upgrade/install firefox 3.5 (SOLVED)

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-05 00:57

Hello everyone.
I was trying to add firefox 3.5 from a mepis repo to AntiX 8.2, just to see if I could. Well I did, and I couldn't seem to locate it until I looked in my Home folder and right clicked on wallpaper. I opened a .jpg again by right clicking, and I was able to open it with a firefox 3 web browser.

What is up with that? Is there a way that I could get ff 3.5.6 as my default browser and not have to open it up using this method?

Thanks

secipolla · posted: 2010-01-05 13:40

Type in a root terminal

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update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

It will show all browsers installed and will let you pick one of them as the system's default.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-05 21:00

Terrific !!

Thank you secipolla. I'll give it a try.

By the way, I'm really enjoying AntiX 8.2. I'm patiently waiting for 8.5.

Dave

anticapitalista · posted: 2010-01-05 21:08

You may want to edit the menu file so that the browser option points to firefox rather than the default iceweasel.

To do so, antiX control centre->Edit icewm settings->Menu

Find something like:
prog"Browser" /usr/share/pixmaps/iceape.xpm /usr/bin/iceweasel
and simply change the word icewesasel to firefox, save, restart icewm (or logout/login)

eriefisher · posted: 2010-01-06 01:20

Why not just upgrade Iceweasel instead of installing Firefox? They are more or less Identical. There is some code removed by Debian to make Iceweasel"free" but I don't think it's hindered at all.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-06 05:34

Thanks, guys. The thought of just upgrading iceweasel also sounds like a good Idea. I'm goning to play around a bit.
I'll post back.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-07 18:37

Hello Folks,

Is there an easy way to upgrade to the latest version of Iceweasel? Sounds like this would be less of a hassle.
Right now I am using 3.0.11.

I'm trying to use/learn/experiment with apt-get and am wondering if there is a way to do it using this.

Thanks,
Dave

secipolla · posted: 2010-01-07 19:39

To do that you must enable sid repos, that is, add lines in /etc/apt/sources.list with 'unstable' instead of 'testing' or just uncomment them if they're there but commented.
Then you do an

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apt-get update && apt-get remove iceweasel && apt-get install iceweasel

then comment again the unstable repos.

An alternative to that is to install
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://getswiftfox.com/index.htm"
linktext was:"swiftfox"
====================================
. Just add the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list

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deb http://getswiftfox.com/builds/debian unstable non-free

find the one which is adequate for your cpu and install it.
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://getswiftfox.com/deb.htm"
linktext was:"Instructions here"
====================================
.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-07 20:02

Thank you.

I'll give it a try.

Dave

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-07 21:00

I apologize. I'm not quite sure how to enable the sid repos. I have checked off
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://sidux.com/debian/"
linktext was:"http://sidux.com/debian/"
====================================
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false sid in synaptic but I'm not sure it is the right one. When I apt-get in konsole, some packages are going to be removed, namely gecko media player and I don't want to do that.

Thanks for your patience. This is something that I haven't grasped yet.

Dave

secipolla · posted: 2010-01-07 22:19

Add to sources.list (if you're in uk)

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deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ sid main contrib non-free

but don't do an 'apt-get upgrade'
just call

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apt-get update

for it to load the repository information, then

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apt-get remove iceweasel

for it to remove current Iceweasel (leaving the configuration), then

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apt-get install iceweasel

for it to install the newest Iceweasel, then delete or comment the line you added in sources.list and run an 'apt-get update' again for it to get back the info for the testing repos.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-08 00:28

Thank you very much secipolla. Worked very well. I'm using 3.5.6 now. Just what I wanted.

I am in the U.S. I used deb http:// ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free .

Is the method you gave me essentially like using synaptic, but without the GUI?

Is there a tutorial somewhere about editing or adding to the sources.list?

I used synaptic to edit my repo. I wasn't sure of how to do it the way you described / showed.

Thanks,
Dave

secipolla · posted: 2010-01-08 01:19

apt-get is the Debian tool for package management. Synaptic is kind of a GUI for it (there's another app in text mode that is a front-end of apt-get and it's called Aptitude). But Synaptic is more for managing single packages, for managing the system upgrade use apt-get: to keep the system updated, do

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apt-get update

which is the same as 'Reload' in Synaptic and

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apt-get dist-upgrade

to upgrade the installed packages according with the Debian maintainers setup.
These commands must be done as root (either type su and the password or open the root terminal from the menu).

To edit the sources.list by hand you must open the file /etc/apt/sources.list with a text editor and edit it. To open a graphic application such as the text editor (in antiX there's Leafpad and Geany), the command is

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gksu application

in a GTK based environment. If you were in kde the command would be kdesu instead. You can open the run box to type the command by pressing Super (or Windows key) + space bar (if you're using Icewm, which is the default window manager in antiX full).
You can also edit files with terminal based text editors such as vim (which needs some learning beforehand) or nano (this is very simple). In this case there's no need for the gksu command but you must launch them from within the terminal (root or normal) and not from the run box.
It's fine to edit it through Synaptic. It's made for that.

For a brief apt guide look
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://manual.sidux.com/en/sys-admin-apt-en.htm#apt-cook"
linktext was:"here"
====================================
. The part about sources.list is specific to sidux but the rest is general.
But to get a fuller instruction, open the terminal and type 'man apt'. You'll see at the end the SEE ALSO section. The most commonly used for beginners like me and you may be apt-get (install and remove packages etc.) and apt-cache (search packages etc.). Those are other specific manual pages, so: 'man apt-get', 'man sources.list' etc.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2010-01-08 02:21

Fantastic, Thanks!!

I appreciate the time you spent putting that together. That should be part of a Wiki. Very informative.

Dave

secipolla · posted: 2010-01-08 11:53

Thanks.
Just to make things clear, since you installed Iceweasel's unstable version and you have only testing repos enabled, you won't receive any automatic update for it. When a new version comes out (usually some time after Firefox - to check just search for iceweasel with the 'Deb search' search engine) then you can do the same process again.
If you opt for installing Swiftfox (which is just the same but optimized according with the cpu type) then just uninstall Iceweasel (with 'apt-get remove', not 'apt-get purge'), enable the swiftfox repos and install the version adequate for your cpu. It's constantly updated (also some time after Firefox comes out) and will use the same settings as Iceweasel (your ~/.mozilla directory).