What the %$%@ is up with firefox

[Joel Rees]

On Jun 29, 2010, at 11:18 AM, Robert Myers wrote:

> But there is a Fedora issue here.  Why would anyone sane try to use  
> bleeding-edge Fedora for multi-media web surfing?

Just curious, are you talking about rawhide or 64 bit? Please be a  
little more specific. Otherwise, you could hit someone's hot-buttons.  
(Mine, for instance.)

> Use Windows

Begging your pardon?

> or install a real or virtual Ubuntu somewhere to do that kind of  
> messing around.

F12 on 32 bit AMD is quite stable for me, although, if I could afford  
the RAM and cpu and motherboard upgrade for virtualization (When did  
the requirements shoot through the roof?) I'd definitely surf sandboxed.

(Even F12 on my iBook, well, gnash handles some of the Flash  
dependent sites.)

> Use the free Windows that came with your box

Showing our biases, are we?

It ain't free, and there are a lot of users here whose computers have  
never booted MSWindows. (Well, my AMD box was tested at the store  
with MSWIndows before they wiped it and turned it over to me, but not  
since.)

> and install a virtual Fedora box (assuming your system is up to it).

Huge assumption, there, although, if we are talking 64 bit, maybe not  
so huge.

>  Run a separate Fedora box from your Windows box

Many people's living arrangements don't allow for casually adding  
another box.

> and import X applications from your Fedora box using Cygwin-X.  The  
> possibilities are almost endless, but there is one constant: keep  
> Flash off your Fedora box.

Are you saying that because Adobe can't seem to fix the hole in their  
Flash for GNU/Linux?

Or are you saying that because it's not stable on your system?

> One of the myths about Linux is that you can do anything on  
> downscale hardware.

Heh. One of the myths about computers is that you can do anything at  
all.

>  If you're running an older box, some graphical applications will  
> make your box show its age.

Graphical? As in the Gimp, or as in 3D modeling, or as in GUI?

>  An old box free of tons of graphical crap can still do amazing  
> things in Linux.  Set realistic expectations, don't expect magic,  
> and use something other than Fedora for multi-media web surfing.

I'm wondering what you mean by multi-media web surfing, because there  
sure is a lot that falls under that label that my 1.6 MHz Sempron  
2600 or whatever with only 760MB RAM or whatever after it pulls out  
the video RAM  (So, like, five or six years ago, isn't it?) handles  
reasonably well.

Granted, there are many cases of websites that are intended only for  
the latest-greatest hardware, and there are many websites that  
deliberately target specific applications. If you're saying that  
people who want to visit such sites should go prepared for what those  
sites throw at you, I'll agree with that.

I myself wouldn't suggest raw MSWindows to anyone, but stuff it in a  
VM, and you can visit the sites that are designed to use junk that  
only runs on MSWindows sort of safely. If you really, really, really  
want to. Sort of safely.

Right now, Adobe's flash for GNU/Linux has problems, and gnash is,  
well, always going to be a little behind unless Adobe decides to help  
out in a major way. Speaking of which, if all Fedora users avoid  
Flash, where does Adobe get their bug reports from?

(A little rant-for-rant there. ;-/)

Joel Rees