If you use Ubuntu 10.04 or any other Linux distribution which doesn’t automatically upgrade your Firefox to the latest version you can force it.
First of all you have to launch Terminal and add the right PPA to the repository:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa
Then you need to update and upgrade the OS using:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
If you are installing Firefox for the first time the right commands are:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install firefox firefox-gnome-support firefox-locale-en
As usual on Linux, it is not necessary to reboot the computer and you can start immediately to use your updated Firefox.
Finding a versatile Gmail notifier for my laptop seemed to be not so difficult and, after a first quick search, I selected a bunch of software I believed interesting. But when I tested them I was not satisfied by they behaviour especially because they didn’t have many of the features I wanted.
First of all I started installing the Gmail software I found in the Screenlets repositories on my Ubuntu but it was not able to update itself. Probably the firewall denied to the screenlet to communicate externally. I didn’t want to spend much time (sic) on the research of a Gmail notifier so I decided do uninstall it.
My second option was Popper and reading the program description I believed tha t was really the right one but.. after the configuration I was not impressed by the final flexibility and interaction this software offers. Just to know, for a quick configuration you need Popper configurator that is in the
The next step was represented by KCheckGmail that is for KDE and runs properly also on Gnome but, in this case, the program is not updated with the last Gmail configuration parameters and so it is nice but useless..
Then I tried with Gmail Notify. The configuration is quick and easy but it offers poor results. I mean that you have just the subject of new emails and no possibility to visualize them with a simple mouse click if you haven’t previously done the login of your Gmail account using the browser.
Finally I installed cGmail through the Ubuntu Software Center and I found what I was looking for: a simple program which let me know about new emails and let me open them with a click. The graphic interface is basic but after a couple of hours wasted on searching an effective solution I was satisfied!
Last but not least, if you don’t want to install a Gmail notifier directly on your Ubuntu, consider to install the add-on Gmail Watcher on Firefox.
Please, if you have better solution and you want to share them with us, don’t hesitate to comment this post. Thank you!
I usually update my Firefox as soon as possible but often, especially after installing the new version 5 on a Ubuntu 11.04 platform, I had to lose many add-ons that I previously selected and used daily. To avoid this problem I found some tips on the web and I tested all of them with different results.
Solution 1
– download the .xpi file from its official Firefox add-on webpage using the right mouse button (Save Link As) on 
– unzip the .xpi file with Archive Manager and open install.rdf using a Text Editor;
– find this line: em:maxVersion and change the value from e.g. 4.0.* to 5.0.*;
– click on 
icon in the Firefox Add-ons Manager, select “Install Add-on From File…” and follow the visual instructions.
Unfortunately this solution didn’t work always during my tests
Solution 2
– open a new Tab on Firefox and type: about:config;
– agree to the warning message;
– search all the lines with the string extensions.checkCompatibility and set the values to false
– restart Firefox and enable or install your “old” add-ons.
Solution 3 – The easy one!
– open a new Tab on Firefox and click on Tools –> Add-ons;
– search for the Add-on Compatibility Reporter and install it;
– restart Firefox and you will be able to install all the old add-ons.
Sometimes you will discover that installing “old” add-ons doesn’t mean that they really run on Firefox 5 but, in my experience, more than the 70% of them will be good for the new version. Have fun!!
Technorati Tags: Firefox, install, Firefox 5, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 11.04, tutorial
This article comes as a useful help for all Linux (Ubuntu) users, which will be presented with a new way of opening PDF files in the browsers compatible with this operating system. First of all, most of you probably know that Google Chrome is capable of doing this by default, without the user being required to make a particular setting.
However, Firefox does not currently have this built in feature, so it needs some help (usually in the form of a plugin) in order to open the PDF files you download or see online. In addition to the official plugin from Adobe (which contains numerous bugs and can sometimes be really annoying because if its way of loading PDFs), there is the option known under the name of Mozplugger. This is actually a plugin that allows the integration of different applications with the Firefox browser so that it can open some files not recognized automatically by default. If you want to install Mozplugger, the following simple steps are required and can be done by anyone.
After installing Mozzplugger, the following text muse be written in mozpluggerrc:
application / pdf: pdf: PDF file
application / x-pdf: pdf: PDF file
text / pdf: pdf: PDF file
text / x-pdf: pdf: PDF file
application / x-postscript: ps: PostScript file
application / postscript: ps: PostScript file
repeat noisy swallow (Evince) fill: Evince “$ file”
After making these changes, a restart is totally recommended. If you do not restart your browser right after that, changes might not take the desired effects. You will surely enjoy everything this great plugin has to offer. Not only will you be able to read PDFs directly in your browser, but there will also be some extra formats that you never thought they could be read directly from Firefox.
Many Linux users use the ‘find’ utility when searching for files using the command line on their system. They’ll do a simple:
find / -name ‘pattern’
Really though, the power of find isn’t just in finding names of files but rather specific details about those files. For example, if you wanted to find files which are writable by both their owner and their group:
find / -perm -444 -perm /222 ! -perm /111
or perhaps find any file that’s been altered in your Download directory in the past 24 hours:
find /home/user/Downloads/ -mtime 0
As you can see, the find command is very versatile and can be used to find an array of different attributes of files. There are times though where I’m just looking for something and I don’t want to have to wait for the command to scan the entire directory tree in order to track it down. That’s where locate comes in with quick and simple results.
Using the locate command can only be accomplished if you install the mlocate package. Most major distributions have this available. If not, head over to the mlocate homepage and install manually. Once that is accomplished, you’ll need to manually run a command to index your filesystem with it…otherwise, you’ll have to wait for the command to run automatically as it registers with cron to do so on a system level. Open a terminal and change to your root user, then execute the following:
updatedb &
This updates the mlocate database that indexes your files and forks it to the background (the ‘&’ forks it to the background). You can now logout of the terminal as root and the process will quietly work in the background.
After the command completes, using mlocate is as easy as using the locate command:
locate firefox | less
The command above will look for all files with Firefox in the name and pipe the command through less so you can use the space bar or enter key to scroll the file buffer. Of course, the reason we pipe it through less is because any file that resides in the ‘firefox’ directory will be reported in the output. While this tool isn’t as granular as the find command, it is a quick way to track down paths, directories, and files you know should exist. Since the data is indexed using the updatedb command (by cron) the results are very quick and the command does not have to scan through the filesystem to return the results.
There are plenty more advanced options via flags (such as following symbolic links, making search term case-sensitive, and even using regexp). See the man page for details on how each of these options work. Play around with locate and see what you can do! It’s a powerful and quick search command! 
In 2007, when Prism was launched, there were some enthusiastic reviews about this application. Then the widget era began and Prism popularity decreased. Anyway, Prism is still a powerful application for all that people who desire to run their more often used web application saving RAM and CPU resources. Prism, based on XULRunner, is multi platform, easy to use and very flexible. To use it on Ubuntu you can launch the Terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install prism
or using the Synaptics Package Manager (System —> Administration —> Synaptics Package Manager). Then go to Applications —> Internet —> Prism and a small windows appears. Now, fill in all the required information: the web application URL, the name you prefer, settings and do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut option. At this point you will find a new rough icon on your Desktop with the name you chose. The first time you use it, with the right mouse button click on it and go to Properties —> Permissions and Allow executing file as program. If you want to change the icon you have to click on it (with the right mouse button), go to Properties —> Basic and choose your favorite icon clicking the icon on the upper left corner. If all are steps are annoying for you, it is possible to use Prism as add-on for Firefox. In this case, on Firefox, go to Tools —> Add-ons —> Get Add-ons and type Prism on the search bar. You will install Prism as a simple add-on for Firefox. Now, you can automatically generate a Prism application just clicking on Tools —> Convert Website to Application when you are in the web application page.
On Windows or MAC we suggest to download the standalone package directly from the official web page or install Prism as Firefox add-on following the same steps we described for Ubuntu. If you use the Prism standalone package you have to decompress it in your favorite location. For Windows users: when you set up a new Prism application, try the tray menu option but do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut or you will not be able to find again the application after you close it.
In my experience, Prism is really useful with all the Google web applications, with Zoho services and Pandora. Try and enjoy it!
In the past three months Firefox was updated more than we were used in the past also because it had some “speed problems” expecially on Ubuntu 10.04. Now, after the last updates, Firefox seems to go fast but for people who like to try some hacks we have collected some tips from the web:
– start Firefox
– in the address bar type about:config
– find and modify these lines:
– network.http.pipelining > Make it True
– network.http.pipelining.maxrequests > Make it 8 or 10 (we made it 30 and it really works fast especially on websites as ebay)
– network.http.proxy.pipelining > Make it True
– network.dns.disableIPv6 > Make it True
– last but not least restart and Firefox should work fine and a little bit faster.
Before trying these changes, please consider that changing advanced settings on Firefox can be harmful to the stability, security and performance of the program. Take notes of all the changes you are doing in case you need to revert them later.
This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted some lines about editing and changing the feed/podcast reader on Firefox when you have previously chosen a specific program to automatically subscribe to podcasts. If you are using Firefox 3.5 on Linux, you can simply go to Edit -> Preferences and type Feed in the search bar. At this point you have a button menu with all the different options; we suggest to select the Preview in Firefox one. If you have an older version of Firefox that does not allow you to follow the above path (or for some reason, by default, you prefer the most difficult way) you have to open a new Tab and type about:config in it. After a brief warning message you can type Feed in the location bar and find the browser.feeds.handler line. At this point it is necessary to change the value field to Ask and next time you will decide to subscribe a podcast you will free to choose your favourite program. We hope this few lines could be useful and easy to execute for you all!
This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have written some easy instructions to repair the flash plugin on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty. In fact, after a brand new install on my Acer Aspire Athlon X2 I had big problems in visualizing Flash contents on Firefox 3. I tried to reinstall the plugin different times but the result did not change. Finally, reading a page in ubuntuforums.org I find the right solution for my problem. First of all you have to open Synaptic Package Manager (in System – Administration) and remove all the swfdec packages (in my case swfdec -mozilla and swfdec -gnome). Then, using the Terminal you have to type sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree. Now you restart Firefox and Flash contents will be available again. We believe that this solution is really fast and practical but if you know a better one which could permit us not to install non free code please let us know.
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