Introducing Opera 12 alpha
By Huib Kleinhouthuibk. Thursday, October 13, 2011 7:00:00 AM
WebGL
WebGL in combination with new ECMAscript features like type arrarys makes it possible to develop and run games with high quality graphics in your browser. To demonstrate the possibilities of these new technologies Opera has ported the game Emberwind to HTML5. There are several other demos like Formula 1 and Don't click.
Full hardware acceleration
Opera aims to give the best possible performance for all users. This is why we already have a "software accelerated" backend in Vega. However with the new hardware accelerated backend Opera will draw the whole user interface using the GPU, not just specific elements of the webpage like the canvas element. This will offload the CPU significantly and make it possible to accelerate the rendering of all webpages. On systems with outdated drivers or buggy graphics cards, Opera will fallback to the heavily optimized Vega software rendering engine.
Currently hardware acceleration is in an alpha stage and only uses an OpenGL backend. We would like to get your feedback about how well it works for you. Opera 12 alpha works best with modern graphics cards and up to date drivers. In future snapshot we'll add support for DirectX and more graphics cards. Be aware that testing Opera 12 alpha can trigger bugs in your graphics card and in worst case blue screen your computer.
Themes
Opera 12 makes it easier than ever to personalize your browser. It's now possible to create simple lightweight themes based on a nice photos or other graphics. It's also easier to install and try out new and existing themes (previously called skins). Try them out here! They are currently only available for Windows and Mac (more information for Linux/FreeBSD users).
Check out what's new in Opera 12 alpha and have fun test driving Opera 12 alpha!

WARNING: This is an Opera 12.00 Alpha build: It is not feature complete and may have severe known issues, including crashes, and data loss situations. If you are uncomfortable with this, please use the latest stable Opera instead.
Download



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Nicolaimrfiletin # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:08:07 PM
each # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:09:48 PM
Originally posted by each:
After using the browser for most of the day it does become slow after a while and only a couple of tabs open, a restart of Opera fixes things for a while and then the problem appears again. Meanwhile on my desktop PC (HP xw6600, Windows Vista, NVidia FX 570 - 182.67 drivers) the browser has been running happily for hours now with about 15 tabs open and no restarts.pinfeng # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:11:23 PM
GL_VENDOR: Tungsten Graphics, Inc
GL_RENDERER: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop
GL_VERSION: 2.1 Mesa 7.10.3
Running on Linux 3.0.0-1-amd64
Scrolling is sluggy, though.
What is more: ***Opera hangs every about 4 seconds for a few milliseconds...*** this started with the first build of the new version 12.
Please, can anyone confirm this?
Alendos # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:11:36 PM
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5815/49635579.2b/0_61ad7_18749e0c_L.jpg
And it consume 300 mb ram. AMD Radeon 6970, last driver.
KhronX # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:17:48 PM
It spat out an error after opera started after updating it, and now when i try to open a pdf in a tab, it just quits loading, and the window stays blank white. I've also closed and reopened Opera once, but no change. Reader's got no (further) updates available.
I hope this will get fixed soon / in the next snapshot
HWA won't work (GF7600 / 190.62 driver / Server 2008 R2), but i'm not worried about that; everything else is at least as snappy as before
Bucic # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:18:54 PM
blackcoder # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:19:12 PM
Originally posted by Fluxid:
Confirmed.
Vega-Back-End: OpenGL
GL_VENDOR: ATI Technologies Inc.
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics
GL_VERSION: 3.3.11079 Compatibility Profile Context
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION: 3.30
Hersteller-ID: 0x1002
Geräte-ID: 0x9614
Treiberversion: 8.892.0.0
AMD Catalyst 11.9
Zeal # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:20:50 PM
GL_VENDOR
NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER
GeForce GTX 560 Ti/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION
4.2.0
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION
4.20 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
Vendor ID
0x10de
Device ID
0x1200
Driver version
8.17.12.8538
Grrblt # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:38:04 PM
Old behavior (11.51): menu always shows after 1 letter entered. Shows matching nicknamed bookmarks at the top.
http://i52.tinypic.com/15gutl1.png
New behavior (12.00a): menu shows sometimes doesn't show after 1 letter (can't figure out the pattern here). Bookmarks sorted below history. Bookmarks are hidden if there are enough addresses in history.
http://i54.tinypic.com/2qjemxl.png
http://i56.tinypic.com/35b78ed.png
http://i52.tinypic.com/dxoehl.png
http://i56.tinypic.com/mw616e.png
Obviously, I want faster access to my nicknamed bookmarks than some random site I visited once.
win7 64, if it makes a difference. I did a brief search in opera:config for a way to change this, but didn't find anything.
Fluxid # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:41:06 PM
Artifacts showed up at the bottom of the screen, X stopped to respond (or rather crashed at this point) and I couldn't switch to tty...
I've disabled HWA for now.
mopi1978 # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:45:16 PM
without hwacc is everything ok.
HP 8510p :W7x64, T9300, 4 Gb DDR2-667 Mhz, Mobility Radeon HD2600, 10.9 Catalyst driver
Stephen Turrellstve10 # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:49:19 PM
Originally posted by QuHno:
Different for me I opened 195 tabbs & memory used was over 3 GB after closing all pages & taking the extra step of deleting all private data memory used was still over 1 GB have to restart Opera to reclaim memory.
Another bug initiating a windows download of Opera 12a & then canceling crashes the browser.
Win 7 x64 Radeon HD 5800
Couleursurlevideezekiel666x # Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:54:06 PM
Originally posted by BS-Harou:
I confirm 4) with build 1090 using a theme.
I have a somewhat old computer and my graphics card is a GeForce FX 5900XT. The build with HWA is completely unusable for me and I have filed a bug report. I reinstalled the build 1090.
blackcoder # Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:04:07 PM
Originally posted by Zeal:
confirmed.
Windows Vista 64-Bit
Vega-Back-End: OpenGL
GL_VENDOR: ATI Technologies Inc.
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics
GL_VERSION: 3.3.11079 Compatibility Profile Context
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION: 3.30
Hersteller-ID: 0x1002
Geräte-ID: 0x9614
Treiberversion: 8.892.0.0
AMD Catalyst 11.9
Cristiancristianer # Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:07:20 PM
W7 64bit
HD 4870
DanStudio # Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:27:54 PM
instead of search-and-edit i should search, remember scrollbar position, then scroll to it and manually find what i was looking for :/
it worked fine in 11.51, and since than ALL the test snapshots have such a problem. VERY inconvenient.
DaringineerQuadunit404 # Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:41:06 PM
Anyone mind confirming? I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and my graphics card is a nVIDIA GT 330M.
ricksper # Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:54:53 PM
Originally posted by minho:
Confirmed. BUT right Click -> Open yields:
Not Found
The requested URL /player/access_options/rtmp-live/BandAM640.sdp was not found on this server.
minho # Thursday, October 13, 2011 10:30:47 PM
Originally posted by ricksper:
What's your system?
MaximSailorMax # Thursday, October 13, 2011 10:49:34 PM
Mikanoshi # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:04:11 PM
Win7 x64
GL_VENDOR NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER GeForce GTX 580/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION 4.2.0
Vendor ID 0x10de
Device ID 0x1080
Driver version 8.17.12.8538
minho # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:06:14 PM
ubuntu 11.10 x32
minho # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:12:21 PM
type keyword for any search engine but default engine
press ctrl+shift+v (paste and go)
Opera always searches using default engine
Confirm?
ubuntu 11.10 x32
OperaCrashed # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:14:34 PM
If you encounter problems with nVidia card and relatively new driver - try to set "Threaded optimization" to "Off" in driver settings. "Auto" or "On" results in serious memory/resource leaks in certain OpenGL cases.
BernG # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:18:32 PM
Originally posted by nco2k:
I was using Mouseware 9.75 which did not have the game option.
I upgraded to the Logitech Setpoint drivers and disabled the game option. The mouse now works correctly in 1105.
Thank you.
ricksper # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:22:54 PM
Originally posted by minho:
Win XP SP3 Clicked on play button, then right clicked on plug-in icon after plug-in failed to operate.
rseiler # Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:28:52 PM
GL_VENDOR: ATI Technologies Inc.
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon 9600 / X1050 Series
GL_VERSION: 2.1.8544 Release
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION: 1.20
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x4152
Driver version: 8.593.100.0
United States of Europeunitedstatesofeurope # Friday, October 14, 2011 12:22:35 AM
Dragging tabs on tabBar produces significantly less fluid movement than back in Opera 11.51
tbb505 # Friday, October 14, 2011 12:29:29 AM
masterofopera # Friday, October 14, 2011 12:54:40 AM
some
high CPU usage @ desktopteam blog
jerking + grafical paint bug while Scrolling on some websides (like desktopteam blog & forums of Heise.de)
Slow Framerate here: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Performance/MrPotatoGun (I know its desinged for Internet Explorer, But is fast in Firefox)
after a while Crash in Emberwind when entering doors (Crtl-key) (reported via Operas Crash tool) (happens with Opera 11.51 Stable too)
Hardware Acceleration is active (tested with Emberwind)
Driver Catalyst 11.9 ( = v 8.892.0.0) -> latest @ ATI/ AMD Radeon HD 4670
-> Vega-Back-End: OpenGL
AMD Athlon II 220
4 GB RAM
64 Bit Windows 7
highstream # Friday, October 14, 2011 1:30:43 AM
Nguyen Linhnklinh # Friday, October 14, 2011 2:17:11 AM
Windows7 X86.
LeoCG # Friday, October 14, 2011 2:56:24 AM
Originally posted by minho:
Can't confirm on Win7.Vecanti # Friday, October 14, 2011 2:58:14 AM
I tried http://helloracer.com/webgl/ AMAZING!
I runs perfectly smooth. Using a dual core AMD II with built in NVidia chipset.
I tried it on the latest Chrome and it's not nearly as smooth. Kind of chunks along. Does Chrome have hardware acceleration? Tried some Chrome webgl examples and all have seemed to work.
This is pretty impressive stuff. Great work guys.
QuHno # Friday, October 14, 2011 3:54:07 AM
Originally posted by blackcoder:
Crash not confirmed, but extemely slow.
Same onboard graphics and driver as blackcoder but Windows 7
Robsonrobsonpc # Friday, October 14, 2011 4:06:59 AM
Originally posted by each:
I deleted 3 files *. JSON file (firefox?) within the profile and the interface has returned to normal speed. Try it.Hendryhendrywu82 # Friday, October 14, 2011 4:21:13 AM
Win XP SP3, ATI 5450 VGA
Zeal # Friday, October 14, 2011 5:03:31 AM
Windows 7 64-bit
GL_VENDOR
NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER
GeForce GTX 560 Ti/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION
4.2.0
Vendor ID
0x10de
Device ID
0x1200
Driver version
8.17.12.8538
gensan # Friday, October 14, 2011 5:44:09 AM
works fine, but Open GL still failed on vectorlinux:
./opera-next
GLib-GIO-Message: Using the 'memory' GSettings backend. Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.
GLib-GIO-Message: Using the 'memory' GSettings backend. Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.
GLib-GIO-Message: Using the 'memory' GSettings backend. Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.
GLib-GIO-Message: Using the 'memory' GSettings backend. Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.
GLib-GIO-Message: Using the 'memory' GSettings backend. Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.
opera: OpenGL safety check failed (error code 2). OpenGL will be disabled for this session.
egiraudy # Friday, October 14, 2011 5:45:58 AM
Issue with GMail
HA-off: in the email list, row spacing is way too large (only on Mac since the previous build, I saw this reported already)
HA-on: row spacing is good, but the email senders column is not visible
Mac OS 10.6.8 / 2.1 NVIDIA-1.6.36
Yogurth # Friday, October 14, 2011 6:36:44 AM
Now to my observations in order to help out HWA to become better
I have Opera installed on two systems (Windows 7 x64 and Windows XP SP2 x64). Windows 7 has Nvidia GTX 560 Ti with latest beta drivers and Opera with HWA turned on is working rather well(haven't noticed any issues so far), on the other hand Windows XP X64 has ATi(AMD) Radeon 5850 HD with latest 11.10 preview 2 drivers and Opera has alot of problems on this configuration. Uses excessive ammounts of RAM, scrolling is jerky, Tabs disappear from time to time (not closing, just not drawing properly, pages are flashing, drop down menus are flashing/popping out,....)
Many of these could be AMD drivers fault, but I felt the need to report findings. Will add to post if I find something else. Keep up the good work!
PraetorianX # Friday, October 14, 2011 6:40:22 AM
- Ubuntu Linux 32-bit 2.6.38-11-generic-pae, with ATI drivers 11.5 and 11.9.
-Windows 7 x64 SP1 with ATI drivers 11.8.
Issues:
1. There have been some redrawing issues. E.g. the RSS feed notification in the bottom right was flashing and moving agonizingly slow and some flash banners at sites were flickering constantly
2. On the above linux Opera did crash silently and abruptly to desktop at one point while playing Emberwind from the above link.
3. Installing themes (E.g. "Monster" or the "Natural History of Norway " only resulting in a slight change of color of the tab labels. Nothing else (speed dial remained the same and I have no custom background image), so I'm guessing this is not right.
QuHno # Friday, October 14, 2011 6:57:09 AM
Does the memguard version for V11 work with this alpha too? Can it catch HWA|GPU errors too?
Bhikkhu PesalaPesala # Friday, October 14, 2011 7:33:44 AM
Boris Mitrinborisim # Friday, October 14, 2011 7:46:08 AM
>> http://simplest-image-hosting.net/jpg-0-plasma-desktoppb4961
Confirm this bug. Also got an empty start window:
http://simplest-image-hosting.net/png-0-sshot1
Alwyn van DeventerFunkyMunky1723 # Friday, October 14, 2011 7:50:02 AM
- Dragging Opera towards screen edges also do not maximize the window
MossMan # Friday, October 14, 2011 8:01:09 AM
Originally posted by ayespy:
At least Opera will keep the software backend - the "HWA! HWA!" boys can go play who's-got-the-biggest-video-card and everyone else can just surf on as before...
sTeeVeboY # Friday, October 14, 2011 8:23:10 AM
But there is still a drawing problem to be mentioned. In HWA-mode the progress bar is worse readable than in software-mode
1.) HWA-mode (Opera 12.00 Alpha Build 1105)
2.) Software-mode (Opera 11.51 Final Build 1087)
And when scrolling, the upper und lower ends of the page are fading which means that the content of the page is not drawed instantly but a little bit later so that you can see some kind of blurry effect. Couldn't post this as a picture because a picture is always a moment record.
Otherwise it is already fast and normally could get even faster.
The only thing that is really better by now is the fact that rearranging speeddials with that new type of arrangement is very fast and does not stutter anymore like in software-mode.
But altogether vega software backend is still better and faster than hardware acceleration with OpenGL/WebGL!
Very curious about beta and final version! So far very good job dear Opera devs!
Guiot SidneyFirefly74940 # Friday, October 14, 2011 8:24:05 AM
Originally posted by FunkyMunky1723:
Confirmed only with themes, with opera default it's work
And something else : speed dial preview do not show the theme background, so it's white and not cool
ПавелGemorroj # Friday, October 14, 2011 8:24:32 AM
OS: Windows XP SP3 32
GPU: Intel G41 Chipset - Integrated Graphics
GPU Driver: 6.14.10.5355
Video file: http://files.myopera.com/Gemorroj/files/Project003.7z