Top all-time · #5318
Mykzilla
Personal blog · mykzilla.orgprogrammingweb
Mykzilla is a personal blog at mykzilla.org about programming and web. Since 2016, 15 different Hacker News readers have linked it 18 times, most often “Qbrt – Cross-platform HTML/JS desktop apps using the Firefox Gecko runtime”. The last post was in 2017, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (11) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Mykzilla, Myk Melez's blog on Mozilla and Gecko, mainly for the 'Positron Discontinued' post, cited as the account of why the Electron-compatible Gecko runtime was abandoned. Other posts on qbrt and Node.js also come up.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 11 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/8 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2017-07-29
- Qbrt – Cross-platform HTML/JS desktop apps using the Firefox Gecko runtime2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-03-18
- Headless Firefox in Node.js with selenium-webdriver2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-08-30
- Mozilla and Node.js2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-12-02
What Hacker News says?
> Why can't XUL vs DOM just be the same data with a fast C++ API and a slow JS API? This is a great question! I'm not really qualified to answer it, but I'll give it a try. My understanding is that the XUL tree is fast because it implements the XPCOM C++ nsITreeView[0][1][2] interface. If you're writing a XULRunner program ... (Firefox "is distributed as the combination of a Gecko XUL runtime — libxul, other shared…
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Google Docs will now use canvas based rendering”Submitted Qbrt – Cross-platform HTML/JS desktop apps using the Firefox Gecko runtime as a story · 165 points
HN discussionAs I understand it, Gecko is much harder to work with, so it would take a lot of time to make something like brave compatible with both Chromium and Gecko/Firefox's APIs (or to even only move to Gecko/FF). See the following comment from [0]: > More significantly, in my book: it’s difficult to use Gecko and Firefox in these ways. Even the simplest app requires substantial and arcane boilerplate. And the docs are comp…
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Brave launches 1.0”Submitted Mozilla and Node.js as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThe [Positron Discontinued]( https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/ ) post describes why Mozilla gave up on building an electron alternative. I think those general comments apply to anyone trying to do the same.
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “GeckoView for Android”Submitted Introducing qbrt as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYes. There was an experimental project called Positron [0]: "a experimental, Electron-compatible runtime on top of Gecko". It was discontinued in 2017 [1]. AFAIK the only thing around nowadays is GeckoView [2] for Android. [0]: https://github.com/mozilla/positron [1]: https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/ [2]: https://mozilla.github.io/geckoview/
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Show HN: Nyxt Browser 2.0.0”Submitted Embedding Projects (for Gecko) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThey tried: "This project is an Electron-compatible app shell for creating desktop apps based on Gecko, the rendering engine used in Firefox." https://github.com/mozilla/positron but they failed: "As noted in the blog post Positron Discontinued [1], this project has been discontinued. The source remains available, and you're welcome to reuse it." [1] https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Mozilla Is Hiring a Developer to Work on Thunderbird Full-Time”Submitted Controlling Headless Firefox from Node.js with Selenium-Webdriver as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI would like to see Positron rebooted. Positron is to Firefox what electron is to chromium. https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Mozilla's abandoned web engine 'Servo' project is getting a reboot”Submitted Headless Firefox in Node.js with selenium-webdriver as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThere was a project to do this, Positron. https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/ Revolving door management that has no clue what initiatives the previous management started and wants to start all their own initiatives really hurt Mozilla in the last 5 years.
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Ask HN: Can Firefox be revived?”Submitted Why Embedding Matters as a story · 1 points
HN discussionAlso adding NodeJS: * https://mykzilla.org/2016/12/01/mozilla-and-nodejs/ * https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/firefox-dev/2016-December...
Comment linking /2016/12/01/mozilla-and-nodejs/
on “Rust required to build Gecko”Very interesting, thanks. Apparently its been discontinued and replaced by qbrt https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/15/introducing-qbrt/
Comment linking /2017/03/15/introducing-qbrt/
on “Firefox’s speed with large numbers of tabs leaves Chrome in the dust”The issue with this is that the more deeply customisable a fork would be the further it would stray from upstream (and by extension the more dev resources it would require to maintain). > I keep hearing the Firefox codebase isn't very modular and makes it hard to pursue such a project, and I don't doubt it. But aren't there enough of "us" out there to make a concerted effort? There's been plenty of people making suc…
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Firefox 91”Not exactly, but there was an Electron-compatible prototype for a bit, called Positron. Myk wrote about taht as well: https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
Comment linking /2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/
on “Qbrt – Cross-platform HTML/JS desktop apps using the Firefox Gecko runtime”
