I've read that Firefox is for Ubuntu and Konqueror is for Kubuntu and perhaps I'm wrong to try using Firefox under Kubuntu. I am a long standing user of Firefox (on several platforms) and a sometime user of KDE at home and at work so it seemed a natural thing to want to do. 
The Firefox install through adept was easy - one package representing a download of 9 Mb. I got Firefox configured the way I like it except for the plugins. I looked round for a list of the Kubuntu/Ubuntu packages for plugins for Firefox without success. I tried using adept to find suitable packages but concluded I was unlikely to find anything I didn't already know was there.
Then I found Ubufox and its plug-in finder service. 8) idea ...
Again, one package. A tiny one but it drags in a few other things. Another 9 Mb download. That was 32 additional packages dragged in on an older (aka dirty) install. On a newish (aka clean) install, it was 48 packages and the download seemed to take forever. So much extra s/w ! I was getting ready to be really impressed ...
I was sort of expecting the plugin finder service to propose a plug-in and then, via a bit of glue, invoke dpkg or apt or something command-line and low level to actually install the package. It seems not. It invokes apturl and that's were the fun starts.
apturl doesn't depend on adept, as used in kubuntu, it depends on synaptic, as used in ubunutu. So, ubuntu's package manager, which I don't need or want, had been downloaded and installed along side kubuntu's. New (read confusing/alarming) entries had been added to my K Menu.
I'm mean, I like the odd surprise as much as the next guy and I can take a bit of bloat along with my software but I was getting the distinct feeling that I was Somebody trying to do something that Nobody ever expected Anybody to do.
Well, I'd installed it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I went to the Firefox/Mozilla plugin site, clicked on a few of the test pages they have there. Noted down that the ubufox plug-in finder service suggested. Went off and did a bit a research in order to make informed choices and then used adept to install my chosen plugin packages. Oops ... did I forget to use synaptic ?
Did I find the plugin finder's suggestions helpful ? Well, take SWF (what was Macromedia Flash in my younger days). The plugin finder service suggested the Adobe McCoy (technically not-free licensed) or gnash. My DIY searches in adept found libflash-mozplugin and swfdec-mozilla (and swf-player, which I think must be a mistake). So, 2 outa 4 ain't bad.
Is there any particular reason for suggest gnash over swfdec-mozilla perhaps ? The 'spec' for ubufox may be found at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxDistroAddonSpec
I inferred the main reason ubufox is to Big Brother users in order to protect them from a bad user-experience that might reflect badly on ubuntu.
In which case, one fails to see the logic in the choice of gnash, since the (adept) package description for gnash reads:
Currently it is in a alpha state. The plugins are under heavy development at this time.
Hmm ... well ... having chosen half-a-dozen plugins (all but one of which I hadn't used before), I've taken ubufox and its prerequisite package off my machines. I'd be interested in trying a kubufox when it appears. In the meantime, I'll make my own choices and if I risk a bad user experience, I'll take my chances.
The Firefox install through adept was easy - one package representing a download of 9 Mb. I got Firefox configured the way I like it except for the plugins. I looked round for a list of the Kubuntu/Ubuntu packages for plugins for Firefox without success. I tried using adept to find suitable packages but concluded I was unlikely to find anything I didn't already know was there.
Then I found Ubufox and its plug-in finder service. 8) idea ...
Again, one package. A tiny one but it drags in a few other things. Another 9 Mb download. That was 32 additional packages dragged in on an older (aka dirty) install. On a newish (aka clean) install, it was 48 packages and the download seemed to take forever. So much extra s/w ! I was getting ready to be really impressed ...
I was sort of expecting the plugin finder service to propose a plug-in and then, via a bit of glue, invoke dpkg or apt or something command-line and low level to actually install the package. It seems not. It invokes apturl and that's were the fun starts.
apturl doesn't depend on adept, as used in kubuntu, it depends on synaptic, as used in ubunutu. So, ubuntu's package manager, which I don't need or want, had been downloaded and installed along side kubuntu's. New (read confusing/alarming) entries had been added to my K Menu.
I'm mean, I like the odd surprise as much as the next guy and I can take a bit of bloat along with my software but I was getting the distinct feeling that I was Somebody trying to do something that Nobody ever expected Anybody to do.
Well, I'd installed it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I went to the Firefox/Mozilla plugin site, clicked on a few of the test pages they have there. Noted down that the ubufox plug-in finder service suggested. Went off and did a bit a research in order to make informed choices and then used adept to install my chosen plugin packages. Oops ... did I forget to use synaptic ?
Did I find the plugin finder's suggestions helpful ? Well, take SWF (what was Macromedia Flash in my younger days). The plugin finder service suggested the Adobe McCoy (technically not-free licensed) or gnash. My DIY searches in adept found libflash-mozplugin and swfdec-mozilla (and swf-player, which I think must be a mistake). So, 2 outa 4 ain't bad.
Is there any particular reason for suggest gnash over swfdec-mozilla perhaps ? The 'spec' for ubufox may be found at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxDistroAddonSpec
I inferred the main reason ubufox is to Big Brother users in order to protect them from a bad user-experience that might reflect badly on ubuntu.
In which case, one fails to see the logic in the choice of gnash, since the (adept) package description for gnash reads:
Currently it is in a alpha state. The plugins are under heavy development at this time.
Hmm ... well ... having chosen half-a-dozen plugins (all but one of which I hadn't used before), I've taken ubufox and its prerequisite package off my machines. I'd be interested in trying a kubufox when it appears. In the meantime, I'll make my own choices and if I risk a bad user experience, I'll take my chances.
Comment