Fix Site Issues: No ALERTS, Can't Post, No Reply Field

[Tom.G]

Todays site 'upgrade' forced me to jury-rig a minimally functional browser just to post this.

1. clicking on ALERTS goes to Account --> Alerts
2. can not create a post, site will not accept text in the body

2A. carriage return when entering title clears the title field​

3. highlighting thread text does not ask 'Quote' or 'Reply'
4. field for creating a reply does not exist

Please fix, this is not nice.
My main browser is Firefox 43.0.1 with many, no longer available add-ons.

Tom

 

[pbuk]

My main browser is Firefox 43.0.1 with many, no longer available add-ons.

It's difficult to work out if you are joking - you can't seriously expect anyone to build a site to work with your own, unspecified combination of unsupported software (FF 43 is unsupported for over 5 years now)?

 

[anorlunda]

It's difficult to work out if you are joking - you can't seriously expect anyone to build a site to work with your own, unspecified combination of unsupported software (FF 43 is unsupported for over 5 years now)?

What! Is my NCSA Mosaic browser 2.0 no longer supported?

 

[berkeman]

Todays site 'upgrade' forced me to jury-rig a minimally functional browser just to post this.

My current FF browser on Win10 seems to be working fine still...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The current release says it's compatible with Windows 7 and above
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/108.0.1/system-requirements/

Some of your add-ons may not work, but I bet there are alternatives. Can you list your addons and we can help find replacements?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

The current release says it's compatible with Windows 7 and above

I believe @Tom.G is using Windows XP. From an old thread:

As I said, older browsers. Firefox 43.0.1, and Mypal 23.13.0 which is a later fork of Firefox and works on Almost all websites. Also old is Win XP Pro, 32 bit.

Reiterating what @pbuk had said in that thread:

Windows XP is not "old", it is completely and utterly dead and was buried eight years ago. You need to replace it with an OS that will run current browser releases.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

We've been down this road. @Tom.G please install FF 52.9 which is latest for WinXP
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/52.9.0esr/

 

[Tom.G]

Thanks @Greg Bernhardt, It will take me a few days to get the time allocated.
The link you posted, https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/52.9.0esr/ , seems to be the source code for that version.

The installable file is at:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/52.9.0esr/win32/en-US/

In the interim I will be using my 'jury rigged' (jerry rigged?) MyPal browser which at least mostly functions.

 

[StevieTNZ]

@Tom.G - you are still running XP? Good grief.

 

[berkeman]

@Tom.G - you are still running XP? Good grief.

Well, in fairness, we kept running PCs in our EE lab for many years with XP because the EE apps we were running were not available on newer OSs. We had to disconnect them from the internal building network several years ago because they were a huge security risk, and I certainly didn't try to use them to access PF (on my breaks...).

 

[StevieTNZ]

Well, in fairness, we kept running PCs in our EE lab for many years with XP because the EE apps we were running were not available on newer OSs. We had to disconnect them from the internal building network several years ago because they were a huge security risk, and I certainly didn't try to use them to access PF (on my breaks...).

I guess that's different than running a computer, connected to the Internet, using XP - seemingly as if the computer you do your work on (like my current HP laptop running Windows 11). A lot of the software, I suspect, would be out of date.

Your lab did the right thing by disconnecting your PCs from the internal network.

 

[StevieTNZ]

I mean, when I worked at NZ Post, the staff had computers running XP. But NZ Post paid Microsoft beyond the end date to support and continue supply updates for it.

 

[Tom.G]

The reason I stopped upgrading at XP was that Microsoft had a history of either removing or crippling various functionality that I was using in most (all?) previous upgrades.

XP had enough functionality and usability that I got comfortable with it and refused to have more features disappear or get crippled. Over the years I have installed probably hundreds of programs, many of which still see occassional use.

The peripherals, such as a flat bed scanner, Laser printer, wide-bed color inkjet printer, Canon still camera, video microscope, would need to be upgraded along with editing software for Audio, Video and still-image files.
For instance I recently color scanned 1.3 x 1.6in. item at 9600dpi, which yielded a 528MB file and a screen magnification around 800.

So rather than replace the complete hardware & software system, I have chosen to stick with my current functionality for everyday use.

I agree that later/current versions for Internet use likely make development easier. But I also suspect there is some "It's a New version therefore it must be better for everyone" mentality.

For instance what functionality for the users/members here was improved by the recent changes [edit] in the PhysicsForums implementation? [/edit]

Well, that's my 2-cents worth,
Tom

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I agree that later/current versions for Internet use likely make development easier. But I also suspect there is some "It's a New version therefore it must be better for everyone" mentality.

But you will be missing on security patches! IMHO, it's better not to access important websites like banks/email using such an old configuration.

I believe if you have a hardware and software combination that will not work except on the old version, it's better to use a different, upgraded PC for everyday use. Just do the necessary work on that PC and transfer files to the upgraded one.

 

[berkeman]

For instance what functionality for the users/members here was improved by the recent changes?

#1 -- Security. I hope you don't have Internet access with that XP machine, especially through the corporate network.

#2 -- Other stuff, mainly inter-application functionality for moving content from one application to another (like Excel to Word).

I agree that the user interface changes made with each successive version of Windows were a real pain for technical users (apparently we were not well-represented in the Microsoft focus groups involving those changes), but you can turn on some backward-compatibility behavior/visibility modes that do mitigate those aggravations a bit (like in the Windows File Explorer views and behaviors, for example).

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I agree that the user interface changes made with each successive version of Windows were a real pain for technical users

My Dad was a civil engineer and extensively worked on the PC the whole day in the office (STAAD Pro, AutoCAD and what not). His office PC was upgraded to Win 10, and he didn't like it, and was strictly against upgrading our home PC (running Windows 7, 32-bit) because he disliked changes in the UI. He got me a laptop before I joined college because my programming needs (Android Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, etc.) were not working on our home PC. Last year, finally, he agreed to the upgrade, but passed away before being able to use it. Sadly enough, the HDD died a few days after he passed away.

 

[Tom.G]

For instance what functionality for the users/members here was improved by the recent changes?

@berkeman, I see my thought on that was not clearly presented. Here is the clarification I should have included in that statement:

"For instance what functionality for the users/members here was improved by the recent changes in the PhysicsForums implementation?"

But you will be missing on security patches!

Very true. This is currently a home computer that is occassionally used for business/ technical projects. Since XP was released and I started using it, there have been a total of three infections that required manual intervention.

One was when I clicked on something I shouldn't have.
One was an unknown cause.
One was when my wife clicked on something she shouldn't have.

Three virii over 21 years with a few hours, and no data, lost on each.

Yeah, it's a rationalization, but it seems to have worked out OK.
Also NO banking is done on-line. Just a few credit card orders to places like Amazon and well-established businesses.

The only credit card incident was when I traveled out of state several years ago. It was either the airline, the car rental company, or the low-cost motel that leaked my CC info; the CC company caught it and phoned me to verify.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[malawi_glenn]

I believe @Tom.G is using Windows XP

the legendary, the best

 

[f95toli]

One -perhaps obvious- issue with using a computer that old is that the hardware will also wear out and can suddely fail. Any electronic device older than 10-15 years (depending on what it is) should probably be considered unreliable. As long as it works and you are not storing any information on there that you can't afford to loose it might not an issue, but personally it would make me a bit nervous.

Note that this is not due to any issues with "modern electronics". The components most likely to fail are mechanical (fans, the hard-drive) as well as things like electrolytic caps in the power supply etc. Depending on how hot it get inside the computer and the amount of stress put on the computer solder joints etc can also start to fail.
Even the electronic equipment built in the 50s and 60s wasn't really any more reliable; it was just simpler to service.

 

[Tom.G]

The components most likely to fail are mechanical (fans, the hard-drive) as well as things like electrolytic caps in the power supply etc.

Yup! Fans, hard drives, and power supply have all been replaced a few times. Since this is a Tower chassis most is not a major project. Power supply replacement is an annoyance though, too many cables!

The other failure item is the connectors for and on the plug-in boards (memory, video). No catastrophic failures there, they just have an occassional need to be pulled, blown out with 'canned air', and re-seated a few times, this is done yearly (roughly).

DIsc drives last about 10,000 hours of run time. The predominant failure mode is the positioner bearings wear out leading to many seek errors, especially on the drive with the system Temporary files. There have also been a few head crashes.