optimized for Mac OS X. All of these versions have the same functionality and program design, although there are some differences in appearance on different platforms. Camino or Firefox?įirefox is a cross-platform browser that’s readily available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. He also notes that redraws were “not visible” when returning to an unchanged page and that switching between tabs was “instantaneous”. One user reports that the G4 optimized build of Firefox launched and opened pages about one second faster on his G4 PowerBook. I have looked for in-depth benchmarks comparing optimized versions with the full version, but I haven’t found any.
G5 builds should be aware of both multiple processors and multiple cores – the Power Mac G5 Quad has both. Further, G3 optimized builds don’t have to worry about multiple CPUs, but G4 builds should be multiprocessor aware. The optimized build results in a program that is smaller, faster loading, and perhaps a bit faster.įor instance, a build for G3 Macs can leave out any code that uses the AltiVec “velocity engine” found only in G4 and G5 CPUs, while builds for those CPUs can leave out any code designed to be used when the AltiVec unit isn’t present. By using different compiler settings, the code can be optimized for a specific processor family, which leaves out the extra code necessary to support both PowerPC and Intel architectures.
In the case of OS X Macs, those families are G3, G5, Intel (sometimes with separate Core Duo and Core 2 Duo builds), and two flavors of G4 (the PowerPC 74 families – see Which Build Do I Choose? for help choosing the right build for your G4 Mac, and if you’ve got an upgrade CPU, make sure you use the version optimized for the upgrade CPU).īecause these programs are open source, anyone can download the code, compile it as they see fit, and make it available. Where the normal build of these programs runs on all compatible Macs regardless of processor – from a 1997 Beige Power Mac G3 through the latest quad-core Intel Core 2 and Xeon CPUs – an optimized build is tweaked to run best on one family of processors.
Anyone can easily find Universal Binary builds of Firefox and Camino that will simply install and run on their Mac, so why would you want to scrounge around for an optimized build? What Is It?
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