Setting up minimal Firefox

From PepperWiki

[edit] Introduction

Setting up minimal Firefox is intended for those who want to use a full install of Firefox instead of the wrapped Firefox from Keeper as well as trying to maximize browsing area by reducing window decorations and toolbars to a minimum. Some of the advantages of doing this are:

• Full use of Firefox extensions [1]
• Customizeable MIME-type handling for various file types
• Maximize screen real estate

The ability to use full Firefox extensions is indispensible to most Firefox users. The ability to run Adblock alone is one of the most compelling reasons to run a full install of Firefox. It's also very helpful when you want to browse the internet without having a ton of resources being taken up by running Keeper (Java process alone usually consumes 30-40% of available system memory).

A closeup of the toolbar sizes before and after:

As illustrated above, this process clears alot of browsing space while still allowing full use of the toolbars (accessed via the Menu button).

[edit] Summary

In summary, the following steps will be taken:

1. Install vanilla Firefox
2. Install LittleFox Theme
3. Install Tiny Menu Add on
4. Add keystroke in gconf-editor for making app fullscreen

[edit] Getting Started

[edit] Download Firefox

To get started visit www.getfirefox.com and download the latest version (2.0.0.1 as of this writing).

Download the file, and it will be placed into the directory: /opt/Downloads/. You can safely ignore the warning after it downloads.

Move the file to an appropriate place:

[root@localhost ~]# mv /opt/Downloads/firefox-2.0.0.1.tar.gz ~

This will move the file firefox-2.0.0.1.tar.gz from /opt/Downloads/ to /root/

[edit] Install Firefox

Bring up an xterm by hitting Shift(⇑) + Ctrl + 1.

This will give you a shell at the /root directory.

We now have to unpack the tarball (For windows users, this is the same idea as unzipping a zip file.):

[root@localhost ~]# tar -zxvf firefox-2.0.0.1.tar.gz

A bunch of text will fly past your screen as the tarball extracts and de-compresses itself. When it's done, you will find yourself with a /root/firefox/ directory.

At this point you could test that Firefox will run by issuing the command:

[root@localhost ~]# firefox/firefox

[edit] Symlink Modules

Now, there are already modules available for pepperfox to run Java as well as Mplayer. You could re-download them and install them into your new Firefox install, but there is an easier way to handle it. Just symlink all of the modules from the PepperFox install into the appropriate place for your vanilla Firefox install.

The modules can be found at:

/opt/pepper/jrex_gre/plugins/

To work on your new Firefox install, you must get into the plugins directory of your Firefox install:

[root@localhost ~]# cd /root/firefox/plugins

And you must now create the symlinks:

[root@localhost plugins]# ln -s /opt/pepper/jrex_gre/plugins/* ./

This will create symbolic links of all of the modules in the Pepperfox plugins folder to your new Firefox install folder. You should now be able to play embedded movie/audio files right in your browser just like Pepperfox.

[edit] Install Littlefox

This next part of the installation will install the LittleFox theme.

Start up your new Firefox installation using:

[root@localhost ~]# ~/firefox/firefox &

Then navigate to the Littlefox link here: http://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/307/

Click on Install Now

Firefox may have to be restarted after installing this theme.

After installation, in Firefox go to Tools -> Themes. (Or possibly Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes)

Activate the LittleFox theme. You will have to restart Firefox to make LittleFox the active theme.

[edit] Install Tiny Menu

This add-on provides a way to collapse the file toolbar into a single button that still provides access to all of the file menus, but as drop-downs.

Navigate to the add-on page, here: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1455/

Click on Install Now

Restart Firefox to activate the extension. At this point all of your menu items will now be compacted into a single Menu drop-down button just like the "After" images above.

Now go to Menu -> View -> Toolbars -> Customize. This will open the toolbar customization window. It also allows you to drag and drop elements of your toolbar as well.

Grab each item from your navigation toolbar and drag it up alongside your new Menu button. You are basically moving everything from the navigation toolbar and moving it up to the menu toolbar.

When you are done, close out the customization window.

Finally go to: Menu -> View -> Toolbars and un-check the Navigation toolbar.

[edit] Toggle Fullscreen

This last step creates a keybinding that will allow you to toggle fullscreen for an application, removing all of the window manager decorations. This process is borrowed from: http://mojavelinux.com/wiki/doku.php?id=install:pepperpad3#manipulating_windows_resize_move

In the terminal, open the GConf Configuration Editor:

[root@localhost ~]# gconf-editor

Drill down the folders on the left to: apps -> metacity -> window_keybindings

On the right, scroll down to toggle_fullscreen and change the binding to something you want (such as Ctrl+Shift+f, written as <Ctrl><Shift>f ).

You can also add keybindings for begin_move and begin_resize here if you want.

That should be it! You can now run your minimal Firefox install by starting up firefox in the terminal:

[root@localhost ~]# ~/firefox/firefox &

And after it fires up, you can make it fullscreen by issuing your toggle_fullscreen keybinding.

Enjoy!

Avhell 16:49, 5 February 2007 (EST)