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Idea #1809: Fix firefox on Ubuntu
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Written by berlinbrown the 29 Feb 08 at 20:48.
Category: Internet & Networking.
Related project:
Nothing/Others.
Status: New
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Rationale
Firefox has ruins any good experience on Ubuntu. It has been buggy or slow or memory intensive on the many desktop systems I have installed it. Apparently, Firefox3beta is a big improvement. I am using FF3 and I wouldn't say big, but it is a little snappier.
Here are some of the issues I always have. Some say, they don't experience them but I have on all of the systems (4) I have installed Ubuntu on. All versions of Ubuntu and all versions of FF2. FF3 doesn't have many issues except for youtube videos.
FF3 (beta3)
* Any flash videos crash (e.g. Youtube or MSNBC videos) will crash. I have tried the open flash plugin, the commercial one. The commercial update. No dice. I have to close FF3beta and then open FF2
FF2 (FF2.13?)
* Sucks
* Memory intensive, slow, certain javascript heavy sites like gmail and blogger.com, msnbc.com and any site that uses heavy javascript, ajax just kills my machine. Early on, I it would actually lockup Xwindows where I have to reboot. Now I can actually force quit FF. I know there are issues because on gutsy, we started out with like FF2.7, now we are on FF 2.12 or 13, many updates.
* Very slow, I use FF3.
It may just be me. I currently have an Asus board, 3.2 mhz speed and 3 gigs of ram. On my other media machine, FF wont't play certain videos (e.g full screen google videos, just won't play). Hopefully that meets the minimum for running a web browser.
I tried using Opera and it works fine also, but many sites only support FF or IE and block you out otherwise (e.g. MSNBC), so I stuck with FF.
I know this isn't a reflection on Ubuntu, I know you guys update FF. But maybe you can smack around some of those FF developers. They seem to have left FF Linux behind in support of FF on windows.
Tags:
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97
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nixeagle
wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 20:51
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*whack* ok, I did my best as far as whacking mozilla. I do think the improved firefox 3 will be great for the next release of ubuntu, however I don't think *ubuntu* can do much with firefox. :S Alternate browsers include konqueror, opera, epiphany etc. Try them out ;)
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That is what I was thinking. But the Ubuntu people have been good at providing a good interface for linux. Maybe they can work with with firefox people or provide patches that make for a smoother FF experience.
Like now, I don't think FF3 beta is available in the repositories. Maybe provide beta releases when they are available?
Whatever it is, I hope they help.
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As great as this idea is- it's a Firefox issue. Actually- it's more of a Flash issue, since that is more often than not what breaks Firefox. Part of the problem is Flash for Linux just plain sucks, and it isn't even available for 64-bit. (Adobe seems to be about five years behind on that one.)
FF2 is just as bad in Windows, and on the Mac, as far as performance and memory usage gos. Fortunately Flash actually works on both. They are doing a LOT to make up for it in FF3, but there is still that whole Flash issue, which won't be resolved until Adobe gets their shit together, or Web designers find something else to use. I'd love to see either thing happen. Soon.
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You could also try Swiftfox.
"Swiftfox is an optimized build of Mozilla Firefox. Swiftfox has builds for both AMD and Intel processors and is based on the most cutting edge Firefox source code available."
http://getswiftfox.com/
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"As great as this idea is- it's a Firefox issue. Actually- it's more of a Flash issue, since that is more often than not what breaks Firefox. Part of the problem is Flash for Linux just plain sucks, and it isn't even available for 64-bit. (Adobe seems to be about five years behind on that one.) "
Also I wanted to highlight the javascript and memory issues. And it is on the FF side.
But Ubuntu (for me anyway) has done a good job with Linux overall. And I have used every linux distro under the sun. I am sure they have some ways to address some of FF's issues. If it is maybe through workarounds or patches or something.
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I am not sure if the Flash problem is really a flash problem. It actually appeared for me after some Firefox security update!
I still have an installation with no Flash problem what so ever (Edgy). But I installed Gutsy on another partition and suddenly Flash crashes. I think they even have the same Flash version!!!!!
So, don't just blame it all on Flash, just because it is so convenient.
I put as much info as possible at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/114363
Still this got ignored up to now.
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Whatever it is. No matter what Ubuntu does. No matter how cool the desktop looks or installer or how easy things are. If Firefox does not work properly, whether it is FF's fault or Adobe's; I guarantee Ubuntu Linux will still remain as just another "un"-user friendly Linux experience.
I am a software developer, I still get pissed when FF just crashes for no reason. I have 3 versions of FF, use Opera on some pages. No way, a regular user is going to like that.
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If you want Flash fixed, this probably would appeal to you too: "I would donate a Dollar for a FREE fully-featured FLASH plugin" http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/1895/
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madjr
wrote on the 1 Mar 08 at 14:22
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"If you want Flash fixed, this probably would appeal to you too: "I would donate a Dollar for a FREE fully-featured FLASH plugin" http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/1895/"
i would even donate a buck to adobe to fix their stupid linux support for their products. It's like 1 poor guy doing all the coding and porting of code to linux.
anyway, i just installed wine and tried the windows version of firefox
go to firefox.com and download the "windows installer"
then go to youtube.com or any flash site to install the flash plugin.
i must say it works pretty good (100 x better than the native linux), still 1 or 2 bugs.
sad but true, firefox and flash suck in linux.
i would ask mozilla and adobe to start coding for wine, its sad but it just works much better ATM.
Avoid flash 9,0,0,115 for linux at all costs! It runs hell slow even on fast dual-core procesors and the latest graphics chips. Downgrade to 9,0,0,48 if u really need flash in the linux version of firefox. Hardy should avoid 9,0,0,115 also
its sad but ubuntu might even want to drop the linux version of firefox all together and pre-install wine + firefox....
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Firefox 1 used to lock on me about once every other day in 6.06, plus it didn't release memory when you closed a tab.
I agree this isn't good enough, but 3.03whatever seems to have fixed these issues.
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The first point is due that FF does not insulate itself in any way from the plugins. When they crash FF crashes. Konqueror for instance buffers them and no plugin can take konqueror down. It is fixable in FF but it means MAJOR work.
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acce245
wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 23:05
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Firefox gives me no problems under Ubuntu. I have been using it on Gutsy since Gutsy has been out (ver7.1) and have had no problems with flash player whatsoever. It is slightly slower than the MS counterpart, but I have never had firefox crash, freeze or otherwise lockup due to this.
Firefox actually seems to run better ever since I used it way back in 6.10
My machine is 3 years old now.
Let's all start including some technical info here. Because, let's face it, your hardware or a compatibility issue could truly be the problem.
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080207 Ubuntu/7.10 (gutsy) Firefox/2.0.0.12
Ubuntu version 7.1 for x86 chipset, which I have.
Toshiba Satellite P35 S611
3.33 ghz Pentium 4 integrated (1.86 Ghz)
2gb ram
486mb swap
40gb main partition on 100gb drive
Atheros Wireless card
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
vent your anger here
blogs.adobe.com
Trust me, everything else is just a waste of time.
because
ubuntu is not going to fix that problem
and firefox won't fix it either.
it's up to Adobe, and let's make it worthwhile and let's post a hurricane of complaints, so they won't forget about us linux users in the future.
Thanks for reading!
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glotz
wrote on the 9 Apr 08 at 19:48
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@berlinbrown
sudo apt-get install lynx
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