[NCLUG] Netscape Instability

[dobbster]

"S. Luke Jones" wrote:
>
> Netscape has done more to teach newbies about using "ps" to find
> what process to kill than any other application. I like
>         ps xo "%p %a"
> myself. :-)

Bravo for Netscape, an application that forces command-line usage!

> 
> In my experience you fix freezing-up behavior by killing off "dns helper".
> Often (mostly) dns helper isn't around any more to kill so you just kill
> off all the processes with a netscape in their name. But you have to kill
> them all before starting netscape again, or it will lock back up.

Yep, that's pretty much what I done all along.  Personally, I prefer to
use ktop when I can.  Of course, ps/kill are the only options when X
itself locks up...
 
> Someone on this list planted the idea in my mind once that the problem
> is in fact in the doing of DNS lookups. If you're like me and always have
> a couple of browser windows around, you will superstitiously wait for one
> to start loading content (i.e. get done looking up) before you click a
> link in the second one.

Actually, I do this as well.  The "dns helper" has always made me
suspicious.  What exactly is its function in Netscape?
 
> Turning off java is a given. I'd turn off javascript too, but for some
> inexplicable reason if you do that, you also lose CSS support(!!).

I have Java turned off, but I can't live without javascript and CSS
while I am making pages.  

> I tried the netscape 6 download the other day but twernt no good for me.
> The netscape launcher script calls another one (run_mozilla.sh or some
> such name) and then it dumps core. So I'll wait for KRUD to include a
> 2.0 version of the KDE Konquerer. Or the Gnome Whatever-the-heck.

Your response as well as the others definitely confirm my experiences
with Netscape.  I thought I was missing something obvious.

Regarding KRUD, I installed it once back in the RH5.2 days, but I
haven't used it since.  I am open-minded to switching distributions, and
I'd be curious to hear what its advantages are and why folks on NCLUG
seem to like it so much.  (I have already looked at tummy.com's KRUD
site.)

Thanks (once again!) for all of the help,

Mark (dobbster at frii.com)