No Browser?

[Timmi]

I was giving Porteus a spin, 3.2.2 and I noticed that there is no browser.
I thought: Really? That can't be!

I found one that is text-based, but since it is unstalble, crashing shortly after launch, that is not very helpful.

Or have I just not found it?
Maybe someone can show me where it is hidden?

Everyone needs a browser - 100% of users, unlike some other apps I saw in there that may not be needed by everyone. And I don't see what would be wrong with including Midori, so people can at least access the Porteus page (as I wanted to, to look up what the default password is in Live mode - without which, it is not possible to go and fetch a browser!).
Sure, let users decide on the FF vs. Cr choice later on... but not including even a basic one is severely myopic.

[Ed_P]

Have you looked here: http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/Porteus-v3.2.2/modules/

Download, put in your modules folder, dbl click on it, activate.

[privateip]

Hi,
I use Firefox by downloading the version I prefer from https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

Extract the file in /mnt/sda1/programs and make link firefox, then put that link in Desktop

[ncmprhnsbl]

I noticed that there is no browser.

keeping ISO Size down, user choice, and the browsers update so often these days(typically right after release) ..
there is a set of update-<browser> scripts (but this doesnt help if you can't guess the root pasword)

And I don't see what would be wrong with including Midori,

while midori itself is quite small, when you factor in its dependency webkitgtk, it's as big as the others..
lynx is perhaps too basic/hard to use/buggy..
netsurf might be a possible contender..

[Timmi]

hi guys, sorry I did not answer sooner. Life. And I never got a notification that there was a reply. Anyways, I'm here now.

@Ed: thank you. No, I did not look there. Because when running it live, there was no way for me to look anything up. Thanks for the tip.

@ncmprhnsbl: that is quite the cop-out. there is a text-based browser that doesn't work.
Users would much sooner like to see Midori in there... what is that, about 1MB extra? How does that handicap the ISO size when it is something so essential?

[Timmi]

Hi,
I use Firefox by downloading the version I prefer from https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/
Extract the file in /mnt/sda1/programs and make link firefox, then put that link in Desktop

How do you get there without a browser?

[Timmi]

Have you looked here: http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/Porteus-v3.2.2/modules/
Download, put in your modules folder, dbl click on it, activate.

Hi Ed, OK, I've read everything, and was about to act on suggestions...
forgive me for being such a newb... but how does one get to an http location when the text browser doesn't work, and no other browser is available? In the terminal, perhaps? Sorry, I've only ever done that with a browser.

[Ed_P]

Have you looked here: http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/Porteus-v3.2.2/modules/
Download, put in your modules folder, dbl click on it, activate.

Hi Ed, OK, I've read everything, and was about to act on suggestions...
forgive me for being such a newb... but how does one get to an http location when the text browser doesn't work

Hey, we were all newbs at some point. And I completely agree with you that accessing the web without a browser is awkward. What are you using to post here and why can't it be used to download the module?

[brokenman]

Users would much sooner like to see Midori in there... what is that, about 1MB extra?

If it were merely 1mb extra of course I would include it but it is a good deal larger than that.

How do you get there without a browser?

As mentioned somewhere above you can use the update scripts.
update-firefox
update-chrome
update-chromium
update-palemoon
and others.

Thinking of including a first run wizard where users can select what they prefer. What do you think?

[Ed_P]

Thinking of including a first run wizard where users can select what they prefer. What do you think?

Being able to select a browser when booting initially sounds perfect.

Will it include asking the user where they want it saved and updating of the porteus.cfg & refind.conf files to include it?

[anaahmed]

Have you looked here: http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/Porteus-v3.2.2/modules/

Download, put in your modules folder, dbl click on it, activate.

Porteus 3.2.2 CINNAMON i586
I downloaded Firefox from http://dl.porteus.org/i586/Porteus-v3.2 ... i686-1.xzm
I copied it to folder /mnt/sda2/porteus/modules
restart
there is shortcut in internet menu but it is not working

[Ed_P]

Hello ana. The steps you are following are fine but why are you using such an old version of Porteus? There are current versions here: http://www6.frugalware.org/mirrors/linu ... eus-v5.01/ which may resolve your problem. Try a newer version and get back to us.

[anaahmed]

Hello ana. The steps you are following are fine but why are you using such an old version of Porteus? There are current versions here: http://www6.frugalware.org/mirrors/linu ... eus-v5.01/ which may resolve your problem. Try a newer version and get back to us.

I'm installing Porteus 32 on VirtualBox
I tried 5.01, 5 and 4 all give me an error when i boot from the iso
Guru Meditation
A critical error has occurred while running the virtual machine and the machine execution has been stopped

[Ed_P]

Try booting the ISO directly, no virtual machine.

[nanZor]

One solution to the "how do I download from an http url link without a browser" is to use curl. Of course, to know the url, it's from another machine typically with it's own browser. So chicken-n-egg.

Example, one way is to pick up Netsurf from a mirror (but I don't really use it online unless one uses it very judiciously). In fact, I change the default url from the porteus forum to point to my own internal drive (how I use it mostly) with the file url for internal browsing.

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:~$ curl -O https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/porteus/x86_64/Porteus-v5.01/bundles/netsurf-3.10-x86_64-alldesktops.xzm

But mostly I use it for light-duty internal / offline tasks.

Code: Select all

file:///

I think the current situation of downloading your choice of browser after install with the Porteus browser selector is probably the best overall answer, to ensure full functionality in today's graphics-heavy world, security, updates, keeping the iso size down and so forth.