Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[sc0ttman]

Firedog 1.2 - based on Firefox 2.0.0.20 - 14mb

A smart, fast and fully-branded web browser for Puppy Linux. Think of it as FirePups bigger brother (not related!).



Browser, E-Mail, News, IRC Client, FTP Client, WYSIWYG Editor, Flash Player, help-viewer & more...

This is a heavily customised version of Firefox built just for Puppy. It is intended as a full replacement to the Seamonkey Suite and has been customised for great speed, usability, stability, looks, more features and a small filesize.

Firedog adds FireFTP, abcTajpu, Xinha and Bookmarks to the Puppy start menu, allowing you to use these addons outside Firedog! They're all shown in a simple window, without browser buttons or menus - fine examples of the Firefox '-chrome' flag.

Download Firedog 1.2 (14mb, md5: 2b9b4976f2f8d0684c120b0f2e367bbd)

Firedog 1.2 - Mirror 1, Mirror 2

Changes in Firedog 1.2:

- fixed combined refresh/stop button - no need to move them around
- all the latest AdBlock rules are now supported!! Thanks to the Fanboy list, now included by default
- talkback binary removed as Mozilla don't support FF2 now, saved over 1mb
- updated start menu items a bit
- flash player 9 now works perfectly in fullscreen (for me at least)

Changes in Firedog 1.1:

- font-size made larger. This can be easily changed, see 'Further Customisations'
- all menus, toolbars & buttons can now be hidden, re-enable with (Shft+Ctrl+Alt+S)
- totally customised menus for extra simplicity and convenience
- added 'Flashblock' to make browsing faster
- improved address bar, combining progress bar and advanced auto-complete
- added search bar to GUI by default
- added well-minded Puppy search to search bar (very convenient!)
- added 'Personal Menu' - create an editable drop-down menu in the top-right corner
- added 'Menu Editor' - totally customise all of Firedogs menu
- improved GUI, addon and sidebar fonts even further, especially for Puppy 4.3
- improved display of various addons in chrome mode
- spell checking enabled by default
- easily add current page to search bar, if supported
- added small and useful 'cache viewer'
- better search options in right-click menu
- the 'Open All in Tabs' link removed from bookmarks toolbar
- all pre-installed bookmarks now in sub-folder 'Go', freeing space in your bookmarks toolbar
- combined refresh/stop button.. You must move the 'stop' button before (to the left of) the 'refresh' button!

Please post any mirrors if you can, as various hosting services don't work for some. Thanks.

Screenshot below
_________________________________________________

Why make another browser for Puppy?

Yes we have enough choice already, to the point of confusion. Firedog is a full-online suite, not a web browser. It's ideal for any puplet with no office, browser or mail, like ChoicePup or Puppy Arcade. It's fast, very stable, very easy to use and has many cool features and customisations.

A lot of the latest browsers are available for Puppy, but these often have a few bugs, occasionally crash and don't run so well on older systems. Firedog is based on Firefox 2 as it is more stable on Puppy and uses mostly the same addons as FF3 - but with smaller filesizes.

Details - What's in Firedog?

Adobe Flash player 9 is included, but updating Flash is easy. See 'Updating Flash' below.

Applications:

Brief - a simple and powerful RSS/ATOM news reader
Chatzilla - a fully featured IRC chat client
FireFTP - an excellent FTP client
Flash Video Downloader - reliable, fast video downloads
Open IT Online - integrates online office apps with office files
SimpleMail - a multi-account email client
Xinha - a powerful WYSIWYG editor
Zoho Quick Read - optionally open .doc, docx files (etc) straight into Zoho Writer

Privacy/Security:

AdBlock Plus - remove adverts from the web
BetterPrivacy - auto remove all LSO (flash) cookies
BlockSite - totally blocks any domains you choose
Stealthier - optionally disable all traces of browsing, like history, cache, etc
TACO - targeted advertising cookie opt-out, automatic

Right-Click Features:

abcTajpu - easily add international characters like À, ě, й, ξ, ,ش
BugMeNot - get working login details for popular sites
Extended Copy Menu - lots of improved copy options
QuickDrag - eaily copy/open URLs, images etc by highlighting them and dragging them to anywhere!
QuoteURL Text - easily create a quote when you copy text
Spell Checker - right-click on an input field to enable it
TinyEye - good image search, right-click on an image

Usability:

abcTajpu Keyboard - easily type foreign alphabets (in 'Menu->Tools)
Add Bookmark Here - adds a very convenient link to Bookmarks menu
Bookmarks - lots of great bookmarks, in a removable toolbar
Downloads in Tabs - a nice download manager in a separate tab
ErrorZilla - improved error pages, helps you find what you wanted
Faviconize Tabs - double click a tab to show/hide its title, space saver
Fasterfox - improves website loading times
Locate in Bookmarks - find bookmarks more easily in sidebar
LocationBar2 - improved location bar, with breadcrumb etc
Organize Status Bar - disable or move anything you like in the status bar
Restart Firefox - adds menu item 'Menu->File->Restart'
TinyMenu - space saver, all menu items now found under 'Menu'

You can find lots of great applications and addons in 'Bookmarks Toolbar->Addons'. This includes special applications and pages hacked out of Firedog that you can't otherwise find, for your pleasure and convenience!!

And more! (see changes to 1.1 and 1.2, above)

Firedog as a 'help-viewer'

'firefox -chrome (url)' can be used to display your URLs with NO menu, toolbars or buttons - just like PuppyBrowser. Despite some sites wrongly saying JS doesn't work, Firefox works very well in 'chrome' mode, especially as a 'help viewer'.

Updating Flash:

Download flash_player-10.0.32.18.pet - works perfectly for me on Puppy 4.2. It's fast, and works in fullscreen.

To upgrade manually, replace /usr/lib/seamonkey/plugins/libflashplayer.so with a new one.

Further Customisation:

Firedog uses the same font-size as Seamonkey for its menus and toolbars (12px). But you can change the size of these fonts simply by installing the pet files under 'Optional Downloads'.

History is not remembered by default. To keep your history, you must enable this option in 'Menu->File->Edit->Preferences'

To enable Chinese characters on websites, install this pet file: http://www.browserlinux.com/software/WenQuanYi.pet

Edit /root/.mozilla/firefox/ck0zvy8i.default/chrome/UserChrome.css to customise further.

To remove Seamonkey completely and safely : http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=48431

Installation Warning:

Firedog uses the ~/.mozilla folder. This does not alter Seamonkey but PuppyBrowser will NOT work due to 'missing' libs such as gtkembedmoz.so, although most of these libs can be found in /usr/lib/firefox.

To fix this, Firedog replaces Puppybrowser as the default help viewer, using 'chrome' mode

Feedback welcomed:

I wanna see Firedog used as the default browser in Puppy. Discuss!

Enjoy

Optional Downloads:

[sc0ttman]

Screenshot shows Firedog in Puppy 4.3, with the Bookmarks Toolar & SideBar (both hidden easily), Xinha tabbed and FireFTP in its own window!! Notice the HUGE amount of screenspace, custom branding and the addons in the top-right corner.

The GUI font has been improved and looks much nicer now and notice how some tabs have been minimized to show only icons - this is simply enabled/disabled by a double-click on the tab.

[Lobster]

[sc0ttman]

[jrb]

Very nice, sc0ttman,
I ran it in Puppy431 both from bootmanager and with SFS_Linker and it performed well.

Pixlr and Queeky keep insisting on downloading latest Flash but Firefox handles that no problem and then they work fine.

Mind if I ask why the separate .pet for the menu items? Why not just put them in the SFS?

[sc0ttman]

[otropogo]

Does this Firefox Suite support display of Chinese characters out of the box? If not, is there a plug-in available to do this?

Also, is there an easy way to move one's bookmarks and passwords from Seamonkey to Firefox, and vice-versa?

[sc0ttman]

[otropogo]

Thanks.

So far as I know, none of the standard Puppy installs have come with Chinese character support. But there was/is a pet that allows such support to be added, at least for Seamonkey.

I had added such support previously for Puppy 3.9/4.0, but my 2fs file got destroyed, and I haven't been able to find the directions for reinstalling it.

It requires international character support to be installed IIRC, and then some Chinese fonts. It may be that this would work for any browsers installed.

Searching the forums on this topic, all I've found has to do with localization, which, if I understand it correctly, involves converting the entire OS to another language, so that all menus, etc. would be in Chinese,for example. Definitely not what I want.

My Chinese is barely good enough, that with a Chinese web page displayed properly, I can make out what it says sometimes with the help of Google translate.

If there is a Firefox plugin for Chinese, can I let it install in Puppy, or will that throw a spanner in the works?

I know I regularly get notices from Seamonkey that there's a new version, and inviting me to upgrade. But my understanding is that one has to wait for a new pet.

Similarly, I was just at the mozilla no-script download site, and it invited me to install the no-script addon, but I declined, fearing it would end up crippling my Puppy Seamonkey.

Are these valid concerns?

[amigo]

Edited to remove scolding about license:
Thanks for your efforts and contribution to the open-sources software movement.

[sc0ttman]

[edit] @amigo. Rebranded - be happy. Don't say I'm not ridiculously nice.

@otropogo - About adding extensions to Firedog... All extensions made for Firefox 2 should work fine in Firedog, but sorry, I can't tell you about Seamonkey - see the Seamonkey threads.

[update] .Pet file added to main post for Chinese character support.

[amigo]

Okay, so you didn't re-comile it, you still can't re-distribute the altered binary package from the developers and still use the name firefox -and you certainly can't go including non-free components like adobe flash plugins wit it. Read the license, dude. Even debian can't use the firefox name when they distribute their patched versions -since the patches are not officially approved and included in the main sources.

I truly congratulate you for any legitimate efforts you make to contribute the the open-source software movement. But stop and imagine, if all the original developers followed your example, would you be able to do what you do? No! Keep it clean -the effort to do so is a small price to pay for the freedom given by the original developers and their choice of licenses...

Don't be mad -think about it with a cool head and resolve to do the Right Thing -even when others around you don't.

[sc0ttman]

Main post updated. Please see it. The post above, by amigo, is now irrelavant.

News: Firefox Suite has been rebranded as Firedog... Some improvements have also been made in font GUI display, small updates in features and a few other tweaks.

Firedog now includes all the menu entries mentioned above as standard, no PET files needed.

New screenshot also added so you can see the nicer GUI fonts in Puppy 4.3.

[sc0ttman]

Firedog is now available in a pet file.

This has been added to the main post. The pet file works on Puppy 4.2 and 4.3 with no differences, and it includes all start menu entries (for FireFTP, Xinha, etc) and can be easily removed in the package manager.

[Lobster]