Whither the Light browser?
Did the development of this browser cease? I think I have a 2016 version. Pity because it's great for general browsing, very quick.
Discussion, talk and tips
https://forum.puppylinux.com/
Did the development of this browser cease? I think I have a 2016 version. Pity because it's great for general browsing, very quick.
I think light is just a version, 50-60 or so, of firefox..
It's a severely cut-down version of firefox (but works quite well). The size of the sfs file I'm using is 20MB, the newest standard firefox sfs is about 80MB. It was probaby half the size of the standard version at time of release in 2016. I see on the development page that the last release was 2016 sadly.
I was using different browsers in the past.
Now I use completely Chromium. there are several advantages,
but it's most ‘personal feel of using it’ (as someone would say design).
that i prefer over firefox.
the problem with no matter what brower, it uses huge amount of ram,
unbelievably ridiculous, but that's the net/online.
the browser that is lighter, then cannot run all sites.
the only solution, the newest version of browsers.
with extensions, noscript, or turning off images, it can speed up loading of sites and present only relevant information (without distraction), if relevant information is not produced by scripts.
deki20 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 10:49 amI was using different browsers in the past.
Now I use completely Chromium. there are several advantages,
but it's most ‘personal feel of using it’ (as someone would say design).
that i prefer over firefox.the problem with no matter what brower, it uses huge amount of ram,
unbelievably ridiculous, but that's the net/online.
the browser that is lighter, then cannot run all sites.
the only solution, the newest version of browsers.with extensions, noscript, or turning off images, it can speed up loading of sites and present only relevant information (without distraction), if relevant information is not produced by scripts.
I think the Light Browser came as an adrive part of peebee's Bionic 32-bit. Try it, seems quite light on resources. I just have a problem with playing youtube videos which stutters along before it plays smoothly. HTML 5 implementation probably not quite up to scratch back then.
Light development has been stopped for some time.
Browsers are always personal choice so the one bundled into an .iso has to be the "best bang for buck" - i.e. as capable as possible whilst being as small as possible.
I've yet to find (and I do look) anything that is better than Light despite it's age.
Don't be fooled by some apparently small browsers that need to drag in huge dependencies in order to work (e.g. webkit).
My recommendation however is that Light is replaced/supplemented by your favourite heavyweight browser once you're up and running and connected to the internet.
I personally use Chromium the majority of the time and occasionally Firefox mainly for a specialised web-scraping application.
I'm doing too much on the learning curve, but I have this idea you're the guy putting it on LXDE puplets. And it's been 48 where Firefox made some platform switch? Maybe 666?
Browsers are always personal choice so the one bundled into an .iso has to be the "best bang for buck" - i.e. as capable as possible whilst being as small as possible.
I've yet to find (and I do look) anything that is better than Light despite it's age.
Light is dear for its size and compatibility. All those security errors don't bother me.
Don't be fooled by some apparently small browsers that need to drag in huge dependencies in order to work (e.g. webkit).
Chromium is pretty demanding, if not for webkit.
My recommendation however is that Light is replaced/supplemented by your favourite heavyweight browser once you're up and running and connected to the internet.
My lay recommendation is Light or possibly Sea Monkey (still kicking the tyres), and a Chromium-based browser standalone. Puppy needs a system browser but we need and can use the heavyweights out of the system.
I personally use Chromium the majority of the time and occasionally Firefox mainly for a specialised web-scraping application.
I'm biased against Google making me cagey about Chromium but at the moment it's my best-performing browser.
Yet unlike Light and Firefox itself compatiblity seems pretty low. 666 showed me how to put a modern Chromium on Tahr, but it's not intuitive or lay.
Another example: if you install Chromium from the default Xenial PPM (62?), it won't install. You have to update to 80-something. Firefox wouldn't have this problem, as you must know.
Another stab against it is from memory the available SFS won't run either without the required dependencies. In sum you can install Chromium from an up-to-date repository and that's about it. Most other Puppy browsers are more flexible.
A great how-to or gift would be Chromium SFS that run on the Mainline Puppies most people use.
I provide a Chromium sfs that runs on all my pups - ScPups, UPups & LxPups & also FossaPup64............ but whether these are the "Puppies most people use" I've absolutely no idea (and neither does anybody else).
Clearly there are still users of "older" pups but how their numbers compare to users of "more recent" pups is unknown. Users who choose to "stick" with older pups must realise that there are potential downsides in so-doing!
I do not test or run any older pups I'm afraid, and my recommendation is that if you want an up-to-date browser you need to be running an up-to-date pup unless your hardware prohibits you from doing so.
My personal solution - "heavyweight" though it may well be - is to use a relatively modern Puppy as a chroot 'jail', running from a remote partition (or even a flash drive) - amount of RAM permitting, of course - and run modern browsers through THAT, within the 'legacy' Puppy of your choice.
I proved this pretty conclusively nearly two years ago when Darry 20181966 published his upgraded/tweaked Puppy 4.3.1, aka the "Phoenix". Watchdog gave me the idea by implementing a Precise 'jail' to run the then current version of PaleMoon. I did some head-scratching, and experimenting, and came up with a Tahrpup chroot 'jail' running v69 of SRWare's Iron browser....the best Chrome equivalent for 32-bit systems, in my humble opinion.
The only downside to this is that you DO need the RAM to do so, since you're effectively running one Puppy inside another. However, with Puppies being so small it's an entirely feasible proposition - most computers, even older ones, often have at least 2-4 GB RAM these days.....and DOES give the capability of running a modern browser within an elderly/much-loved Puppy.
Mike.
hi mike,
what a clever and intriguing solution, almost like running a virtual machine. I'd like to try it if you have a "howto" or details.
thanks
wiz
@wizard :-
Indeed you can. I made it up as an SFS package. Details can be found here:-
DO be aware that this is a big package, by Puppy standards. It's based around Tahrpup 606, this being the oldest , smallest distro that will still run this browser without complaining - around 850 MB when 'installed' - plus the Iron-'portable' browser, itself around 250 MB in size, since these are already 'unpacked' anyway. I know we're all very fond of quoting the small size of Puppy ISOs, but many of us tend to forget/overlook the fact that in the unpacked (installed) condition, they're quite a bit larger; maybe a little smaller than the ISO packages of many mainstream distros. Total size of this thing, 'loaded', is around 1.1 GB.....you need to allow for this, over and above whatever Puppy you're running this inside of. Minimum of 2 GB RAM is required, TBH.....4 GB would be preferable, really.
I used to run this on the old Compaq tower - 3 GB of DDR1 - which was a decent amount of RAM to cope with it. These days, I have so much RAM - 32 GB of the stuff! - that I really don't know what to do with it all. Y'see, with COVID keeping everybody from their usual social outings (and thereby keeping the outgoings down, too), I had a small, but steady build-up in my bank a/c that wouldn't normally be there. I thought I'd put a bit of this surplus to good use, and 'future-proof' the new Pavilion tower by maxing-out the RAM while I could. As it happened, I found a really good deal on Crucial RAM at Amazon; seems they'd stock-piled a fair bit of this stuff early in the year - 'speculating', if you like - since I suspect it was fairly obvious to all interested parties - even early on - that there would be a massive call for new computer gear with the pandemic, lock-downs, etc., in full swing. So I snagged myself two 16 GB sticks for the same price that Crucial themselves were asking for ONE..!
Not a bad deal, eh? I think the explosion in use of Zoom, alone, took everybody by surprise.....
Let me know if you decide to try it, and if so, how you get on, please.
Mike.
peebee wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:10 pmI provide a Chromium sfs that runs on all my pups - ScPups, UPups & LxPups & also FossaPup64............ but whether these are the "Puppies most people use" I've absolutely no idea (and neither does anybody else).
What I meant by "most people use" is the JWM distros on the download page.
Even though this forum leans coder-heavy for being a user hangout, it's obvious from most posts and especially Show Us Your Desktop that dedicated users are JWM diehards.
If you're an alt-desktop guy that's filling an obvious need, if not anything else for the world to see what's possible.
I'd say if we're sitting on a machine with >= 4gb ram, JWM zealotry is too limiting.
Alt-desktops would have to be supported with official releases in order to take off. People don't go to Lubuntu looking for a puplet. It's an official Ubuntu flavor.
I think I might have screwed up earlier in that Light is on the X-puplets & yours are... Firefox? I boot all over 5-7 and everything's not sorted.
The SFS are a service, as presumably a Upup SFS from your puplet is going to run on Mainline JWM. There are other archives, but I think mine came from Skami at archive.org and they don't run.
As a user what that's like is you just try stuff and grow a liking to something that works. E.g., I'm getting good milage out of Opera 45. 48 no, but 45 yes. It's that particular yet a patience trial if you're not in it for a technical challenge.
Clearly there are still users of "older" pups but how their numbers compare to users of "more recent" pups is unknown. Users who choose to "stick" with older pups must realise that there are potential downsides in so-doing!
Distro surveys would be useful. I don't know how they would know how many Mac os 'n' Edition or Windows 7 users there are without snooping.
I do not test or run any older pups I'm afraid, and my recommendation is that if you want an up-to-date browser you need to be running an up-to-date pup unless your hardware prohibits you from doing so.
That's the game I'm playing, the Mamma Bear distro and the Mamma Bear browser. Mamma Bear is Xenial though I like Tahr and will boot Slacko6 for its novelty and custom desktop support. 5 is for my old desktops.
On Windows I only like XP but need newer for compatibility.
Mamma Bear browsers are the heavyweights maybe around their 60s but 40s for any page that loads on them and Tor is dear and greatest after IP anonymity for requiring the least amount of time to configure.
Private browsing, not saving history, ask download location, etc.... the obvious defaults.
peebee wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:10 pmI provide a Chromium sfs that runs on all my pups - ScPups, UPups & LxPups & also FossaPup64............ but whether these are the "Puppies most people use" I've absolutely no idea (and neither does anybody else).
Chromium 87 from your 32 browser page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/lxpup/ ... /browsers/
TAHR
Code: Select all
root# chromium
/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome: error while loading shared libraries: libepoxy.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
chown: /root/spot/Downloads/*: No such file or directory
root# EXIT="Exit on timeout"
SLACKO6 (text wouldn't copy)
XENIAL
Code: Select all
root# chromium
/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome: /lib/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.27' not found (required by /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome)
/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome: /lib/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.27' not found (required by /usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpeg.so)
chown: /root/spot/Downloads/*: No such file or directory
root# EXIT="Exit on mouse-over"
You do all the heavy lifting but I wouldn't be bothered to maintain a list of distros your browser SFS work on ootb in the intermediate term.
What's normal, a forum thread?
It's the same everywhere. Those SFS won't load unless you can identify and install the dependencies which remains esoteric knowledge.
Lay it feels like Chromium is an elusive treasure or a hassle to do without.
@JASpup :-
One thing you must always bear in mind with Chromium. Chromium itself - the 'mother lode', the 'wellspring' from which ALL other clones/variants derive, is always built to expect it will be running in a cutting-edge, bang-up-to-date environment. This is where Google try out all their new, experimental features.
Most 'clone' builders tend to take the source code & re-compile the browser to run with rather older dependencies, etc, knowing full well that many people will not bother themselves to update for the sake of it, so tend to be using a mixture of older OS/software. This is why you're having to use older versions in older Puppies.....and after a certain period of time, various features in Chromium just stop functioning; it's all controlled by Google from the server end of things, as is so much of their stuff. You accept this, and deal with it.
There is NO such thing as a 'one-size-fits-all', 'universal' set of dependencies that will enable Chromium to keep on functioning forever with every new Puppy available. That's not how Google build it, and it's not how Linux works. I'm beginning to think your understanding of how the Linux community thinks & functions is somewhat limited; certainly, I would hope you've figured out by now that bitching & moaning about things that don't work to your liking achieves absolutely nothing. The community tends to think far more highly of those that contribute back with code/patches/fixes/workarounds/packages, etc.....
Mike.
Hi Mike.
The sfs download link in that thread seems to be dead.
Fundamentally a concept similar to what Barry has done with EasyOS. Or a form of virtual machine. I quite like running using actual physical separate hardware ... a perhaps headless box that is hardwired (ethernet) running a recent OS/browser, that is accessed via vnc. One local (client/laptop) boot option I have for instance is a less than 20MB system, that simply wifi net connects so it can then vnc into the 'server' system and display locally what that server displays (along with forwarding local keystrokes and mouse pointer controls). Basically just a framebuffer (graphical) local display that loads the servers framebuffer content. Many can vnc into the same session (and fight over control of the mouse etc.), or many can establish their own separate desktop session on the same box. I use a old 4GB tower desktop PC for that server, but keep meaning to venture into the pi world to replace that. Which also means that you just have to update the one box (server) whilst clients can remain 'thin' (net connect and framebuffer content reading/display).
There's a plethora of choices. x11vnc, vncserver, x0vncserver ...etc. Or you can set up kvm/qemu and run a virtual system on the same device. Or in your case a chroot style 'vm'. When using the physical server x0vncserver works well for me, as that supports 3GL type display (playing Supertuxkart for example), but when out and about lower bandwidth alternatives can be better. For sound I've been using sndiod - where the servers sound is directed to the guest (separately from the video - that vnc handles).
More usually however I boot Fatdog and within that run a local vm (using kvm/qemu) within which I run OpenBSD - within which I run a browser (firefox-esr or chromium) - primarily because of security (Linus prioritises userland over security and as such Linux security is relatively low (sacrifices security to avoid breaking userland (broad range of third party programs that might be installed/used)). Whilst OpenBSD come at it from the other direction, are prepared to break third party programs in order to maintain/improve security.
A nice feature with the physically separate server is that anyone probing for fingerprinting/tracking ...etc. see that servers fingerprints/location/setup, not the thin client - that you vnc client through a ssh tunnel into the server, from ... anywhere. Sessions can also be 'disposable' such as rebooting the server back into a 'clean' session (such as a frugal puppy with no save type setup). Yet another choice to running your own server is to use a VPS. You can rent virtual servers relatively inexpensively nowadays, and install/use whatever you like into that, typically with relatively fast internet access speeds being available. Yet one other choice is to run a remote web browser through a browser. More often used for testing how developed web pages look when using other web browsers. https://www.browserling.com/ is one example of such.
@rufwoof :-
Ah, sorry about that, Ruffers. I modified it last night, re-uploaded it. Forgot to update the link in that thread.
Thanks for alerting me. Cheers.
Mike.
@Mike
Thanks, will give it a try and let you know.
@rufwoof
I am a fan of and use the separate hardware and VNC approach you outlined. It works very well and the client computers can be low powered and can be running linux or windows, etc. By coincidence, I just put up a VNC remote desktop in Fossapup post in the howto/network/server forum.
thanks
wiz
Hi Mike.
In google drive, you can right mouse click on a file and select 'manage versions' ... and upload a new version - that keeps the original share link. The original is still retained for something like 30 days, or you can select to delete it to free up some of your quota/space-allowance. Avoids having to edit posts where you share the link - as the original share link remains the same.
@rufwoof:-
Hm. Interesting; I wasn't aware of that. Although in this instance, there wasn't any point keeping the older version, since I'd made a couple of basic editing errors, and it wasn't doing what it was supposed to..!
Mike.
The recent new uploaded version of your sfs seems to work OK in Fatdog. Downloaded the sfs, right clicked and sfs loaded it, and in a terminal ran /usr/bin/ironchroot ... and posting this using it now (despite some cli messages that otherwise might make you think it might not have worked ...)
Code: Select all
root@fatdog64-d37> ./ironchroot
mount: /cont/sys: mount point does not exist.
access control disabled, clients can connect from any host
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf", line 86: unknown element "blank"
[4167:4194:0102/035412.556190:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
libGL error: MESA-LOADER: could not create udev device for fd 92
libGL error: image driver extension not found
libGL error: failed to load driver: radeon
libGL error: MESA-LOADER: could not create udev device for fd 92
ATTENTION: default value of option force_s3tc_enable overridden by environment.
unknown chip id 0x9853, can't guess.
libGL error: failed to create dri screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: radeon
[4167:4214:0102/035414.586901:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[4167:4214:0102/035414.587011:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[4167:4217:0102/035414.835494:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[4167:4217:0102/035414.836179:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[4167:4217:0102/035414.836854:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[4167:4217:0102/035414.838238:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[4167:4217:0102/035414.838895:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
ATTENTION: default value of option force_s3tc_enable overridden by environment.
[4167:4214:0102/035415.634244:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[4167:4214:0102/035415.634715:ERROR:bus.cc(393)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
MESA-LOADER: could not create udev device for fd 103
ATTENTION: default value of option force_s3tc_enable overridden by environment.
unknown chip id 0x9853, can't guess.
[4201:4201:0102/035415.666227:ERROR:viz_main_impl.cc(150)] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
MESA-LOADER: could not create udev device for fd 104
gbm: failed to open any driver (search paths /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri:${ORIGIN}/dri:/usr/lib/dri)failed to load driver: radeon
MESA-LOADER: could not create udev device for fd 104
MESA-LOADER: could not create udev device for fd 104
I suspect if the sfs was converted to Barry's EasyOS format, that likely it would also work OK under EasyOS as well.
No sound when playing a youtube within the Iron browser chroot.
Modifying /usr/bin/ironchroot to include ...
[ -f /root/.asoundrc ] && cp -a -f /root/.asoundrc /cont/root/
... as the line before the xhost + (after the other two cp lines) ... and youtube sounds play OK.
At least that is the case for Fatdog as the host.
Got a chance to run your iron-84-chroot.sfs and here's my results:
computer dual core intel e8300, 4gb ram
Note: iron browser will not start from the menu. The EXEC= line in your iron.desktop file is not correct
slacko 6.3 = loads and run from terminal by running: ironchroot, lots of error messages as reported by rufwoof but seems to work well, no lag, audio OK
slacko 5.7 = same as 6.3
precise 5.7.1 = sfs file does not load
Anyway, really interesting way to run a puppy inside a puppy without using a virtual machine. As you pointed out it's not really practical for old low power computers, but would be a way to extend the useful life of an older version of puppy.
thanks for sharing
wizard
@wizard :-
Ah, hell. I thought I'd fixed this the other night!
I have this one big issue. I always seem to end up packaging into the small hours.....when I'm yawning fit to crack a jaw, and half-asleep. Bad habit....
I remember, I 'fixed' the ironchroot script, but I completely forgot to re-do the Menu entry. Anyway; I've done some more work on this, and re-uploaded it. I'm posting from it now in my install of Sailor's Slacko 5.7.1.....with the 'pfix=ram' parameter, so in original pristine condition for testing, like.
It fires straight up from the Menu->Internet entry now.....which reads Iron 84 (the correct version). I've also done some slimming down, and removing of unnecessary components. Including all the .desktop entries - the chrooted Puppy has no need of Menu entries, after all, they're controlled from the host. I'd also forgotten to remove the previous Iron 69 installation, so it's the best part of 300 MB 'lighter' now when loaded!
I've re-packaged & re-uploaded; it's now FINALLY how it should have been to start with.
There's one additional Menu entry, also in Menu->Internet; 'Chroot MSCWizard'. This will, I think, address rufwoof's observation about no audio, and I sussed this out only the other night.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Puppies have the MultipleSoundCardWizard to make sure the correct one is running, where there's more than one to choose from. Well, not only does the host Puppy have this, but the 'chrooted' Puppy has it too. You need to make sure the right audio card is selected in BOTH, of course.....
I found this out when trying to watch Netflix the other night using headphones. I use a Logitech USB headset, which has its own sound card built-in to the rather chunky connector. It wasn't until I brought up the 'chroot' Pup's MSCW, and selected the headphone's sound card that everything started working....
You can leave the host Pup's default audio card set, and just make card selections via the chroot Pup's MSCW instead. The host Pup's volume control disappears from the task bar when you do this, so you need to go back into the host's AlsaWizard->MSCW, re-select the default card and re-apply. This brings the volume control back; a slightly 'clunky' fix, perhaps, but it does make sure you can always get audio out of the browser.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the messing about. BTW, 'noisy' terminal output is perfectly normal behaviour for the 'clones'; the Chromium Project codes it so you have a continuous, 'real-time' debug session running all the time the browser is in use.....because this helps the devs to spot issues quickly.
Mike.
Perhaps I didn't explain it well enough earlier Mike. Good practice would be to get used to replacing/updating versions on Google drive using the right click, "Manage Versions" method, as that way it keeps the original share link as-is, so there's no need to edit the forum link(s) - as they remain the same as before (but link to the new/updated version). There is a option to delete the older version (and you also have to remove it from the deleted folder to free up your allowance/space), or you can just leave the older version and google will auto delete it after 30 days.
Tried your latest version of ironchroot everything seems to be working well, thanks for the update.
No apologies necessary for the broken link, we're all here just trying to learn something, share knowledge and help each other. I've been guilty of the same late night mistakes, sometimes wine was also involved. LOL I make myself lots of checkoff list for complex operations.
My next task is to unpack the .sfs and try to understand what makes it work. From a security standpoint, I'm wondering how much isolation it gives you from the host operating system.
thanks
wizard
@wizard :-
Glad to hear it's working for you!
As for how secure it is, and what could be done to make it MORE secure, you're talking to the wrong fella. I've already been "taken to task" or describing it as a chroot "jail" when apparently it's just a straight chroot. I simply 'borrowed' the concept from watchdog, a couple of years back, converted it to work with Iron rather than PaleMoon, and left it at that, basically. I don't understand what makes it tick at ALL; I was just pleased to have found a method that would allow running an up-to-date browser in an elderly, much-loved and otherwise still perfectly functional Pup.
I'm quite sure rufwoof/s243a, who've got plenty of ideas for making it more secure, and seem to understand the concept a lot better than I, would be happy to give you some pointers. I have to agree with one thing Ruffers has said recently; "Puppy's secure by nature.....it's what people DO with it that generates the problems...."
Mike.