How to Install Firefox 7 in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat & 10.04?

The fully Open-sourced & highly secured web browser, Mozilla Firefox just got a hell lot faster!. This "was" one of the things that Firefox had for a long time, the somewhat "excessive" memory consumption when comparing with other rivals such as Google Chrome for instance.

Although that's not to say Chrome is superior than FF by a huge margin since it also uses reasonable amount of your RAM, but somehow Chrome manages to stay relatively faster while rendering web pages (it uses the WebKit for page rendering which is known for being "light-weight") and other GUI aspects. Also it's worth mentioning that Google Chrome has a pretty simplified interface which should also be helpful to stay resource friendly.

Anyhow, yesterday Mozilla announced the availability of Firefox version 7 and according to them and my first few hours of using it... it does feel faster!. It's said that it may use 20% to 50% times lesser memory while running (including startup times, multiple tab openings, etc) when compared with the predecessors, mainly due to a feature called MemShrink, developed by Mozilla foundation.

Firefox 7 in Ubuntu 11.04...

And if you use MS Windows, then the new Firefox 7 will be using the Direct2D API, assuming that you have a reasonably powerful GPU, this should also help to balance some CPU power over the GPU resulting an efficient + stable web browsing experience.

This however does not fasten-up the web page loading times but only addresses the local resource management of the web browser itself.

Main features...

*. As said before the biggest change is the enhanced memory management (20% to 50% reduce).

*. Better HTML5 rendering and hardware acceleration support.

*. Web page load speed testing support for developers.

*. Opt-in performance report sending to Mozilla to help building an even better browser in the future.

*. With the start of Firefox6, the browser started to highlight the top-level domain URL. And with the version 7.0, the 'http://' URL prefix is now hidden by default (inspired from Chrome :D).

*. Update Web-Socket protocol (the protocol that controls the communication between your PC and the Web-Site that you're trying to load), meaning enhanced security while browsing web pages.

*. Few other CSS improvements and bug fixes are few among the main features to mention (there are no major GUI changes as far as I can see).

Anyhow, if you use Ubuntu, then:

You can install Firefox 7.0 in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and 10.04 Lucid Lynx thanks to the stable PPA channel. To do that, simply open your Terminal window and enter the below commands.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install firefox

That should do it. Although not necessary ... but since "things" can happen, just make sure to backup your data such as Bookmars, etc. Just in case.

If you use Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, then FF7 is already in the official repositories (not sure if it's available for the 11.10 beta users at this moment though) thus you should've received the automatic updates.

But if you had disabled the automatic updates, then you won't receive "the update". In that case, put the below command into the terminal which should do the trick.

sudo apt-get install firefox

So, it's true that the Google Chrome is still quite impressive and got me a little worried about Firefox for sometime now.

But when seeing the performance jump, although it may still not be huge (since 50% decrease won't happen to all), yet Firefox 7 is one of the most secured web browsers, although not be the most fastest (yet!), but it's certainly getting there :). Enjoy!.

How to Remove the "Ubuntu Modifications" in Firefox Web Browser?

Ubuntu uses the highly secured Firefox :) as the default web browser... but Mark Shuttleworth did say that in the future Ubuntu "might" switch to the faster, more simpler Chrome web browser.

Anyhow, as a way of branding and giving/enabling the users more optimized Ubuntu experience, Ubuntu developers make sure to add their own customizations to the Firefox web browser that comes in the default ISO image + in the repositories which you'd use to install the latest versions in the future, etc. .

If needed, we can disable these "Ubuntu changes" permanently OR temporarily (in case you wanted them back) since these settings are implemented using the Firefox Extension API (it's added as an Extension).

But before doing that lets have a look at what this Firefox extension does...

*. Set the Homepage to Ubuntu Start (which can be quite useful since it's like the online "Ubuntu-Pedia" where you can ask and find almost anything about Ubuntu :D).

*. Restart notification after an Upgrade:

Say that you upgraded your Firefox web browser to a never version, then when having this Extension, it'll make sure to automatically "notify" you to do a restart of the Browser to apply the changes.

*. Adds ask.com as the default search engine (weird, I don't know why).

*. Search for plugins in Ubuntu software Catalogue.

*. Adds the official Ubuntu release note to the Help menu...

But most importantly, this add-on/extension enables us to easily install software (automatically adds PPA, etc) by just clicking on a URL (which is called "apt://" protocol) and then launch either Synaptic or Ubuntu Software Center to install them. For instance, just click on this link (which is a URL that uses the "apt://" protocol) and see what happens.

Result of a "apt://" URL...

So after removing you'll lose these features and the above mentioned, most important (useful) feature too. But interestingly, after temporarily disabling it in the Firefox extensions section, the "apt://" protocols still worked in my Firefox ... perhaps we have to completely remove the package to make it completely disable that feature.

1. Anyhow, as said, if you want to temporarily disable it, then launch your Firefox web browser and from the menu bar click on: "Tools" -> "Add-ons"

2. And then from the window that you get, to your left go to: "Extensions" and then from your right side select:

"Ubuntu Firefox Modifications" and click on the "disable" button.

Step: 1

Also remember to click on the "Restart now" link to apply the changes

But if you want to completely remove it, then open your Terminal window and enter the below command.

sudo apt-get purge xul-ext-ubufox

If you wanted to get it back later ;-), then use the below command to manually install it.

sudo apt-get install xul-ext-ubufox

Well, that's about it. Not the most useful post of all but but ;-)...

Firefox 6 Is Available in the Official Ubuntu 11.04 Repositories

Firefox 6 (the most secured web browser in the world, kidding, but it's pretty darn good though, right? :D) was available for Ubuntu 10.10 and 10.04 users even before it was officially available for the Natty users.

And if you haven't disabled your automated updates in Ubuntu Linux, then as soon as they release it you should have it automatically install it. But since I have manually disabled the update manager because it uses too much of your bandwidth which can result in a cluttered YouTube videos :D (kidding, again, but I do have it disabled for other reasons)...

I've also been a bit busy yesterday and until I manually check this morning I didn't know it was available to Natty users. Anyhow, to install it (in my humble opinion, I think unlike with other releases, FF6 is well worth the update because as promised by Mozilla, it loads itself pretty faster than the previous versions) , perhaps you should re-enable the update manager t OR

just fireup your Terminal window and enter the below command to install the sucker!.

sudo apt-get install firefox

If you'd prefer a more cleaner installation, then first remove your current Firefox browser completely (make sure to take back-ups of your Bookmarks and other naughty stuff), then use the below command first.

sudo apt-get purge firefox

That should do it.

How to Install Firefox 6 in Ubuntu 10.10 and 10.04?

Mozilla Firefox is a highly secure web browser which is as good as the Google Chrome (okay, Chrome is a bit faster :D). I remember the excitement that I felt in the past after seeing Mozilla releasing a new version of their browser after a "long" time in today's standards but now were seeing rapid release schedules that are rolled-out in like 3-4 months cycle which makes the whole process a bit "usual" and a bit boring too :D.

Anyhow Mozilla has finally released their next version of the web browser, Firefox 6.0 which brings few changes to the GUI + especially for GNU/Linux users, Firefox 6.0 is now faster than ever thanks to the GCC 4.5 compiler series, "aggressive optimizations" according to Mike Hommey (a Mozilla developer) who wrote a post sometime ago.

Main features...

*. Well, if you've been using the it from the Beta version, then there aren't that many changes concerning the overall GUI and windows. But as said the address bar now highlights the "Top level" domain name, not a biggie, but maybe useful to some.

*. As said loads and feels a bit faster for the GNU/Linux users where in the past Firefox Windows version was always superior to the GNU/Linux version which "was" sad since Mozilla itself was an open-source project.

*. Reduced memory consumptions (as much as by 30% in some cases!).

*. Enhanced support for HTML 5 and CSS animations.

*. A newly added feature called "Permission manager" that lets us easily configure the behavior of passwords, cookies, pop-up, etc with ease. You can access its window by using the below command in the Firefox address bar.

about:permissions 

*. Better Java-script support (thanks to the Scratchpad, developers can easily build and run Java-scripts with ease in this version of Firefox).

*. Few improvements over the Firefox Sync app ... are just a few to mention.

You can install Firefox 6.0 in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and 10.04 Lucid Lynx by using the below commands in your Terminal window.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

But please be aware that the 11.04 packages are not released yet but this PPA is actually for the Maverick and Meerakt users (lucky geeks!) thus for the Natty users, I think FF6 will arrive in the official repositories with in few hours . So we gotta be a little patient :/.

If you want a more "cleaner" installation, then backup your bookmarks, etc and completely remove the current firefox by using the below command.

sudo apt-get purge firefox

Then follow the installation using the above commands.

That's it. 

Wanna an Oxygen KDE Theme for Your Firefox Web Browser?

The Qt written (the GUI actually) gorgeous looking KDE desktop went through a lot of changes with the introduction of the version 4 some time ago. In the past KDE came with daunting amounts of options and a huge right-click menu ;-), etc but with the KDE4... I personally think the developers have done an extremely good job by reducing some features thus the desktop in general looks much more polished and simple as well.

Anyhow, as mentioned above the Oxygen theme is the default theme that the KDE4 uses which does resemble a lot of similar look-n-feel concerning the Mac OSX (it kinda slipped out :P) and the colors certainly are easy on the eyes too. It's a complete theme suite which comes with an icons, wallpapers and the GUI buttons and the "tinting".

But as any obsessive theme geek knows ;-) even after having a complete theme installed still if you have a major application that you frequently use which does not inherit the look-n-feel of the main desktop theme... well it can easily jeopardize everything.

Now the web browser is such an application nowadays thus if you use KDE 4+ as your main desktop and use the Firefox 3-5 as the web browser, then you might be wondering if you could find a way to "Oxygen-lize" its skin :D.

Well no worries dudes... there is in fact an Oxygen KDE theme for Firefox web browser that does exactly that!. Few hours ago they've released the latest version 3.2 which now supports the Firefox 5, finally. Anyhow the 3.x version comes with few improvements in general such as ...

Don't you just love it ;-)...

*. Automatic color scheme detection under KDE (say that you've changed the default colors of the Oxygen theme, then the browser add-on/theme will change automatically).

*. 4 Additional styles for buttons.

*. Classic Oxygen + the shadowed version.

*. 3 Styles for the background.

*. Hide/unhide arrows.

*. Also supports the now old Firefox 4.

*. Comes with a Linux/KDE configuration window of its own which lets you change a lot more other options. 

*. 2 Different icon themes... are just a few to mention.

As you can see from the above screenshot, once installed this theme, it'll make the Firefox web browser "theme integration" with the Qt-KDE Oxygen desktop almost perfect. If interested (heck yea you are :D) you can get the stable version from this KDE-app page. Enjoy.

CoolPreviews - Excellent Web Page Previewing Add-on for Firefox Web Browser!

If you use the secured Firefox web browser and usually deal with a lot of opened tabs but and certainly don't have anymore space left of your Laptop/PC screen for "tabs" but still have a one more web page to be loaded where you're forced to close one already opened tab ;-) ... well, you don't have to. All you gotta do is just install an add-on called CoolPreviews!.

This is basically what it does. Now whenever you move your mouse to a click-able link, CoolPreviews add-on will display a small icon which once clicked will give you a preview of that web link!. If you find it useful, then you don't even have to open a new tab/window anymore, since it uses the Firefox web rendering technology and emulates itself as a small web browser, you can read that web page as you would do with Firefox!.

But don't get fooled by the word "preview" since it won't give you instant page-loads or previews since it has to load the page from the scratch. CoolPreviews comes with 2 themes of its own and once opened, you can search for sites such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, BBC, Wikipedia, etc from its GUI as well.

Although it would be really annoying, but you can set it to automatically create previews every time you move your mouse over a URL link if you wish or assign a keyboard shortcut if you like (tempting :D).

Few other features to mention...

*. Zoom in or out (the whole page).

*. Zoom only the text. 

*. View Google image results as a slideshow + shows itself next to images.

*. Integrates with Google SERP results (not actually necessary, since Google implemented the "preview" feature not that long ago). 

*. Configure how fast the icon and the CoolPreview window will appear and close.

*. Enable/Disable the Add-on itself. 

*. Remember the window position... are just among the main features to mention.

As said, it's an Add-on and uses the Firefox as the rendering engine thus it is as secure as the Firefox web browser as far as I'm concerned. If you want to install it then please visit this Firefox-Addon page.

How To Install Firefox5 in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal? (beta)

I don't about how you feel but personally I love the Firefox4. When comparing with the old 3.6+ this new brower... from the redesigned (well they've certainly "inspired" by Chromium) GUI, memory management (still looks great even after adding some addons), stability to enhanced security... FF4 just rocks!.

Although when it was first released few months ago, some even said that this would be the end for Firefox as we know it (ha!). But as it turned out.... it's pretty popular nonetheless. I don't know if this positive feedback from the users, among their reasons but as soon as it was released they announced that, they're working on the upcoming version 5 as well!.

Mozilla has a standard procedure for their web browser release. For instance, for Firefox5 it has to pass there stages...Mozilla-central, experimental, beta and final. It has already passed the first "2 steps" now back in Friday they released the official beta version. If I remember correctly, it's scheduled to be released in June 29th.

This is not the "typical" behavior for Mozilla, but I guess that Google's Chrome release cycle may have something to do with that as well :). They've also introduced few beta channels called Nightly, Aurora and Beta which is again very similar to what Chrome has at the moment.

According to Mozilla themselves this is what these beta channels stand for...

Nightly test builds – Includes features not tested by Mozilla QA

Firefox Beta – Broadly test the stability of new features and improvements in the next version of Firefox

Firefox Final Release – Delivers the polished and stable features in Firefox to hundreds of millions of users

New version brings bug fixes and enhanced memory management and other typical things ... but most importantly, Firefox5 beta brigs dedicated CSS support to their web browser which can be used to create more "cool" looking buttons, etc on web sites which is certainly good news for web developers without a doubt. 

As a GNU/Linux user, you certainly don't have to wait till June to "taste" FF5 to use it on your Linux Laptop/PC... in fact thanks to a launchpad PPA channel... you can easily install the beta version already.

So, if you want to install Firefox5 beta in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal then simply open your Terminal and issue the below command. But remember, this is still at its beta stage... use it at your own risk :).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install firefox

sudo apt-get upgrade