Firefox Browser Ported to HaikuOS

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Firefox-on-Haiku status

  • Port exists but is still early/draft:
    • Recently it couldn’t render text; newer screenshots show text working.
    • Reports of frequent crashes and missing platform integrations; not yet for average users.
  • Some note that a BeOS/Haiku Mozilla/Firefox existed around 2011, but on an outdated engine; this is the first modern port.
  • Port implies Rust also runs on Haiku.

HaikuOS experience & hardware support

  • Many praise Haiku’s UI as extremely snappy, minimal, and reminiscent of classic Mac OS / BeOS.
  • Some use it on bare metal, often on older ThinkPads or x86 desktops, and report working Wi‑Fi and acceptable stability.
  • Others complain about:
    • Limited Wi‑Fi chipset support (especially certain Broadcom chips) and licensing complications.
    • Weak power management and brightness control on laptops; some hardware (e.g., Ryzen) lacks proper support.
    • Single-user design without login passwords (workarounds suggested via BIOS/bootloader passwords).
  • Debate over whether Haiku feels “20 years in the future” (due to responsiveness and simplicity) or purely “20 years in the past” (due to missing basics).

BeOS legacy, source code, and open source

  • Discussion of why BeOS source hasn’t been released:
    • Likely contains third‑party proprietary and possibly unlicensed code; cleaning it would be costly and might strip much of its value.
  • Some argue this is evidence that copyright and proprietary licensing can impede later reuse.
  • Others counter that:
    • Commercial, IP-based development historically outpaced open source on the desktop.
    • BeOS being open-sourced in 2001 probably wouldn’t have changed mainstream OS history.
  • BeOS/Haiku ideas are said to have influenced Android (Binder, message-passing, API patterns).

Firefox history and naming side-thread

  • Long discussion on early Mozilla, Phoenix → Firebird → Firefox renamings due to clashes with existing products and projects.
  • Clarification that BeOS ports (Bezilla) were just one of many Mozilla suite ports, not the main inspiration for Firefox; native-front-end efforts on other platforms were more influential.

Other tangents

  • Mentions of other non‑Unix or alternative OSes.
  • Nostalgia for older Windows (including XP) and lightweight tools; warnings about XP security risks today.