• From: UK
  • Registered: 2011-10-20
  • Posts: 160

Topic: Iceweasel as default?

I find it a bit strange that Iceweasel is now the default browser for #! as it's really quite terrible. I used to absolutely adore Firefox, and I've been using it since it was very first released (which was god knows how many years ago), but since about version 3 it's become ludicrously bloated and slow.
Fair enough, the current boot time of FF8 (/iceweasel, blah) is about the same as Chrome (Chrome has a slight edge, but hardly worth changing browser over) on my machine (in stark contrast to older versions of FF which took about the same amount of time it took the Church to admit it may have gotten its astronomy a bit wrong).
And yes, Firefox tends to have more extensions than Chrome (the glorified hyperlinks that Google calls 'Apps' don't count), so it wins on that front too.
But when it comes to handling pages it's downright awful. Say if I open up Diaspora and G+ in tabs, then maybe browse the rest of the web in another tab (3 tabs running relatively low-in-flashiness pages is hardly pushing the limits of a 2.1ghz x64 processor with a GeForce 6600GT 128MB & 2 gig of RAM to boot), scrolling usually becomes a stuttery frustration and my processor can spike up to 50% or more (coincidentally, Opera tends to do the same). Doing the same in Chrome never pushes my CPU above 8 or 9% load (with far less hogging of RAM to boot).
Chrome is far snappier, can handle intensive sites like biodigitalhuman.com easily (FF just failed at loading this site for me) and is obscenely light on resources by comparison.
So I guess the question is, why on God's green Earth would you choose FF/IW instead (especially for a distro that is all about the lightweight goodness)?

All we ever were, just zeroes and ones.

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  • From: su terminal
  • Registered: 2011-05-12
  • Posts: 1,643

Re: Iceweasel as default?

well....it would be in corenomial's blog that it is somewhat more edgier than chrome.  From what I can imagine, #! might just go back and forth between the two until one greatly surpasses the other in terms of users and usability.

I, for one, love my firefox (aurora), because it does some things well that chrome seems to crap out on.  Also, firefox seems to be snappy on my end with a 2.4ghz Athlon64-x2 with 1gb of ram using integrated graphics.

This is the stuff that chrome seems to bother me with on a daily basis.
-not so awesome vi extensions.
-I strongly dislike the awesome bar and want to wipe it out completely.

Last edited by sunfizz98 (2011-12-05 03:51:41)

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  • From: Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Registered: 2011-07-04
  • Posts: 803

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Its just Corenomial's preference, i just keep the 3.5 edition installed because i need it to test web pages in (my theory is if it work's in that old ass version, it should work in 8) and install chromium from the Debian repo's since the later versions are a bit bloated. Still enjoying and running chromium 6 lol.

"'If fighting is to result in victory, then you must fight'...Sun Tzu said that and id say he knows a little more about fighting then you do pal."

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  • Awebb
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  • Registered: 2009-07-23
  • Posts: 2,474

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Excuse my bluntness, but there are soooooo many topics about browser performance on sooooo many message boards including this one. The overall result is always either a problem with the user's configuration or just shit happens because of site incompatibilities and bad bad web coding. There is also an overwhealming number of threads asking for a change of standard software (especially Firefox and Chrome and Chromium backwards and forth) and the general result was, that you can install whatever you want on your machine.

By the way: Chrome (or Chromium?) used to be the default for a while, until it started to suck in one way or the other, now it's Icewheasel again. I switched to Firefox myself (coming from Opera, going over Chromium and landing "in the arch enemies nest" *yellwacko*), because it was the most sane thing to do. I'll switch again, if FF starts to suck again.

I'm so meta, even this acronym
  • Registered: 2011-02-03
  • Posts: 29

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I'd give my vote for IE6 as the default any second. It's just so nice and cozy. Apparently it runs quite fine in wine!!

  • Registered: 2011-03-09
  • Posts: 3,223

Re: Iceweasel as default?

^ haha big_smile

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  • From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,866

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Throne777 wrote:

So I guess the question is, why on God's green Earth would you choose FF/IW instead (especially for a distro that is all about the lightweight goodness)?

Because Firefox is awesome and Chrome sucks.

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  • Registered: 2011-03-09
  • Posts: 3,223

Re: Iceweasel as default?

^ this is the only valid answer. we can mark the thread 'solved' and close it.

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  • Registered: 2011-11-25
  • Posts: 23

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Actually, I second the TS's opinion. I have been using Firefox since 0.8 (which was the first actual "Firefox" release, previous releases were branded "Firebird" and others), and I share the same experiences.

After being a Firefox/Iceweasel user for ages (on the Internet-timeline, at least), I switched to Chrome. A lot sleaker and faster, but I kept discovering that it has annoyances as well (agressive caching, had a lot of hickups in the end, ...).

Now, I'm (yet again) using Opera. It roughly feels to me as a crossbreed of Firefox/Iceweasel and Chrome; it feels pretty fast and light, but it feels more stable and 'predictable' than my latest experiences with Chrome. And it's installed with great ease in CrunchBang smile (there's even an installation-entry in the menu, btw)

  • From: Randorm 404
  • Registered: 2009-02-13
  • Posts: 1,750

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Apt-get whatever you like/dislike, problem solved, really cool avatar you got Goofy.

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  • From: London, UK
  • Registered: 2011-10-15
  • Posts: 200

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I won't consider moving over to Chrome until it supports a master password so that saved passwords are a bit more secure, unless any of you know of a way of achieving that in Chrome with a plugin ? And I have to say I am a tad distrustful of google these days.

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  • Registered: 2011-11-25
  • Posts: 23

Re: Iceweasel as default?

vicshrike wrote:

Apt-get whatever you like/dislike, problem solved, really cool avatar you got Goofy.

Very true. And lol, thanks! I recycled it from some old backup, had it in use on another board years ago. Turns out it matches the #! theme pretty well smile

EnochRoot wrote:

I won't consider moving over to Chrome until it supports a master password so that saved passwords are a bit more secure, unless any of you know of a way of achieving that in Chrome with a plugin ? And I have to say I am a tad distrustful of google these days.

Some googling told me that Passter does this? Maybe it's worth checking out. It still won't keep Google from gathering your passwords, though.

Last edited by Goofy (2011-12-05 15:53:03)

  • From: Dusk Till Dawn
  • Registered: 2009-07-02
  • Posts: 4,439

Re: Iceweasel as default?

If it's not distrowatch it's the Weasel vs Croco discussion. Somebody forgot to bash Gnome 3 this week.

Nothing right in the left brain. Nothing left in the right brain.
  • From: London, UK
  • Registered: 2011-10-15
  • Posts: 200

Re: Iceweasel as default?

machinebacon wrote:

If it's not distrowatch it's the Weasel vs Croco discussion. Somebody forgot to bash Gnome 3 this week.

Or Emacs versus some other editor the name of which I'm not evening going to type tongue

EnochRoot's Website

  • From: London, UK
  • Registered: 2011-10-15
  • Posts: 200

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Some googling told me that Passter does this? Maybe it's worth checking out. It still won't keep Google from gathering your passwords, though.

Thanks will investigate !

EnochRoot's Website

  • From: Randorm 404
  • Registered: 2009-02-13
  • Posts: 1,750

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Thread solved then?

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  • From: Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Registered: 2011-05-27
  • Posts: 33

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I have no problem with Iceweasel. I have Google+, Facebook, and CrunchBang forums all pinned as app tabs and I have no problem on an old P4 2.5GHz Hyper Threaded, 756mb of RAM, and a 40GB HDD. Everything works and no problems.

Take the "Made by Microsoft" sticker off your computer and stick it on a trashcan.

dagroves's Website

  • From: Las Vegas
  • Registered: 2011-05-31
  • Posts: 75

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I use both interchangeably... Doesn't seem to matter much, certain websites render better or perform better in one or the other, but I don't keep track, I just switch to the browser I'm not using at the time if a website doesn't seem to be working properly...

The only advantage IW has, on my box, over Chromium is a Flash Video Downloader add-on. I haven't really messed with any of the "apps" for Chrome though. So, not sure if I could find something comparable.

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berkough's Website

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2010-07-02
  • Posts: 1,272

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I like the user interface of firefox better, as well as the noscript plugin's functionality. I'm using chrome at the moment though because iceweasel 8 is causing a 2 gig memory leak. I honestly don't get why everyone cares so much about what the default browser is. IMO they should both be installed by default and let you choose when you run the cb-welcome script. But like awebb pointed out, you can just install a different browser if you want.

  • From: UK
  • Registered: 2011-10-20
  • Posts: 160

Re: Iceweasel as default?

mynis01 wrote:

I like the user interface of firefox better, as well as the noscript plugin's functionality. I'm using chrome at the moment though because iceweasel 8 is causing a 2 gig memory leak. I honestly don't get why everyone cares so much about what the default browser is. IMO they should both be installed by default and let you choose when you run the cb-welcome script. But like awebb pointed out, you can just install a different browser if you want.

I really wish Chrome had NoScript. I love that add-on so hard.

All we ever were, just zeroes and ones.

Throne777's Website

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2010-07-02
  • Posts: 1,272

Re: Iceweasel as default?

Actually too, it turns out firefox wasn't the source of my memory leak I was having, it had something to do with a version of vlc I had installed from the wheezy multimedia repos. Now if only I could figure out how to make terminator start opening links in iceweasel again, something in the google-chrome .deb changes it around.

  • From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,866

Re: Iceweasel as default?

mynis01 wrote:

Actually too, it turns out firefox wasn't the source of my memory leak I was having, it had something to do with a version of vlc I had installed from the wheezy multimedia repos. Now if only I could figure out how to make terminator start opening links in iceweasel again, something in the google-chrome .deb changes it around.

sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

Chose IW.

LVM | Catalyst | Wireless
  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2010-07-02
  • Posts: 1,272

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I tried that el K, I also tried edititing some files in ~.gconf and using exo-preferred-applications. I solved it by uninstalling google-chrome. The chromium from the wheezy repos is more than up to date enough for me anyways and actually responds properly to update-alternatives.

  • From: 1984
  • Registered: 2011-12-09
  • Posts: 17

Re: Iceweasel as default?

I think both FF and chromium are bad choices for this distro since they're really made for inexperienced users and don't target old/slow/encryption enabled computers at all. I think Seamonkey would fit this distro well. Although it being unknown and slow, it would probably put people off trying it. http://www.seamonkey-project.org/doc/features there's also a large number of options you can set in the browser. It's almost as full-featured as Opera. It even has an email-client which is good since #! doesn't have one.

  • From: #! NightClub
  • Registered: 2011-06-02
  • Posts: 3,847

Re: Iceweasel as default?

^ A browser with an email client is definitely too much for me. Email clients, meh. big_smile

I think #! does not need a browser at all, apt-get is always our friend.

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