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What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

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oswaldkelso
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#46 Post by oswaldkelso »

I'm posting this from Netsurf 3.1 and can confirm it's quite capable.

http://gungre.ch/dragora/repo/frusen/unstable/netsurf/

It has it's quirks and I read the newer versions have even better javascript support if I can find the link :-) js....Slippery slope imho

I use seamonkey everyday and it's faster than firefox at loading so I asked in seamonkey irc. They said it was due to FF loading a load of "crap" on first boot. The "crap" was to monitor and improve FF so I guess we can't have it both ways.

If I visit a very heavy site where I want to see content not bullshit I copy the url into dillo and just edit the page numbers

Excuse my ramblings....
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GarryRicketson
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#47 Post by GarryRicketson »

I copy the url into dillo and just edit the page numbers
Dillo works quite well also :D and w3m .
And v3 is still not in Debian Sid yet.
Well, I do agree "netsurf" maybe could use some work, v2 is fine for me, I do not use "Sid", nor Debian 8, and don't think I will be using "stretch" Debian 9, I like Wheezy, and Squeeze, both work fine for me, and I am confident even if one day the LTS is dropped for Wheezy, I will be able to maintane my system,keep it like it is, working fine.
If the more "modernized" websites keep heading in the direction they seem to be, well , I don't need most of them, and I am confident there all ways will be at least a few useable web sites around, where I can find the information I need, and even some files
or libraries.
If not, then there all ways is real books, and the "old fashioned" public libraries.

The more "modern" "browsers" and websites seem to just be a commercialized "gimmick" factory, geared toward cramming ones system full of as much advertisments as possible, and "scraping" the system for as much information on the owner as they can get, really are pretty much useless, in my opinion,..(not worth much, I guess).

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#48 Post by roseway »

TonyVanDam wrote: Netsurf needs to be updated and upgraded more. It's been sitting on v2 for a while. And v3 is still not in Debian Sid yet.
That's a strange thing to say. Debian Stable has already got 3.2. https://packages.qa.debian.org/n/netsurf.html
Eric

Hralgmir
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#49 Post by Hralgmir »

No mention on the Mozilla Firefox site of any changes for hardware requirements when I searched online just now? Not that I'm in the loop re Mozilla plans!
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/4 ... uirements/
https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/

But the software requirements may require later versions in future:
GNU/Linux
Software Requirements

Please note that GNU/Linux distributors may provide packages for your distribution which have different requirements.
Firefox will not run at all without the following libraries or packages:
GTK+ 3.4 or higher
GLib 2.22 or higher
Pango 1.14 or higher
X.Org 1.0 or higher (1.7 or higher is recommended)
libstdc++ 4.3 or higher
For optimal functionality, we recommend the following libraries or packages:
NetworkManager 0.7 or higher
DBus 1.0 or higher
HAL 0.5.8 or higher
GNOME 2.16 or higher

I currently use real Firefox with adblock plus and no flashplayer, there's so little flash content that is of interest nowadays, it's virtually irrelevant and obsolete. VLC plugin and built in Firefox capabilities show almost everything that's useful. It still runs on my 500MHz P3 CPx H500GT with 512MB RAM, a bit slow, but it works.
Doubtless there would be better choices for that machine though.
Ever heard of Yandex browser? Only available in Russian language for Linux last I heard. It's based on Chrome. Google themselves provide a special repository for Debian to install the latest Chrome browser easily as a package, very kind of them. That has built in flash capabilities I have heard, but I've only tried the Windows version of Chrome recently, and it worked well.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#50 Post by oswaldkelso »

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/vi ... refox.html
Firefox Dependencies
Required

alsa-lib-1.1.0, GTK+-2.24.29 ( or GTK+-3.18.7 if you change the mozconfig where indicated), NSS-3.22, UnZip-6.0, yasm-1.3.0, and Zip-3.0
Am I missing something?
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thanatos_incarnate
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#51 Post by thanatos_incarnate »

oswaldkelso wrote:GTK+-3.18.7)
Am I missing something?
There is an as of yet experimental GTK3 UI.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#52 Post by stevepusser »

Those depends are listing the absolute latest available anywhere in Linux from Scratch--not to be confused with the minimum versions needed to build or run the current Firefox.
MX Linux packager and developer

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#53 Post by edbarx »

Polishes tinfoil hat.

The major problem with iceweasel/firefox, if there is any difference, is that now closed-source bits are allowed. In another thread, it was said that amazon.com is allowed to automatically connect, probably to track users for their advertising purposes. I used to attribute the latter to proprietary close operating systems like MS Windows and Mac OSs, but sadly GNU/Linux has been taken from within with developers holding questionable values as regards to sustaining operating systems like Classical Debian.

I think, the quest to find a browser that can be used to view websites like the Good Old Iceweasel is becoming a dream. If adware is allowed, I and I believe many other GNU/Linux users, can install MS Internet Explorer on their systems without much difference.

Dumps tinfoil hat into the fireplace.
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#54 Post by Bulkley »

Agreed, edbarx. These days running a browser involves venturing into about:config and turning off nuisance operations and installing extensions to block crap. Linux and the Internet are being pursued by the forces of greed and shiny new stuff mania.

TonyVanDam
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#55 Post by TonyVanDam »

edbarx wrote:Polishes tinfoil hat.

The major problem with iceweasel/firefox, if there is any difference, is that now closed-source bits are allowed. In another thread, it was said that amazon.com is allowed to automatically connect, probably to track users for their advertising purposes. I used to attribute the latter to proprietary close operating systems like MS Windows and Mac OSs, but sadly GNU/Linux has been taken from within with developers holding questionable values as regards to sustaining operating systems like Classical Debian.

I think, the quest to find a browser that can be used to view websites like the Good Old Iceweasel is becoming a dream. If adware is allowed, I and I believe many other GNU/Linux users, can install MS Internet Explorer on their systems without much difference.

Dumps tinfoil hat into the fireplace.
In fairness, I'm not happy about Firefox being infested with DRM. But do not blame Mozilla for that. Blame those Firefox-users that wanted to use Netflix! :roll: :lol:

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#56 Post by TonyVanDam »

Bulkley wrote:Agreed, edbarx. These days running a browser involves venturing into about:config and turning off nuisance operations and installing extensions to block crap. Linux and the Internet are being pursued by the forces of greed and shiny new stuff mania.
BSD are being targeted as well.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#57 Post by edbarx »

TonyVanDam wrote:
Bulkley wrote:Agreed, edbarx. These days running a browser involves venturing into about:config and turning off nuisance operations and installing extensions to block crap. Linux and the Internet are being pursued by the forces of greed and shiny new stuff mania.
BSD are being targeted as well.
This reminds me of a very common psychological defense mechanism: it is his/her fault that our marriage broke.

When you are unwilling to rectify the situation, blame the other part.
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prahladyeri
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#58 Post by prahladyeri »

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Midori yet? It is not only a fast and sleek web browser, but also the default in many desktop environments like XFCE.

No_windows
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#59 Post by No_windows »

prahladyeri wrote:Why hasn't anyone mentioned Midori yet? It is not only a fast and sleek web browser, but also the default in many desktop environments like XFCE.
Probably because it crashes a lot....... at least in my experience.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#60 Post by thanatos_incarnate »

And probably because it's based on Webkit and therefore has potentially nasty security holes.


Debian 8 includes several browser engines which are affected by a steady stream of security vulnerabilities. The high rate of vulnerabilities and partial lack of upstream support in the form of long term branches make it very difficult to support these browsers with backported security fixes. Additionally, library interdependencies make it impossible to update to newer upstream releases. Therefore, browsers built upon the webkit, qtwebkit and khtml engines are included in Jessie, but not covered by security support. These browsers should not be used against untrusted websites.

For general web browser use we recommend Iceweasel or Chromium.

Chromium - while built upon the Webkit codebase - is a leaf package, which will be kept up-to-date by rebuilding the current Chromium releases for stable. Iceweasel and Icedove will also be kept up-to-date by rebuilding the current ESR releases for stable.

https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/ ... r-security

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#61 Post by swirler »

edbarx wrote: The major problem with iceweasel/firefox, if there is any difference, is that now closed-source bits are allowed. In another thread, it was said that amazon.com is allowed to automatically connect, probably to track users for their advertising purposes.(...)
How is this happening? Are you referring to the default web search plugins that ship with Firefox/Iceweasel (amongst which there is indeed amazon) or something else entirely?

I knew about the so callled "amazon lens" in Ubuntu, I've never heard (so far) of other similar tracking mechanisms built into other distros, let alone Debian.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#62 Post by edbarx »

Currently, there is a war on web-surfers who filter or block ad content. An article on bbc.com was recently published which corroborates the feelings of many that the same thing is happening with GNU/Linux users of whatever distribution. Time will, as usual, tell who is right and who is wrong. So, why all the turmoil?

User control helps those who want to personalise their web-experience, especially those who want to filter advertising: this means, the war consists of limiting and complicating user oriented configurations. The excuse is definitely business: the pseudo-objective of having beginners not complain about GNU/Linux being too difficult comes as a secondary consequence.

Since, I use a large number of Debian maintained packages both in source and compiled form, I must be a Debian user, regardless of whether I actively use an insignificant subset of packages. Debian users who use window managers or just a terminal are still Debian users although they don't use Gnome or KDE. So, why should it be different with systemd?
Debian == { > 30, 000 packages }; Debian != systemd
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It is hard to get away from CLI tools.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#63 Post by swirler »

I won't be arguing with any of the above...
But, back to the point :
in another thread, it was said that amazon.com is allowed to automatically connect, probably to track users for their advertising purposes.(...)
can you maybe post the link to such discussion?

I'm not saying it is not the case, on the contrary since Mozilla switched to aws/amazon servers or whatever they are called, looks to me that the browser is contacting such servers for stuff like updates, addon updates and other "background" services more often than before: is this what you were referring to, or is there something creepier that I should know about ... you know, reading "amazon.com is allowed to automatically connect" brings up memories of Ubuntu's amazon lens, something I don't count on encountering in Debian.

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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#64 Post by jobine702 »

Im surprised no one here has mentioned chromium, i just use the version from the repos and it does the job just fine...

Is it google spyware? Probably. But its FOSS google spyware :lol:
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Re: What internet browser to replace iceweasel/firefox?

#65 Post by keithpeter »

Hello All

I'm using the surf Web browser under dwm and/or wm2.

I can invoke surf from dmenu with an -s argument so switching JavaScript off for some uses.

I use a hosts file to block many of the clickbait farm advertising sites so things are calmer.

All on a Jessie minimal system, currently with binary package installed (see note up the screen about security updates for webkit based browsers other than Chrome). I'm looking at recompiling either surf or dmenu to change the size of font used for internal commands (smaller than the dwm font I have set in config.h and annoyingly small).

Overall effect is very minimal and it makes me less likely to browse away down rabbit holes for hours.

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