Archive for 1

Firefox universal v0.3

Our v0.3 release is done. Our release plan for .3 was a little vague, in that we wanted and needed to do a lot of things towards building a solid 1.0, but the next step from 0.2 was not so clear. We manged to get the MacOS to read the profile properly, more of a proof of concept really, since we had very limited knowledge of the MAC, as well as limited time. We copied the Firefox libraries from the mini mac in ORI onto our stick, and managed to fire-up firefox with the correct profile. Our goal for a v1.0, which we Peters plan to continue working toward, is a nice, clean and easy to use Universal Firefox. We plan on using 2 scripts, 1 for windows and 1 for both Linux and Mac. We have investigated windows batch programming, and it is very similar in power to Linux shell scripting(goto’s instead of functions). We have been working on the need to isolate the specific Windows platform, and adjust for any differences that might cause problems. Currently we have a script that basically greps the windows platform from the ‘ver’ (version) command, and then use goto statements to jump to the appropriate function. Another goal is to understand and implement a fail-safe method for dealing with any dependencies that our Firefox may need, that are not installed on the host machine. This will entail setting up a path that first searches the host machine, then falls through to our stick libraries. As Chris has suggested, an Auto load feature might also me desirable, but we are going to leave that for later.

This has been a great experience for me, and I am a little disappointed that I am not coming back for the next course to carry on OFFICIALLY through to v1.0, but will blog on any success I have unofficially!

Thanks again Chris and Dave, for an excellent program!

Leave a Comment

Linux todo: Ubuntu GM

Some quick thoughts on Linux. I think we need a version of Linux for the mainstream user. When a novice user like myself, who is pretty good with these things, has to ask so MANY questions to get a Linux version up and running on his computer, it is time to solve the problem.

I understand that Ubuntu is an intro distribution, and that the distribution versions are based on the year and month of the release. What would really be useful would be to have a stable version of Linux(Ubuntu?) for the masses of grandmothers who would love a great AND free operating system but are not interested in programmers version numbers…

(do they sell Hoover Magic vacuum v1.01, v2.09 etc ???)

We could call it Ubuntu GM (Grand Master or Grand Mother, your choice!) and update it as needed, retaining its name with each new release. The job of “selling” Linux to non-programmers would become much easier…

Comments (1)

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.