Firedog 1.2 - a smarter, faster, more stylish browser suite

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sc0ttman
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Firedog 1.2 - a smarter, faster, more stylish browser suite

#1 Post by 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!).

Image

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 :D

Feedback welcomed:

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

Enjoy :D

Optional Downloads:
Attachments
firedog_small_fonts.pet
Use smaller fonts in Firedog menus and toolbars (11px)
(1.27 KiB) Downloaded 1657 times
firedog_large_fonts.pet
Restore larger fonts in Firedog menus and toolbars (12px).
(1.27 KiB) Downloaded 1661 times
Last edited by sc0ttman on Sun 08 Nov 2009, 12:26, edited 103 times in total.
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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sc0ttman
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#2 Post by sc0ttman »

Image

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. :D

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.

:)
Last edited by sc0ttman on Thu 29 Oct 2009, 08:50, edited 5 times in total.

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#3 Post by Lobster »

E-Mail Client, News Reader, IRC Client, FTP Client, WYSIWYG Editor, Flash Player 9
Image

Excellent post introducing this SFS

Will put a link on the wiki
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/Firefox

I won't be using it personally (prefer Flash 10)
Is it easy to upgrade to flash 10 with this SFS?

Also because it is not designed for 4.3.1 that I am using - would have to update.

Very interested how our Firefoxy users get on :)
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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sc0ttman
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#4 Post by sc0ttman »

Lobster wrote:Is it easy to upgrade to flash 10 with this SFS? Also because it is not designed for 4.3.1 that I am using - would have to update.
I've added info on updating Flash to the main post - I'm sure others will find it useful.
[edit] I've now uploaded Firefox Suite for Puppy 4.3 - link in the main post

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jrb
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#5 Post by 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?

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#6 Post by sc0ttman »

jrb wrote:Mind if I ask why the separate .pet for the menu items? Why not just put them in the SFS?
[update] These links are now included in Firedog, however I've added only the FF extensions, not Pixlr or Queeky, as these are available in the bookmarks anyway and many people may use an office-suite alongside Firedog.
Last edited by sc0ttman on Wed 28 Oct 2009, 10:40, edited 1 time in total.

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#7 Post by 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?
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#8 Post by sc0ttman »

otropogo wrote:Does Firefox Suite support Chinese characters out of the box? If not, is there a plug-in available to do this?
[solved] Yes, a pet file. Main post updated. Link to pet file included.
otropogo wrote:Also, is there an easy way to move one's bookmarks and passwords from Seamonkey to Firefox, and vice-versa?
Yes, export your bookmarks from Seamonkey/Firefox to create bookmarks.html.. Then import this file into the other browser.. You may need to do a little cleaning after, but it works. For passwords, I don't know.
Last edited by sc0ttman on Thu 29 Oct 2009, 12:04, edited 1 time in total.

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#9 Post by 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?
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#10 Post by amigo »

Edited to remove scolding about license:
Thanks for your efforts and contribution to the open-sources software movement.
Last edited by amigo on Wed 28 Oct 2009, 16:19, edited 1 time in total.

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#11 Post by 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.
Last edited by sc0ttman on Thu 29 Oct 2009, 12:05, edited 4 times in total.
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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#12 Post by 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.

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#13 Post by 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.
Last edited by sc0ttman on Fri 30 Oct 2009, 08:12, edited 2 times in total.
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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#14 Post by 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.
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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#15 Post by Lobster »

Image
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#16 Post by tataditiditin »

¿Why do not make a Firedog version based on Firefox 3.5 or 3.0.14? Firefox 2.0.0.20 is very obsolete, and Mozilla has been retired the assistance to this version. SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH.

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#17 Post by sc0ttman »

tataditiditin wrote:¿Why do not make a Firedog version based on Firefox 3.5 or 3.0.14? Firefox 2.0.0.20 is obsolete, and Mozilla has retired assistance for this version.
Firstly, we don't need support from Mozilla - Firedog works fine.. FF2 is not "obsolete" - it is simply "not as new as FF3".. What would be improved by using FF3? FF2 is fast, especially on older PCs..

Second, newer is not always better - FF3 is very good, but FF2 is still a great browser.. FF3 has a load of space-wasting crap in it - like phishing protection, which is not needed unless you're stupid..

Many addons can prevent the need for this phishing protection.

Thirdly, a lot of very popular addons for FF3 are designed simply to make FF3 revert back to old FF2 behaviours and settings - showing that people still love FF2.. Also, some cool addons in used Firedog don't support FF3.. :(

Fourth, a lot of addons have been updated simply to support FF3 - not to improve the addons themselves! Firedog has (mostly) the same great addons as FF3, without the extra diskspace of the newer addon versions!

I carefully selected the latest version of each addon that Firedog can use - without needlessly including newer versions of those addons which are only FF3 compatibility updates! This reduces the filesize quite a lot.

Lastly, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.." - Firedog includes security updates released after FF2, so it is still very secure. Firedog is based on the last ever version 2 release of Firefox, which is mainly a secure, stable, bugfixed release - perfect for Puppy!

I may release a Firedog version based on FF3 - simply because a nice Bittorrent client can then be included.. Other than that, nothing (important) is lost in Firedog, I reckon!

In short, FF3 crashed a few times, and needs a better PC.. Firedog never crashed for me and works great on my old PC.

BTW, the word 'obsolete' is mostly ungradable.. (No 'very') :) Woo! TEFL!
Last edited by sc0ttman on Thu 29 Oct 2009, 09:19, edited 1 time in total.
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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#18 Post by James C »

I'm posting from ttuuxxx's Firepup in my 4.20 install right now, but I think I'll give Firedog a try as well.

I agree that the 2 series Firefox is not obsolete as well, and on a lot of the pre-4.30 Puppies the 3 series FF doesn't seem to perform very well.There is always the need for a good browser. :)

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#19 Post by sc0ttman »

James C wrote:I'm posting from ttuuxxx's Firepup in my 4.20 install right now, but I think I'll give Firedog a try. I agree that the 2 series Firefox is not obsolete, and on a lot of the pre-4.30 Puppies, the 3 series FF doesn't seem to perform very well.
I'm a long time FirePup user but eventually found the need to upgrade to FF2 or FF3 - FirePup is missing some very useful tweaks and addons and some sites recently stopped working with FF1.5 - Facebook being one of them.. I always preferred FF2 on windows, and especially on Puppy - FF2 seems much more stable and usable, expecially on older PCs, as I said.

But yeah, go for it, I hope you enjoy Firedog! I built it with FirePup in mind.. :D [edit] BTW people, Firedog can't be installed alongside FirePup, obviously... Choose one or the other!
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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Chinese character fix

#20 Post by sc0ttman »

I've found a pet file which should enable Chinese in any browser, including Firedog..

Here is the link:

http://www.browserlinux.com/software/WenQuanYi.pet (6mb)

I've attached an image, so people can see Firedog displaying Chinese in the website.

This does NOT fix other apps, you must have a Chinese locale installed in Puppy for that.
[b][url=https://bit.ly/2KjtxoD]Pkg[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2U6dzxV]mdsh[/url], [url=https://bit.ly/2G49OE8]Woofy[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/bzBU1]Akita[/url], [url=http://goo.gl/SO5ug]VLC-GTK[/url], [url=https://tiny.cc/c2hnfz]Search[/url][/b]

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