Firefox loses its voice after updating to latest ESR version

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foggy dog · #1 Post by **foggy dog** » Tue 18 Dec 2018, 23:20

After updating Firefox ESR to its latest version in a Tahr Pup 6.0.5 live cd, I get no sound when I play youtube videos. Can this be remedied somehow?

In case it matters, the live cd employs a 32-bit Tahr Pup 6.0.5 version representing the only available choice for an older machine of mine. However, a more recently acquired pc can handle the 64-bit architecture and the latter could be put to work if this can solve the sound of silence problem.

On a different matter, trying to log in earlier was greeted by multiple firefox warnings that this site is not secure and any personal info entered could be stolen. This sounds a bit discomforting, I am afraid. What is really the case here?

Thanks,
foggy dog

Mike Walsh · #2 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Tue 18 Dec 2018, 23:55

Hi, foggy dog.

I like that. 'Lost its voice...'

It's the PulseAudio saga, I'm afraid. From FF52 onwards, Mozilla wants you to have PulseAudio installed to get working sound. Pup, of course, uses ALSA. Always has.

However, the accepted Puppy workaround is to make use of the 'apulse' libs. These give PulseAudio functionality in a format that ALSA can make use of, to cut a long story short.

You are aware that the ESR versions are not the best choice in terms of practicality any more? Many extensions won't install (are no longer available, in fact).

Many of us nowadays are making use of Fredx181's 'FF-Quantum-portable'. It's totally self-contained, including all the apulse audio stuff and your profile, and can be run from literally anywhere. Even from a USB stick.

Unless you're really 'anti-Quantum' for some obscure reason, I would strongly recommend taking a look. I've been a Chrome man from day 1, over 10 years ago, for the simple reason that Firefox drove me away with memory leaks, high RAM usage & continuous crashing. But Quantum, well; I'm that impressed with it, I don't care whether I use Chrome or Quantum nowadays. There's nothing to choose between 'em any longer; Quantum is what Firefox could have been years ago, if the devs had spent less time in-fighting & backstabbing each other, and more time in genuinely trying to increase their user-base.

You can find it here:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=112376

.....but do take note of the recent 'discoveries' on the last page. Downloads are on page 1.

-------------------------------

As for the 'warnings' when you visit murga-linux.com, ignore 'em. It's the browser being over-cautious. Mozilla and Google between 'em have embarked on a policy of marking 'https' sites as 'safe', and 'http' (older sites, like this one) as 'unsafe'. Google, in particular, are attempting almost single-handedly to force the internet to go all-https. The Puppy Forum software is pretty old (it dates from 2001!), but I doubt John Murga is planning to upgrade it anytime soon, since he pays for the whole thing out of his own pocket, and nobody is asked to contribute a single penny.

We're not really in a position to complain, none of us are.....though it doesn't stop the Forum's security freaks from constantly moaning and bitching about it. Some folks are never happy unless they've got summat to moan about.....

Hope some of that helps.

Mike.

6502coder · #3 Post by **6502coder** » Wed 19 Dec 2018, 19:49

Mike Walsh wrote:Unless you're really 'anti-Quantum' for some obscure reason, I would strongly recommend taking a look.

Just to clarify, the current Firefox ESR IS a Quantum release, since it is based on FF 60, which explains the OP's audio problems. ESR 52 was the last pre-Quantum ESR release.

fredx181 · #4 Post by **fredx181** » Wed 19 Dec 2018, 21:19

Hi foggy dog.

The firefox-esr 60.4 from Debian Jessie works for me on Tahr and has "voice"

, doesn't depend on pulseaudio for it.

From here:
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/i386 ... r/download

Direct download link, firefox-esr_60.4.0esr-1~deb8u1_i386.deb:
http://security.debian.org/debian-secur ... 1_i386.deb

Fred

Mike Walsh · #5 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Wed 19 Dec 2018, 21:31

6502coder wrote:
Mike Walsh wrote:Unless you're really 'anti-Quantum' for some obscure reason, I would strongly recommend taking a look.
Just to clarify, the current Firefox ESR IS a Quantum release, since it is based on FF 60, which explains the OP's audio problems. ESR 52 was the last pre-Quantum ESR release.

@ 6502coder:-

Thanks for clarifying. It's quite some time since I last used an ESR release; I believe 52 was the last one, IIRC.

fredx181 wrote:The firefox-esr 60.4 from Debian Jessie works for me on Tahr and has "voice" , doesn't depend on pulseaudio for it.

Fred, have Debian 're-built' their version then? Are they still 'systemd'-free, too?

Mike.

fredx181 · #6 Post by **fredx181** » Wed 19 Dec 2018, 21:59

Mike Walsh wrote:Fred, have Debian 're-built' their version then? Are they still 'systemd'-free, too?

Yes, apparently they did build their own firefox-esr version, it works ok with just alsa installed (and yes, systemd-free).

Fred

foggy dog · #7 Post by **foggy dog** » Thu 20 Dec 2018, 01:58

Mike, coder, fred,

Thank you very much for your posts! I am truly overwhelmed by your kind support. At the same time, I am somewhat befuddled when contemplating the exact steps necessary to carry out your instructions. Thus before asking further questions I'd rather review the steps I followed when I replaced the original firefox included in Tahr Pup 6.0.5 with firefox ESR and see if I can figure out how to proceed in this case. So please bear with me for now and I promise to pester you with much more once I get up to speed with matters receded into the mists of fast fading memories.

Thanks,
foggy dog

nosystemdthanks · #8 Post by **nosystemdthanks** » Thu 20 Dec 2018, 05:05

Mike Walsh wrote:We're not really in a position to complain, none of us are.....though it doesn't stop the Forum's security freaks from constantly moaning and bitching about it. Some folks are never happy unless they've got summat to moan about.....

also mike never misses an opportunity to ... say something that i got all wrong, i guess. here, lets fix that. cheers.

Billtoo · #9 Post by **Billtoo** » Thu 20 Dec 2018, 09:12

Slacko64 700 rc3 updated Firefox a couple of days ago, sound works with it.

Mike Walsh · #10 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Thu 20 Dec 2018, 16:02

@ nosystemdthanks:-

Er....no. You're taking my words out of context, really. I never implied that most of the topics covered in the Security forum are silly. Far from it.

The only thing I will take issue with here is the one I have mentioned on many occasions. Quite simply, use of this forum is absolutely free. Nobody has ever pestered any one of us for a single penny towards its obvious running costs. How, then, does that give any one of us the right to keep pestering the individual who does pay for it to put his hand in his pocket and spend more.....just to make a number of individuals feel more secure, and 'happy' about things in general?

I agree, it's not an ideal situation. But we all of us have freedom of choice; nobody's forcing any one of us to continue using the site. I don't think anybody's got a gun to their head.....but I'm willing to stand corrected on that!

I guess you could always start your own Puppy site if you're not happy with this one. A few have tried.....and mostly failed.

I'm bowing out of this one. Interpret my words however you like. I'm quite certain you will.

Mike.

musher0 · #11 Post by **musher0** » Thu 20 Dec 2018, 17:51

I would suggest throat lozenges.

foggy dog · #12 Post by **foggy dog** » Fri 21 Dec 2018, 01:59

Hello to all!

Sweet success came much faster this time around than ever before. Judging that the Debian (Jessie???) approach suggested by Fred offers the most direct solution to my problem, I downloaded the firefox-esr_6.4.0esr-1~deb8u1-i386.deb package from the direct download link provided by Fred. Having no previous idea relating to the handling of .deb packages, I put all my eggs into the basket of just clicking the downloaded .deb file and since my luck was in, I was offered the option to have the respective firefox version installed in my machine by Puppy Package Manager, which I took with alacrity.. In short order Firefox 60.4.0esr was installed at some unknown location but could be accessed via Menu-->Internet-->Firefox ESR. Amazingly it proved beyond doubt that it regained its voice thus living me with no other option but call the hitherto experience a success. Oh yes, there can be future hiccups when looking deeper into this but I will not allow such thoughts to mar the warm feeling of this moment.

Thanks Fred!

foggy dog

fredx181 · #13 Post by **fredx181** » Fri 21 Dec 2018, 16:08

foggy dog wrote:Amazingly it proved beyond doubt that it regained its voice

Ah, great, the fox is cured

It's for the most installed in /usr/lib/firefox-esr.
Probably later this "Jessie" version will be updated, so you can just look here from time to time if there's a new version out:
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/i386 ... r/download

Fred

nosystemdthanks · #14 Post by **nosystemdthanks** » Fri 21 Dec 2018, 16:54

I'm bowing out of this one. Interpret my words however you like. I'm quite certain you will.

hey hey hey hey-- i misunderstood, alright? i mean you get all passive aggressive about it like you did and someones bound to, but i get you now, its alright.

no harm done.

Er....no. You're taking my words out of context, really.

cool, cool. you know this is why sometimes confrontation can be a good thing, because it beats just taking things the wrong way and continuing to suffer under some illusion of what someone said.

The only thing I will take issue with here is the one I have mentioned on many occasions. Quite simply, use of this forum is absolutely free. Nobody has ever pestered any one of us for a single penny towards its obvious running costs. How, then, does that give any one of us the right to keep pestering the individual who does pay for it to put his hand in his pocket and spend more.....just to make a number of individuals feel more secure, and 'happy' about things in general?

ahhh, i agree with that. while it is notable that this site is not secure, it is not secure in very specific ways that can be mitigated-- i mean if youre REALLY concerned that someone will steal your murga password in a cafe then:

1. obviously, dont use anything remotely similar to the password for your banking or email, for this website. thats a good rule in general.

2. if you want to increase your security, run a vpn from home (or purchase one) and login to the murga website via that, and as long as you trust your vpn (or your own home connection) not to betray your secret, then your password is safe from cafe snoops.

but i took you the wrong way, and to be honest-- i always thought you were more reasonable than that.

happy to be wrong! all the best. (i hope you can understand why i took what you said the wrong way though.)

i never personally thought it was murgas responsibility to pay for the upgrade, i guess some thought so. he has run this place for what, 12 years? thats a public service. i would still take this forum over some puke like the inexplicably semi-popular discourse platform. yuck! making a post there is like trying to pass a gallstone through the modem.

Mike Walsh · #15 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Fri 21 Dec 2018, 18:36

@ nosystemdthanks:-

No, worries, mi amigo. And yes; I do understand why you took it the way you did.

As for moi; ever since my heart attack nearly 2 years ago, I just get days when I feel all 'bloody-minded', and spoiling for a verbal fight. It's most unlike me; I've always been told I'm so laid-back I'm almost horizontal at times. It does bother me to a certain extent; I can only ask other's forbearance, and to not take it personally when *'That'* happens....

'C'est la vie', I guess.

Mike.

foggy dog · #16 Post by **foggy dog** » Sat 22 Dec 2018, 00:48

Fred,

You must definitely be clairvoyant. You anticipated two of my upcoming questions! Keep up the good work. There are more that are just forming and may be others that haven't occurred to me yet. This kind of speedy reply is surely near impossible to match!

Thanks again!

foggy dog

linuxcbon · #17 Post by **linuxcbon** » Sat 22 Dec 2018, 16:19

Hi,

did you try using apulse instead of pulseaudio ?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=114595

Cheers

foggy dog · #18 Post by **foggy dog** » Sat 22 Dec 2018, 22:54

linuxcbon,

No, I haven't. In fact, at the time of my first post here, I had no idea what was causing the problem I was experiencing. However, since you provided a link to this alternate solution, I will give it a test drive.

Thanks,

foggy dog

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