Yes, but it will have to wait till I have some time to do that.
For now, I seem to have solved the problem by installing 91.9.1esr.

I do not use the 1000HE much, just roast coffee with it one a fortnight and keep it updated.

As I have not had to do any local travel since a couple of years before the pandemic hit, browser usage has been limited to accessing the web to check on something while/if my box was off-line which is not frequent so I cannot really say at which point this started happening.

Although I suspect it is this last (available) version

But something is amiss: either a bug or FF code now does things it did not do in previous versions.
Would not be at all surprised.

Thanks in advance.

Best,

A.

Found it here.

apt/synaptic won't be aware of it as this was not a .deb file.
The extracted folder is in /opt and symlinked the executable to /user/bin/firefox.

As expected, it loads with no problems and does not stress the CPU: I was able to untick all the boxes as I have always done.
No response delays whatsoever.

So whatever is going on with FF 102.13.0esr, it is poison for the 1000HE.
If by design (ie: not a bug) it is a rather dumb move for a i686 version.

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

Yes, the 91.13esr-1~deb10u1 would be suitable enough to test but I've been there.

Maybe I don't know what I am looking for?
ie: I don't see a "esr-1~deb10u1 i386" version.

Thanks in advance.

Best,

A.

Edit: I just noticed that those might be too old.

Better...
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/ma … refox-esr/

Mine runs on 5.10.0-0.deb10.16-686-pae (5.10.127-2~bpo10+1).
I have resized the almost never used XP partition to get space for a larger swap file, now set at a ridiculous 12GB for testing purposes.

I reinstalled firefox-esr from the repository but it is practically unusable.
First thing I have always done when installing FF and other similar browsesr is go to the settings page and untick the default settings.

In this version of FF the UI has an absurd reponse time: between two or three sec. to see the box unticked.
Scrolling with the 1000HE's infamous touchpad is another problem, it takes almost two sec. to respond.

I have also noticed the CPU fan starting to blow after a while of doing nothing but what I describe above.
ie: no web related activity whatsoever, just FF open and changing the settings.

A consequence of this is that with the 1000HE plugged in, the battery charging light came on.
I have never seen this happen, not even when running the coffee roasting program.

I'm sure of it, but I do not recall this happening with previous versions of FF.

Curiously enough (or not) the usually sluggish (but not unusable) coffee roasting sofware I use on the 1000HE has acquired a snappiness it did not have when the swap file was set at its previous value of 8GB, so one for the good guys.

I have been looking all over but cannot find an older version of firefox-esr to try, ideally two or three behind the acual one.
Know where I can download it to test on the 1000HE?   

Thanks in advance.

Best,

A.

I'll have a look.

To test, I fired up the devuan_chimaera_4.0.3_i386_desktop-live.iso using a 4GB SD card and although Firefox behaved a bit better but still unusable.
Maybe I should try an older version and pin it or resize the swapfile.

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

When I had a netbook, I'd give it a 2GB swap partition in addition to its 2GB ram, because it let me use FF at a reasonable speed, not so slow as to drive me nuts waiting.

I have run Devuan Linux on an Asus 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU + 2GB RAM) for a few years now.
These days, 5.10.0 with a backported kernel.

I run my coffee roasting software and serves as a access websites when I'm doing maintenance on my box and need to read up on something specific.
I also take with me when I am out of town. Limited but quite useful for a 14 year old netbook.

Now, the thing is that with the last two or three upgrades to firefox-esr, the browser has become incredibly slow/sluggish: practically unusable.

Is there another, lighter on resources (ie:'netbook friendly') that can be used with Devuan instead of Firefox-esr?

Thanks in advance.

Best,

A.