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I have trouble signing up to edit OpenStreetMap from an earlier-model Mac that runs Mac OS 10.4.11. When I registered, the browser simply redirects to a new "about:blank" page. So, I tried Firefox and was able to create an account. Unfortunately, neither Firefox nor Safari work well with OpenStreetMap on my computer. I understand that, to select a map feature, I click the question mark first, then the item on the map; however, in Firefox, if I do this, nothing appears in the left pane of the window. If I click the "edit" tab without selecting anything, the zoom function doesn't work, as there are hyperlinks that appear on top of the controls (thus, clicking the zoom function opens the "diary" function). Safari allows me to open the PotLatch editor, but nothing happens at all when I click on "save." If you simply don't support Mac OS 10.4.11, then I suggest creating a "minimum system requirements" page; if it already exists, then please provide a link in a more prominent location (such as on the new-account signup page). |
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Some not really options for you to contribute to OSM, which I am just mentioning here to show that we have many options because our interface is open. The only problem with your old software is that virtually no one uses them nowadays, and so no new/current software is written for them. Of course you could use editors like Level0. However, this is not what I would suggest for normal editor and really not what I would suggest for new users. Many other special editors exist. |
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With your Java 1.5 any JOSM (an advanced OSM editor) version before version 3378 should run. In principle it also may still be able to communicate with our database (still the same API version). But it is really old – we are now at version 7906 (more than four years later). E.g. you will not have aerial imagery support. That will be not that much fun to use this old version. Also you need to take care when using it because e.g. it might suggest tagging schemes which no one else uses anymore and the other way round it may not recognize new tagging schemes. See question josm-3376-load-satellite-imagery: seems to run – without this aerial imagery. You could download this versions there. At that discussion a link to a download of Java version 7 for Mac OS 10.5 is mentioned. Maybe it would also run on 10.4 or could be compiled in a similar way for 10.4. This would enable you to run the latest versions of JOSM. However, really not easy. |
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As SomeoneElse says, the question is what version of the browser you're running, not what operating system. For OS X 10.4, the best solution is likely to be TenFourFox. This is a more recent version of Firefox, specially adapted to work on earlier operating systems. Note that TenFourFox does not support plugins. This means you won't be able to use Flash (and therefore Potlatch 2), but you should be able to use iD, the default editor, which is written in JavaScript. Re: your last point, this is not the right place to discuss changes to the website, but the number of people still using PowerPC Macs for web browsing is so vanishingly small that I suspect a link to a "system requirements" page would be disproportionate clutter, and serve more to confuse than to illuminate. 1
I guess iD will run very slow then, since the hardware is also dated and iD in Firefox is not that fast anyway. But it is worth a try. And getting a current browser is useful also for other reasons.
(26 Jan '15, 16:43)
aseerel4c26 ♦
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One thing that might help here - what versions of Safari and Firefox are you using?
Safari 4.1.3 and Firefox 3.6.28.
Which version of Java can you run? If you get Java 6 (1.6), then you might be able to run a not thaaat old version of our editor JOSM (which does not run in the browser).
OSM aside, you really should think about replacing the whole operating system if there are only old programs available for it (not to mention all the security holes in the OS itself). … at least if you want to use this hardware to surf the web (TenFourFox, see at Richard, would be a first start). I guess you get no newer MacOS version which is why you are stuck on this old version?! A ubuntu Linux with LXDE seems to be available (but might require some technical skills to set up).
Java version is 1.5.0_19.
I believe I meet the mandatory minimum requirements for Mac OS 10.6.8 but not the recommended requirements. Although 10.6.8 will install on my machine, it runs so slowly as to be unusable, due to the dated hardware (single-core 32-bit processor). I understand that both 10.4.11 and 10.6.8 have security holes, but I presume that because fewer people use 10.4.11, nobody will attack it, whereas many people use 10.6.8 which makes it more attractive to hackers.