Persistance problem in setting "Home Page" in SeaMonkey FatDog64 Final

[keniv]

I usually set my home page to DuckDuckGo lite at https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite If I select Edit>Preferences>Browser I see file:///usr/share/doc/home.html which shows the FatDog64 information page. If I then search for DuckDuckGo lite the search page opens and I can click on DuckDuckDo lite and I'm taken to that page. If I go back to Edit>Preferences>Browser I then have the option of selecting "Use Current Page". If I click on this DuckDuckGo lite becomes my home page. This is retained as my home page until I close and then re-open the browser when I now find my home page has reverted to file:///usr/share/doc/home.html Again if I go to Edit>Preferences>Browser I can also select "Restore Default". If I do this I get the SeaMonkey Home Page which again is retained as the home page until I close then re-open the browser in which case I am back to file:///usr/share/doc/home.html As this process is similar to that of other browsers I've used without a problem I do not know what the problem might be. As I have already had a problem with SeaMonkey when simply trying to add an add blocker (outlined here viewtopic.php?t=9653) I am wondering if there is something else I have to do in order to get persistence in terms of my home page. As I write this it has occurred to me that I might have to shutdown the OS before this change is saved but I think this is unlikely. Can anybody please tell me how to achieve home page persistence in SeaMonkey on FatDog64 Final.

Regards,

Ken.

[step]

Try changing relevant settings in about:config, especially the "override" one. A picture's worth...

seamonkey-20231008.png (66.44 KiB) Viewed 677 times

[keniv]

@step
Thanks for your reply. I changed the first line browser.startup.homepage and startup.homepage_override_url to https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite. On clicking on "Home" this brought up the DuckDuckGo lite home page like I wanted. In Edit>Preferences>Browser the "Clicking the home button button takes you to" box shows https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite. However when I closed the browser then re-opened it I got file:///usr/share/doc/home.html as before and in Edit>Preferences>Browser the "Clicking the home button button takes you to" box shows file:///usr/share/doc/home.html so again no persistence. Surely this must point to the possibility of a bug in SeaMonkey in FatDog64 Final. I would be interested to know if anybody else has attempted to setup the homepage in SeaMonkey in FatDog64 Final and got persistence and if they did could you tell me how you did it.

Regards,

Ken.

[step]

Hi Ken, exit SeaMonkey and apply your changes with geany /usr/lib64/seamonkey-2.53.15/mozilla.cfg. This works for me, persistence and everything.

[dr__Dan]

@keniv,
I just tried it in a no-savefile boot, changing Edit>Preferences>Browser to display homepage on browser startup, and https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite copied and pasted from your last post as the Home button destination. I also made sure "new page" and "new window" matched this behaviour. It was correctly implemented, I closed Seamonkey, and I restarted to the desired DuckDuckGo lite page. I suggest you start a new profile and re-implement your ad-blocker using the successful method (bypassing the bypaths of the original attempt), and test that for settings persistence. My guess is that somewhere along the way a bug was introduced, or a setting was changed, that will be too much effort to root out.

I hope that helps,

Dan

[step]

@dr__Dan, did you then create a new savefile, reboot, restart SeaMonkey with the new save file and find that the home page was still set to DDG lite?

[keniv]

Hi Ken, exit SeaMonkey and apply your changes with geany /usr/lib64/seamonkey-2.53.15/mozilla.cfg. This works for me, persistence and everything.

After first making a copy of /usr/lib64/seamonkey-2.53.15/mozilla.cfg I edited lines 4,5 and 6 as shown below.

Code: Select all

pref("browser.startup.homepage", "https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite");
pref("startup.homepage_override_url", "https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite");
pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url", "https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite");

This appears to have solved the problem and my home page now shows as DuckDuckGo lite. Edit>Preferences>Browser the "Clicking the home button button takes you to" box shows https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite. about:config also looks go and is show below. Ah just tried to drag and drop an image to this post and this does not appear to work either in SeaMonkey.
@dr__Dan

I just tried it in a no-savefile boot, changing Edit>Preferences>Browser to display homepage on browser startup, and https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite copied and pasted from your last post as the Home button destination. I also made sure "new page" and "new window" matched this behavior. It was correctly implemented, I closed Seamonkey, and I restarted to the desired DuckDuckGo lite page.

Thanks for trying this. As it worked for you without a problem I assume there is something wrong with my version of SeaMonkey particularly as I now can't drag and drop an image either.

did you then create a new savefile, reboot, restart SeaMonkey with the new save file and find that the home page was still set to DDG lite?

No I used the existing savefile.

As you might understand I am now fairly fed up with SeaMonkey and because it contains the offending browser FatDog64 Final as well. I have thought of starting over again but at the moment this seems quite daunting particularly since I do not know what I've done wrong (if anything) and may end up with the same problem.
I think I'll leave it for a bit. I might come back to it.
Thanks again for all the help.

Ken.

[step]

Ah just tried to drag and drop an image to this post and this does not appear to work either in SeaMonkey.

Remember you can only successfully drag from spot's folders to spot's windows. Your browser's running as spot...

In other words, try dragging an image file in /home/spot/Downloads to a new post. It should work. I suspect you dragged an image from a folder under /root. That can't work because the browser runs as spot so it can't access root's folders. This is better explained in the FAQ.

When you run the browser - or any other graphical application for that matter - as spot, be aware of where your put and get files. They must reside in spot's folder. To facilitate this kind of interaction, Fatdog64 defines a keyboard shortcut (Win+G) to quickly open spot's home folder /home/spot. So, when you want to read/drag from root's folders to the browser, the typical interaction is something like this: 1) open rox in /root, 2) press Win+G, 3) drag file from /root to /home/spot, 4) drag file from /home/spot to browser. Note that most but not _all_ locations are forbidden to spot. For instance, you can drag a file from /tmp to the browser running as spot.

[keniv]

Ah just tried to drag and drop an image to this post and this does not appear to work either in SeaMonkey.

Remember you can only successfully drag from spot's folders to spot's windows. Your browser's running as spot...

In other words, try dragging an image file in /home/spot/Downloads to a new post. It should work. I suspect you dragged an image from a folder under /root. That can't work because the browser runs as spot so it can't access root's folders. This is better explained in the FAQ.

When you run the browser - or any other graphical application for that matter - as spot, be aware of where your put and get files. They must reside in spot's folder. To facilitate this kind of interaction, Fatdog64 defines a keyboard shortcut (Win+G) to quickly open spot's home folder /home/spot. So, when you want to read/drag from root's folders to the browser, the typical interaction is something like this: 1) open rox in /root, 2) press Win+G, 3) drag file from /root to /home/spot, 4) drag file from /home/spot to browser. Note that most but not _all_ locations are forbidden to spot. For instance, you can drag a file from /tmp to the browser running as spot.

Thanks for a very useful piece of information. As a test I thought I would try to add the image I was trying to add to my last post to this post so here goes.
Well it appears to work in that I can copy the image file from /root to /home/spot/ or /home/spot/Downloads. I can drag it from there to the "post a reply" box containing the text of my post and I see the broken line appear around the box. I also see the name of the image in the "attachment" together with it's size but when I click on preview the image does not appear. I have tried this a number of times now without success. I will try posting and see if it appears in the actual post.

Ken.

Edit1: OK it did not work. also tried this using the "add file" button and again it did not work.
Edit2: I had originally named the file as about:config.jpg. On one of my attempts to add this file I noticed a small yellow triangle underneath "status". On clicking on this I was told that it was an "invalid file name". I changed it to aboutconf.jpg. I was able to use the "Add file" option to add the file and it shows up in "Preview". I first tried drag and drop but that still did not work. Lets hope it's worked when I submit the post.

[williwaw]

I also see the name of the image in the "attachment" together with it's size but when I click on preview the image does not appear.

see if you can see it in the preview when you also click on "place inline"

[step]

Edit2: I had originally named the file as about:config.jpg. On one of my attempts to add this file I noticed a small yellow triangle underneath "status". On clicking on this I was told that it was an "invalid file name".

about:config.jpg is a valid name for Fatdog64 and Linux in general but the forum software restricts valid names for its own good reasons. Good that you noticed the small yellow triangle informing you of the fact.

I changed it to aboutconf.jpg. I was able to use the "Add file" option to add the file and it shows up in "Preview".

good.

I first tried drag and drop but that still did not work.

It can work, if you drag from spot's folders. But don't worry much about all this: you already found your way with "Add file".

Lets hope it's worked when I submit the post.

It did! I can see the picture you attached. You're screenshotter laureate, if I may.

[keniv]

I also see the name of the image in the "attachment" together with it's size but when I click on preview the image does not appear.

see if you can see it in the preview when you also click on "place inline"

I didn't notice "place inline" and now I've finally got my image to upload I'll have to wait until the next time I need to upload one but I'll try it then.

@step

Good that you noticed the small yellow triangle informing you of the fact.

Yeah, I think when it liked the new name a small green disc replaced the yellow triangle.

It can work, if you drag from spot's folders.

I think I tried this but I spent quite a lot of time trying different things. However, I've learnt a little about FatDog64 Final, SeaMonkey and even how the forum works.

Regards,

Ken.