AWeb 3.6 Beta 8
===============
AWeb is the classic Amiga World Wide Web browser, updated in 2026 by
amigazen project. This archive is AWeb 3.6 Beta 8 ? a preview
release for testing and feedback.
Full source code is available at:
https://github.com/amigazen/aweb3/
AWeb 3.6 from amigazen project also available at:
http://www.amigazen.com/aweb/
amigazen project uses modern development practices to maintain and
rerelease classic Amiga open-source software.
The original AWeb author is not affiliated with amigazen; terms are in LICENSE
/ Docs as per the AWeb Public License.
READ THIS FIRST
---------------
o This is Beta software ? expect bugs. Please report issues at GitHub.
o AWeb 3.6 is derived from AWeb 3.4 with AWeb 3.5 improvements merged in
(as of Beta 8, all relevant 3.5 changes are integrated)
o No installer required: unpack anywhere and just run AWeb
o AWeb 3.6 uses a much smarter default configuration - older versions'
configuration files will be ignored and overwritten, or use the CONFIG ToolType
to keep configurations separate
o ReAction required. bsdsocket.library TCP/IP (e.g. RoadShow, UAE) for network.
AmiSSL 5.27+ required for HTTPS, FTPS, and gemini:// TLS
o 68k build, optimised for 68020; but does also run on AmigaOS 4.
PNG/JFIF/GIF AWebPlugins included here are built for 68020 + 68881
(other variants can be built from source by adjusting the SCOPTIONS)
o The AWebPlugin image decoders are generally slower than DataTypes so are not
enabled by default. This is due to the way AWeb only passes a single byte
at a time to its plugins. This is fine, maybe, in a Dial-Up world, but not suitable
in 2026
o This beta defaults to placing disk cache on T: to reduce risk to your boot
volume filesystem, and avoid clashes with other AWeb installs; this of
course uses more RAM. It can be changed using AWebCfg
o AmiSSL 5.27 or newer is required for HTTPS, FTPS, and gemini://
The Goals for AWeb 3.6 are:
o Make AWeb buildable again on supported SDKs and easy to update and collaborate.
o Complete support for the HTML 4 / XHTML era, with CSS1/CSS2
and JavaScript 1.5 (ECMAScript 3)
o Improve rendering quality, JavaScript functionality, memory optimisation, speed and stability.
NEW IN AWEB 3.6
---------------
N.B. Many new features require testing and surely contain bugs or are incomplete, hence this beta release
o Improved HTML 4 and new XHTML 1.0/1.1 support.
o HTTP/1.1 stack with gzip, chunked transfer encoding, Range (resume), and keep-alive as well as
corrected handling of Cache-Control and Redirect
o AmiSSL 5.27 HTTPS with modern TLS; FTPS on the FTP module.
o JavaScript 1.5 (ECMAScript 3) with RegExp, try/catch/finally, and XMLHttpRequest (AJAX)
o CSS1/CSS2 ? inline styles and external stylesheets
o TTEngine + full UTF-8 when ttengine.library is installed; try about:fonts to see how your fonts render
o Shift_JIS Japanese charset encoding support when JKFF.font is installed in FONTS:
o New aweblib for about: pages (home, blank, fonts, version, plugins pages)
o Enhanced memory management, and chip RAM usage optimisations including just-in-time image rendering
o Mousewheel scrolling and Iconify gadget where supported by the operating system
o data: and cid: URL support for inline binary content
o Font matching follows web safe fonts rules, with smarter default fonts mapping
o file:// directory browsing, including a volume list at file:///.
o view-source: any URL as plain text
o Markdown textfile viewing, rendered with HTML styles
o Support for the gopher-like gemini:// and spartan:// protocols
o AWeb is now a Commodity with Show/Hide (Iconify) support
o protoweb.awebrx script included for easy Protoweb.org vintage-web browsing.
o AWeb now provides session status in the screen title
o Enhanced debug mode logging
o Native P96 support on RTG equipped systems
o Many more XML entities supported including the most common UTF-8 characters
o Alpha channel images, where supported by DataTypes
o Many hundreds of bug fixes, optimisations and modernisations, for memory leaks, Enforcer hits and overall stability
o Updated zlib, GIF, JFIF/JPEG and PNG libraries
LIMITATIONS (MODERN WEB)
------------------------
AWeb targets 1990s?early-2000s sites. It does not implement HTML5, CSS3,
ES6+ JavaScript, WebSockets, WebAssembly, or modern DOM/ storage APIs.
Sites such as GitHub or Google require a current browser; use GitHub on
another machine and report bugs from there.
Loading of CSS and JavaScript from third party domains is automatically blocked
to prevent AWeb trying to run modern analytics and trackers it cannot handle.
REQUIREMENTS
------------
o AmigaOS 3.2+ recommended; AmigaOS 3.5, 3.9 or 3.1 with ClassAct are not
specifically tested at this time
o bsdsocket.library TCP/IP (e.g. RoadShow, UAE bsdsocket.library)
o AmiSSL 5.27+ for TLS (HTTPS / FTPS / gemini TLS)
o Picture DataTypes (e.g. GIF, JPEG) for image display unless using included
AWebPlugins
o Plenty of Fast RAM for real world websites (8MB minimum recommended)
o This release is built for 68020 CPU. Included AWebPlugins are built for 68020 CPU with 68881 FPU
CONTACT
-------
GitHub: https://github.com/amigazen/aweb3/
Web: http://www.amigazen.com/aweb/
Email: aweb@amigazen.com
COPYRIGHT
---------
AWeb is Copyright (c) 1998 by Yvon Rozijn. All rights reserved.
Changes Copyright (c) 2025-2026 by amigazen project. Licensed on AWeb Public License terms.
See AWeb/Docs/legal.html, or LICENSE in the source code distribution.
amigazen project maintains this fork under the AWeb Public License;
see project documentation for contributor and redistribution terms.
|
aminet net>