Jared Evans Global Microbrand

Link: FreeBSD-5.3 tips.

Browsers
I use both opera and firefox. As of November 2004 firefox won’t work with, for example TV Guide’s listing page and opera doesn’t work with some other pages.

I never managed to get flash working with FreeBSD’s native opera, so I install linux-opera alongside of it for flash (and java). The two are called with different commands, opera is, oddly enough, opera and linux-opera is called with–yup, you guessed correctly, linux-opera.

I assume that one can get linux-opera to print and that there is a way to get flash working with native opera. However, I haven’t found a solution that works for me yet, and it’s one of those things that I haven’t bothered researching in depth–this workaround, and that’s all it is, works for me.

To get flash working in linux-opera, I installed the linux-flashplugin7 in /usr/ports/www and it Just Worked (TM). I do use linux base-8, but don’t know if that’s a factor. (If I remember correctly, you’re given instructions when building the port to, if you wish to use base 8 do make WITH_LINUX_BASE8=yes install clean, but the syntax might be slightly different.)

For printing I use cups, and the linux emulation doesn’t seem to have the necessary tools–simply doing a link from /usr/local/bin/lp to the compat layer’s lp and copying over /etc/printcap didn’t do it, so I gave up on it.

I’m sure that with a bit more research, I could find a better solution, but it’s one of those things where the slight inconvenience it causes me isn’t worth the time to troubleshoot it.

A howto on BSDNexus forums showed me how to get native firefox to work with flash. That howto is here. (Read the entire thread though, some things have changed since the howto was first posted. It was originally for FreeBSD-5.2.1 and a pre 1.0 version of firefox. In addition, one of the later posts points out how to get realplayer working.

As for native java (as opposed to Linux java) it works but there are several files that have to be fetched by hand. You have to register at Sun’s site to get them. One can get the url’s from the make file, but I actually find the easiest thing to do is startx, open a full screen xterm and just cut and paste the urls as they appear when the build stops. The reason I use a full screen is because some of the URL’s are incredibly long.

If you install the native java jdk14, it will in the course of installation, also install the linux-sun-jdk14 port mentioned above.

When you register at Sun’s site, keep your user name and password, for you may have to go back there a few times.

Another issue when building jdk14 apparently has to do with its installation of the linux-sun-jdk. There is a pkg-message telling you what you have to do before installation. Read it, it involves editing /etc/fstab then kldloading linprocfs and mounting /compat/linux/proc. (It’s a short message doing cat /usr/ports/java/linux-sun-jdk14/pkg-message will give it to you.)

To get java working with native firefox create a symlink

ln -s /usr/local/jdk.1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/X116/lib/browser_plugins/

(That command should be on one line)

One last comment about firefox, so that I don’t have to look it up each time. I prefer that a link open in a new tab, not a new window. To get that behavior, one has to cd into their home directory’s .mozilla/firefox directory. In there you’ll see a file with a long random string of letters and/or numbers ending in default. If you cd into that file you’ll see a file called prefs.js.

If one closes firefox, then adds the line

user_pref(”browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs”, true);

to that file, when you go to firefox’s Edit=>Preferences=>Advanced=>Tabbed Browsing you’ll see an unchecked check box with the option of forcing links that open new windows to open in a tab or a window.

(You may have more than one default file in the .mozilla/firefox directory–if that’s the case, you’ll have to figure out which one is being used or just add it to all of ‘em. :) ) (As of early January, 2005, native java still doesn’t work with native opera, it just crashes it.)

If you are only using java with linux-opera, the linux-sun jdk’s work. After it’s installed, linux-opera Just Works (TM) with java.