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Palomine

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Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« on: April 14, 2014, 10:34:04 AM »
The inevitable orphaning of 'legacy' hardware continues apace.

Users of 32-bit (early Intel) Macintosh systems who use Google's Chrome browser have been notified that they will soon stop receiving updates. So: future features, bug fixes and security improvements will no longer be available to them. While not quite the widespread issue that Microsoft's cessation of support for Windows XP is (Mac users can continue to use either Firefox or Safari) it seemed worth mentioning. Specifically, any Mac that has a CPU OLDER/LOWER THAN an Intel Core 2 Duo will be affected, so if your Mac has either an Intel Core Solo or Core Duo CPU, you will be affected by this (those are both 32-bit processors, as found in early Intel-based Macs).

For a bit more info on this, and for a list of which Intel CPUs are 32 vs 64 bit, check here: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/4660488?p=ui_mac_32bit_support&rd=1

Added later: most of a day has passed since I made this post, and it only now occured to me that the current version of Chrome (34.0.1847.116) running on the old Macbook Pro I use for checking email while in bed (it's got a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo CPU and is running OSX 10.6.8 ) HAS been relatively unstable for a while... a few months at least. By normal Macintosh standards I mean: that is to say, Chrome inexplicably crashes (or sometimes, just the plug-ins crash) perhaps once or twice a month. Whether this has anything to do with the Chrome I'm running now probably being the last version of Chrome that Google will ever make for 32-bit Macs, I have no idea. I will note that older versions of Chrome on this Mac, as well as the Chrome running on my (main) Linux PC is/have always been totally rock-solid (that box running Mint has probably only needed one or two forced reboots in the whole time I've been using it, so it's perhaps the most dependable computer I've ever had in terms of uptime). So again: I dunno if the final version of Chrome for 32-bit Macs is less-well-put-together than previous versions or versions for other platforms, but I thought I'd point out the observation, now that I think of it.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2014, 02:20:45 AM by Palomine »

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SamV

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2014, 10:57:59 AM »
That's interesting seeing I've been looking at "upgrading" my Compaq Evo WinXP PC with a refurb Win 7 Core 2 Duo based HP/Compaq desktop PC from Tiger. Going that route lets me be able to (hopefully) keep using all my existing 32 bit software and takes me out to 2020 with support from MS, and all at a very low cost to me. I don't think I'm the only one who will be doing this, but I guess Google wants to help force more of the "poorer" Apple computer users out of the market. So that begs the question is Apple thinking along the same lines? :-\
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Palomine

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2014, 01:08:10 PM »
That's interesting seeing I've been looking at "upgrading" my Compaq Evo WinXP PC with a refurb Win 7 Core 2 Duo based HP/Compaq desktop PC from Tiger. Going that route lets me be able to (hopefully) keep using all my existing 32 bit software and takes me out to 2020 with support from MS, and all at a very low cost to me. I don't think I'm the only one who will be doing this, but I guess Google wants to help force more of the "poorer" Apple computer users out of the market. So that begs the question is Apple thinking along the same lines? :-\

I doubt there's a conspiracy from any of these players: Microsoft, Google or Apple... I tend to think that they have to 'give up' on older OSes/older platforms for economic reasons. The pre-Intel Macs (PowerPC G3/4/5) while still very usable, stopped being upgradable past OSX 10.5 (I think) and that was the first big nail in their coffin since locking the OS at a given version (for any OS/PC) eventually means the new/current versions of apps you want to run will no longer be compatible. It'd be nice if some OSes were supported indefinitely, but since support (along with the minimum of development resources needed to make it possible) costs money, and since there's little or no direct revenue stream from those old OSes (i.e.: how much $ did MS make in 2014 due to XP? ...not much I'll wager) it's unrealistic of us (users) to expect that to happen. Some Linux distros have "LTS" (long term support versions) that are promised to remain supported longer than the regular (non-LTS) versions, but of course everything's finite. :)

I have found that it's easier to use old hardware longer with the current/latest OS and apps when the box is running Linux instead of either Windows or MacOS. I'm typing this on an 9-year-old/unfancy PC, but because I'm running a Linux distro, I'm able to efficiently run the latest OS and apps on it... I know that would be less likely on a similarly elderly Windows or OSX box, especially with the passage of time.

BTW, I don't know if this is relevant to your 32-bit software concern, but I installed the 32-bit version of Windows 7 on a new Toshiba laptop (that came with the 64-bit version on it) and it worked fine. This was done (as you might guess) to be able to keep running a commercial app (niche application) for which there is still no 64-bit support. 
« Last Edit: April 14, 2014, 01:12:17 PM by Palomine »

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SwitcherX

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2014, 01:41:32 AM »
Opera is chrome based and 32bit.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2014, 02:09:40 AM by Palomine »
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Palomine

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2014, 02:10:33 AM »
Opera is chrome based and 32bit.

Yes, I should have remembered that. I'm not familiar with the inces+uous details of Opera and Chrome (and Chromium) browser development... does it work the same way as it does for some Linux distros? Though I'm fuzzy on the gory details particulars, as I understand it, Ubuntu and Mint are Debian-based and parts of Mint build further upon parts of Ubuntu (but not the GUI thank Glob! :D) so when something fundamental changes, future versions of the "downstream" distros are affected unless the folks managing that distro take it upon themselves to create alternative code. Is that how it is for Opera and Chromium... are versions of them based on code that Google itself has been responsible for? If so, then I expect they too will be frozen/unsupported for 32-bit Macs in the near future unless they elect to do the ongoing development that Google won't. However, if Opera/Chromium have been/continue to be developed and supported completely independently of Google, then perhaps they'll still be OK for 32-bit Macs for a whle longer. :)

Don't do any research, but if you happen to know how these particular sausages are made, I'd be curious. :)
« Last Edit: April 15, 2014, 11:44:52 AM by Palomine »

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SwitcherX

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2014, 04:24:50 AM »
Opera uses the Blink layout engine.  It's developed by both Opera and Google.  I imagine that it will be 32bit until Opera decides to switch to 64nit.

Pal asks: so, in that case, you think that Google ending 32-bit support for Chrome has no bearing on the continued usability/safety of Opera for 32-bit Macs? You think the same applies to Chromium?
« Last Edit: April 16, 2014, 09:49:23 AM by Palomine »
Switcher X
A.K.A. Tina Fey Eichmann

"Thank you herr professor Tina Fey Eichmann, nuclear brain surgeon and moustache jockey."
-- Mammeister


"SwitcherX, you were always Mammeister's favorite...you bastard."
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SwitcherX

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2014, 02:00:11 PM »
Unless changes are made to the layout engine so that it can't be 32bit anymore, Opera is going to do whatever it wants.  Google can't make them do anything.
Switcher X
A.K.A. Tina Fey Eichmann

"Thank you herr professor Tina Fey Eichmann, nuclear brain surgeon and moustache jockey."
-- Mammeister


"SwitcherX, you were always Mammeister's favorite...you bastard."
-- Notty

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Palomine

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2014, 09:29:27 AM »
Thanks for the info Switcher... I did some googling and didn't see any gossip suggesting 32-but Mac support from Opera was going to come to an end (though, in time, everything does of course ;)). I guess I'll probably start switching to Firefox (for the minimal use this old Mac gets from me) but I'll install Opera as a backup since Chrome will no longer be an option.

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Palomine

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2014, 10:53:40 AM »
I'm on my old MacBook Pro checking PMs and EMs this AM (;)) ...the 32-bit one for which Google is ending Chrome support... and it occurred to me that I have an even older laptop that CAN CONTINUE to enjoy Chrome for the forseeable future, even though it's 32-bit CPU (Pentium M) predates PAE (expanded memory addressing) that's in the MBP: http://forum.bearchive.com/index.php/topic,9983729.msg10262150.html#msg10262150 and scroll down to the paragraphs entitled: "#! (aka Crunchbang)."

One useful measure of a computer's effective longevity is how long it can continue to run current versions of preffered programs. By that mesure, it looks as if Linux (in the form of CrunchBang) on an old PC has an edge over Apple OSX on a Mac, at least in this (admittedly) one specific instance. ;)

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TheZookie007

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2014, 01:11:26 AM »
And speaking of Chrome on the Mac:

If you've been using it under OS X Yosemite, you may have been having problems with screen resizing, etc. when doing "Save As..." Google has a solution for that here.
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Palomine

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2014, 09:13:05 AM »
Interesting tidbit and this is a perfectly fine place to post it, but to clarify for others, the issue of Google ending Chrome support for 32-bit Macs is separate from the Yosemite issue, since no 32-bit Mac will be running Yosemite (10.10 ...I wish Apple would just stick with numbers). My 32-bit Mac is running OSX 10.6.8 (I forget the name of it... one of the cats: Snow Leopard maybe?) and Chrome 38.0.2125.111, which I assume is the final version of Chrome for 32-bit Macs that's ever going to be released.

Instead of the 'soon will get no more updates' message in Chrome, it now says there 'will be no more updates.' I'm not sure how long ago Chrome updated to this final version, but it seems quite buggy (compared to the versions of Chrome I use under Ubuntu Linux 14 and Windows 7, or even just earlier versions of Chrome for my Mac). I get bad page loads and even full browser crashes in Chrome on my 32-bit (circa 2008ish?) Mac, even/often when simply accessing Google's own Gmail. Whether these problems are due to bugs in Chrome or due to minor updates to 10.6.8 that have happened since Chrome stopped evolving/updating (and therefore, not strictly Chrome's fault) I have no idea. Right now, I tend to think they're due to actual bugs in Chrome (i.e.: Chrome's fault, not due to OS incompatibility) because 10.6.8 is old itself and gets system updates very infrequently, if at all.

I know I'll just have to switch to Firefox or Safari when the bad page loads/crashes in Chrome get too frequent... I'm just putting off that inevitability since I like using the same browser (Chrome) on all different platforms: I use Linux 90% of the time, MacOS (in bed/on laptop) about 8% of the time, and Windows 7 (just for one particular client) about 2% of the time... but I use Chrome in each OS.

The attached pic isn't really relevant to this post, but I'm posting it because it's funny. The little anthropomorphized icons remind me of Mr. Cream Puff and other Candy Kingdom citizens on Adventure Time! :) :P

1229957_601027276619194_2063035986_n49
« Last Edit: November 11, 2014, 09:21:14 AM by Palomine »

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Zorro

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Re: Chrome browser to end support for 32-bit MacOS computers
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2015, 07:38:23 PM »
A couple of years ago I quit using Chrome because after waiting for over 2 weeks for the password keeper software "Dashlane"  to actually work. I mean it was a password keeper built for Chrome wasn't it?

Anyway I started using Opera and it worked fine for the most part until lately.

Everything was very slow especially using the Internet and downloading pictures to morph as well as uploading my morphed pictures would sometimes take up to 30 minutes or more. I have been using "last pass" as my password keeper and it has always worked great.

So today I went back to Chrome and spent most of the day getting as much information from Opera as I could. I was also able to add on Last Pass which also works great on Chrome.

However, everything was still running slow.

Well I rebooted the computer.......still slow.
I ran my maintenance software Slim Cleaner Plus......Still slow.

Whenever I start to get angry I get away from the computer and take a break.

So I figured I would watch some movies on Netflix.

It would take forever to load and would not load Netflx at all. Well I switched my HDTV to show the regular channels and I was reminded how boring and frustrating how it was to watch TV and all of those commercials.

This also got me thinking, well it wasn't the computer causing itself to run slow I did everything defrag optimize when it finally came to me.

I unplugged the cable-TV modem and waited about 10 seconds and plugged it back in.

Since my cable modem is closer to the TV I made a fresh attempt to connect with my Xbox 360.

Everything was fine. Connected and was able to use Netflix again plus my games etc.

I shut the computer down again and the results were everything was back to normal.

The only down part was I didn't get to do any morphs today so I will do that tomorrow.

I really feel dumb with forgetting that the modem was the issue and I should have done that when this first started happening a few days ago.
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