LinuxReaders » Firefox

Play Divx / Mp3 on Fedora

Dhaval Thakar — Fri, 28 May 2010 07:38:37 +0000

Update
Works with Fedora 16

By default fedora does not provide totem plugins to play divx / mp3.

To get plugin support run following commands as root

rpm -ivh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum install gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-ffmpeg gstreamer-plugins-ugly -y

You can also install vlc

Play Divx / Mp3 on Fedora is a post from: LinuxReaders

Experience with Xubuntu

Dhaval Thakar — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:12:52 +0000

In my previous post I have expressed my love to use Linux on my OLD COMPUTER, which is Celeron 1.1Ghz with 256 MB Ram.
For a long time I have used Fedora on this computer, but with the latest versions I have experienced limitation of my pc. Since I use Laptop at home for most of the time, I never cared to find better Linux OS for my old desktop and continued using SliTaz.
Using Slitaz / Puppy linux was always option but I was looking for a OS on which I can run latest version of Firefox & Google Chrome with ofcourse openoffice & torrent clients. With the other light weight version of Linux OS it is difficult to find latest softwares.
Till now I ignored using Xubuntu, as it being light version of Ubuntu I was under impression it will not perform on my old computer. Having free time I thought of giving try to Xubuntu. Unlike my expectation it runs fast enough to not letting me realize that I am using old computer.
Seems like it was worth trying Xubuntu, which eventually made me keep it installed.

Try it.

Minimum system requirements

You need 192 MB RAM to run the Live CD or 128 MB RAM to install. The Alternate Install CD only requires you to have 64 MB RAM at install time.
To install Xubuntu, you need 2.0 GB of free space on your hard disk.
Once installed, Xubuntu can run with starting from 192 (or even just 128) MB RAM, but it is strongly recommended to have at least 256 MB RAM.

Experience with Xubuntu is a post from: LinuxReaders

Using TAR Package for latest Firefox Release / Pre-Release

Dhaval Thakar — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:42:18 +0000

For my normal web surfing I prefer to use pre-released firefox. I am not a developer, thus this is my way to contribute to firefox. While using I hardly face any problem but if there any crash I do send crash report.
Apart from this I always like pre-released firefox. This is when you can makeout performance / feature improvement.

If you wait for your favorite distro to release rpm / deb package, you might not get chance to use latest pre-release.
For mozilla products I prefer tar packages only, as in there is no installation required. All you have to do is to extract & run application.

Download firefox-3.7 latest built
Create Folder in your Home Directory e.g packages & Extract source package
Or
As a root, extract package in /usr/local/etc/ so that same will be accessible to other users on same computer. (recommended)

Add shortcut on panel (./firefox/firefox)

Start using it.

You might need to install compat-libstdc++ / libstdc++ rpm. otherwise you’ll not be able to run application

This is not only limited to pre-released packages. You can also use it for stable release, thus you can start using latest release as made available by mozilla rather waiting for new rpm / deb

Using TAR Package for latest Firefox Release / Pre-Release is a post from: LinuxReaders

Firefox & Xmarks

Dhaval Thakar — Sat, 09 May 2009 10:36:59 +0000

I mostly use Office computer, as any other person I keep on updating bookmarks on the same. Often I need to access my bookmark sites from home, which is not possible unless both are synchronized.

I used Xmarks on Firefox on office & home PC to sync bookmarks.

Click here to download Xmarks.

After installation you will be asked to register account on xmarks.com

Sync Bookmarks.

While closing Firefox, it prompts for Bookmark sync.

Restore Bookmarks from server.

To restore Bookmarks goto advanced seeings of Xmarks & click on Download. This will overwrite your existing bookmarks.

Firefox & Xmarks is a post from: LinuxReaders

Firefox 3.0.10 Released

Dhaval Thakar — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:49:47 +0000

Latest version of Firefox is Released.

Download Now

You can find fixed security issues.

Firefox 3.0.10 Released is a post from: LinuxReaders

Mozilla ponders dropping Firefox support for Win2k, early XP

Dhaval Thakar — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:54:44 +0000

Some developers want to ditch older Microsoft OSs by mid-2010

Mozilla Corp. is considering dropping support for Windows 2000 and the earliest versions of XP when it ships the follow-up to Firefox 3.5 in 2010, online discussions show.

In a series of messages on the Mozilla.dev.planning forum, developers and Mozilla executives, including the company’s chief engineer and its director of Firefox, hashed out which Microsoft operating systems it should support with the 2010 edition of its browser.

“Raise the minimum requirements on Gecko 1.9.2 (and any versions of Firefox built on 1.9.2) for Windows builds to require Windows XP Service Pack 3 or higher,” said Michael Conner, one of the company’s software engineers, to start the discussion.

Mozilla is currently working on Gecko 1.9.1, the engine that powers Firefox 3.5, which is still under development. The company hopes to release that browser at some point in the second quarter. Gecko 1.9.2 and the successor to Firefox 3.5 built on it — which Mozilla has dubbed “Firefox.next” and code-named “Namoroka” — are slated to wrap up in “early-to-mid 2010,” according to the company’s current plans.

Conner based his proposal on the fact that Microsoft Corp. will end all support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 on July 13, 2010, and has already ditched support for Windows XP and XP SP1. After that July 2010 date, Microsoft will only support Windows XP SP3, the free upgrade it shipped in May 2008 after some initial compatibility snafus.

“As we intend to ship the next version of Firefox in early 2010, Firefox 3.5 will continue to be supported under our current support policy (six months after the next version) until after those OS versions are no longer supported,” reasoned Conner, “so users will continue to be supported by Mozilla at least as long as their OS is supported.”

Some, however, balked at the idea.

“Right now, the majority of our Windows users are still on XP, but I’m not sure it’s clear how many of those users have upgraded, or intend to upgrade, or in some cases are able to upgrade,” said Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s director of Firefox. “And while I understand that the platform itself isn’t supported by Microsoft, I do think that keeping those XP users from being able to use Firefox will end up doing more harm (to them) than good, no matter what the intent.”

Others argued for even more drastic measures. “We can justify dropping [Windows 2000]/XP entirely better than setting the minimum to XP SP3 because there are many more new features in Vista that we could take advantage of,” said developer Rob Arnold. “I think we should see how Windows 7 pans out. If the result is good and users migrate from XP, then we should consider dropping XP. Of course, there will always be people who cling to old systems like Win2k and XP, and they will be vocal.”

Conner rebutted Arnold’s argument, noting — as did many of the others in the discussion — that XP is hale and hearty, and may remain so for years. “I don’t think completely dropping XP is feasible for [Gecko] 1.9.2 unless it ships in 2012, given that many machines, notably netbooks, are still shipping with XP Home,” Conner said.

Like many of the out-in-public discussions by Mozilla — which prides itself on the openness of its deliberations — there was no immediate decision made by the participants, who included not only Beltzner but also Mike Shaver, Mozilla’s vice president of engineering.

Currently, Firefox 3.08 supports Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Server 2003. Firefox 3.5, which will be updated to Beta 4 next week, supports the same versions.

Users of older Microsoft operating systems — notably Windows 98 and Windows NT — have been unable to upgrade from Firefox 2.0 to the Version 3.x line, a point that has irked many.

Source

Mozilla ponders dropping Firefox support for Win2k, early XP is a post from: LinuxReaders

Firefox 3: 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do

Dhaval Thakar — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:40:47 +0000

Unleash the power of Firefox 3 with the help of these little-known features.

The latest version of Mozilla’s popular open-source browser enjoyed one of the most successful launches in software history, with a record-setting 8.2 million downloads the first day it was available. With the ability to drastically expand the browser’s functions using plug-in extensions and Greasemonkey scripts, many of Firefox 3′s built-in features are overlooked. Here are eight handy things you can do with Firefox, ranging from tiny tweaks to hugely powerful capabilities, all with nary an extension to install.

1. Duplicate tabs with drag-and-drop.
Duplicating tabs is a piece of cake: Simply hold the Ctrl key while dragging the tab you want to duplicate to an empty space on the tab bar.

2. Minimize the toolbar.
Free up a little extra screen real estate by getting rid of the big, round “Back” button and replacing it with a more streamlined control. Right-click the toolbar, choose Customize, and select Use small icons. The new controls are perfectly functional but smaller, allowing the toolbar to shrink and leaving more room for viewing sites.

3. Use smart bookmarks.

Smart bookmarks are live bookmarks that don’t just refer to particular sites but actually generate live lists of sites according to parameters you define. For example, you might have a smart bookmark that lists the 10 sites you visit most often, or the last 20 sites you’ve visited with a particular keyword in their title.

To create a smart bookmark, select Organize Bookmarks from Firefox’s Bookmarks menu. In the window that opens, select Bookmarks Menu in the left-hand pane, then click Organize in the toolbar at the top and New Bookmark in the drop-down menu. Give your smart bookmark a descriptive name, such as “10 Most Recent Bookmarks.” In the Location field, you’re going to enter in a line of code telling the smart bookmark what to do. For the 10 sites you bookmarked most recently, you’d enter: place:queryType=1&sort=12&maxResults=10 . There are dozens of parameters you can use; Mozilla’s developer site includes a list of commands you can use in smart bookmarks. Here are a couple of the most useful:

The 10 sites you’ve visited most recently (some installations of Firefox come with this smart bookmark already in place on the Bookmarks toolbar): place:queryType=0&sort=8&maxResults=10
The 10 most visited sites with some search term in them: place:queryType=0&sort=8&maxResults=10&terms=keyword (replace “keyword” with your desired term)

4. Send e-mail via Yahoo! Mail or Gmail by default.

Normally, clicking on an e-mail address on a Web page will open up a new e-mail using your default e-mail program. If you’d rather use Yahoo! Mail, open up Options under Firefox’s Tools menu, select the Applications tab, and scroll down to the mailto: entry. Select Use Yahoo! Mail and click OK.

Gmail is not included as a built-in option in every installation of Firefox, but if yours doesn’t have it, you can add Gmail easily enough. Skip the Options dialogs for now and instead type about:config in Firefox’s address bar and hit Enter. In the Filter field, type gecko.handlerServiceAllowRegisterFromDifferentHost. Actually, you can simply type gecko and find the entry in the filtered list. Double-click the gecko.handlerServiceAllowRegisterFromDifferentHost entry to change it to True.

Next, cut-and-paste this line into the address bar and hit Enter: javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler(“mailto”, “https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s”,”Gmail”)

A message will appear at the top of the browser window asking if you want to add Gmail as an application. Now, repeat the process above for choosing Yahoo! Mail, but select the new Use Gmail option instead.

5. Change or remove the Close tab buttons.

By default, Firefox 3 puts an X on each tab, similar to the X button that closes an application. You can remove this button, or see it only on the tab you’re currently viewing. Open about:config again and enter browser.tabs.closeButtons in the Filter field. Enter one of the following values depending on the behavior you prefer:

0 (Zero) Close button only on the active tab.
1 (Default) Close buttons on every tab.
2 No close buttons.
3 Single close button at the end of the tab bar, instead of on the tabs themselves.

6. Change the behavior of the Awesome Bar.
Mozilla has dubbed Firefox 3′s address bar the “Awesome Bar” because of the useful suggestions it makes as you type. By default, the Awesome Bar bases its recommendations on your recent history, pages you’ve tagged, and your bookmarks. You can change the way the Awesome Bar acts in the configuration page. Open about:config and change the following values, depending on the features you want:

To disable the Awesome Bar entirely and revert to Firefox 2–like functionality, change the value of browser.urlbar.maxRichResults to -1.
To allow the Awesome Bar to recommend only sites whose address you’ve typed directly into the address bar, change browser.urlbar.matchonlytyped to TRUE.
To remove unvisited bookmarks from the pool of recommendations, change places.frecency.unvisitedBookmarkBonus to 0 (zero).
To remove all bookmarks from the Awesome Bar, change both places.frecency.unvisitedBookmarkBonus and places.frecency.bookmarkVisitBonus to 0 (zero).

7. Search any site from the address bar with smart keywords.

The smart keyword function allows you to create searches for any site with a search engine, and trigger the search from the address bar using your choice of keyword. For example, you could create a smart keyword “me” to search the archives of your own site. If you wanted to see if you’d ever written about cat juggling, you’d type me cat juggling into the address bar and Firefox would return the results from your own site’s search page. Visit the site you want to search and right-click its search box, selecting Add a keyword for this search. In the window that pops up, add a short description of the search and enter a short, memorable keyword that you’ll use to trigger it. For example, to create a smart keyword for PCMag.com, I visited the home page, right-clicked the search field, opened the smart keyword window, entitled my search PCMag.com and then entered the keyword pc as my search keyword. Now, if I want to search for something—say, laser printers—I just type pc laser printers and the search is run.

8. View your saved passwords for any page.
To view the passwords associated with any site, go to the log-in page and right-click anywhere on the page. Select View Page Info, and then the Security tab. Click View Saved Passwords. Another window will pop up showing the usernames associated with that site. Click Show Passwords to see the passwords for each username.

If you want to view all of your saved usernames and passwords, open Options under the Tools menu and select the Security tab. Click Saved Passwords to open a list of every site you’ve ever saved a password for. Again, click View Passwords and the list will display all of your passwords. You can’t print this list, but you can just as easily take screenshots if you want to print out your passwords for safekeeping. Isn’t this a huge security hole?, you may ask. Why yes, it is. Knowing how easy it is for anyone with access to your PC to view all your passwords, maybe you’d like to password-protect your passwords. In the Options | Security tab, click Use a master password and enter a password. Now this password will have to be entered any time you or anyone else tries to view saved passwords. You’ll be asked to enter your master password every time you open Firefox; without it, Firefox won’t automatically enter saved passwords for you. Make sure you don’t forget this one!

Source

Firefox 3: 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do is a post from: LinuxReaders

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