2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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================================================================================
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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= = = = = = = = = = = = = = Firefox Read Me = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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================================================================================
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Firefox is subject to the terms detailed in the license agreement
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accompanying it.
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This Read Me file contains information about system requirements and
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installation instructions for the OS/2 build of Firefox.
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For more info on Firefox, see http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/.
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For more info on the OS/2 port see http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2. To submit
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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bugs reports go to Bugzilla at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org.
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For discussion and help for OS/2 specific problems, please use the newsgroup
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mozilla.dev.ports.os2 on news.mozilla.org. You can also get help by pointing
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your IRC client to the #warpzilla channel on irc.mozilla.org.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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================================================================================
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Getting Firefox
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================================================================================
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Official Milestone builds of Firefox are published on the release page at
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/releases/
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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OS/2 releases are not created by Mozilla staff and may appear on the
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page http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2 before the releases page. Be sure to read
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the release notes linked on the releases page for information on known problems
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and installation issues.
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OS/2 specific problems with this version are listed below.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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================================================================================
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System Requirements on OS/2
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================================================================================
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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- This release requires the C runtime DLL (libc063.dll) from
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ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/gcc/libc-0.6.3-csd3.zip
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2006-04-19 18:58:30 +00:00
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in order to run. You can unpack them in the same directory as the
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Firefox executable or somewhere else in your LIBPATH.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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- Minimum hardware requirements
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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+ 400 MHz Pentium class processor
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+ 128 MiB RAM plus 128 MiB free swap space
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+ 40 MiB free harddisk space for installation
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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plus storage space for disk cache
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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+ Graphics card and driver capable of displaying more than 256 colors
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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- Recommended hardware for acceptable performance
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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+ 1.0 GHz processor
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+ 512 MiB RAM plus 128 MiB free swap space
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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NOTE: Firefox's performance and stability increases the more physical
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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RAM is available.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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- Software requirements
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+ Installation on a file system supporting long file names
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(i.e. HPFS or JFS but not FAT)
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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+ OS/2 Warp 4 with Fixpack 15 or later (Warp 3 may work but is unsupported)
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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+ MPTS version 5.3
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+ TCP/IP version 4.1
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+ INETVER: SOCKETS.SYS=5.3007, AFOS2.SYS=5.3001, AFINET.SYS=5.3006
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NOTE: Do not attempt to use MPTS & TCP/IP versions below these INETVER
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levels. Although Firefox may seem to start and run normally with older
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stacks, some features Firefox needs are not implemented correctly in
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older MPTS versions, which may result in crashes and data loss.
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+ Convenience Pack 2 or eComStation 1.0 or later meet these requirements
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out of the box.
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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+ Only Java plugins of version 1.4.1 or 1.4.2 are supported.
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(IBM Java 1.3.1 or earlier will crash the application!)
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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- Useful optional software
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The following packages enable additional features in Firefox. Download
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locations are listed below with a detailed description of the features.
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2008-03-11 20:06:48 +00:00
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+ Remote Workplace Server (RWS), version 0.8
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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+ Doodle's Screen Saver (DSSaver), version 1.8 or later
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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================================================================================
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Installation Instructions
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================================================================================
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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Unpack into a clean (new) directory. Installing on top of previously released
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builds may cause problems with Firefox. It is therefore hightly recommended
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to follow the instructions under "Separating profiles from installation
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directory".
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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Note: These instructions do not tell you how to build Firefox.
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For info on building the Firefox source, see
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Build_Documentation
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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OS/2 Installation Instructions
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------------------------------
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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On OS/2, Firefox does not have an installation program. To install it,
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download the .zip file and follow these steps:
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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1. Click the "Zip" link on the site you're downloading Firefox from to
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download the ZIP package to your machine. This file is typically called
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firefox-x.x.x.en-US.os2.zip where the "x.x.x" is replaced by the
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current Firefox version.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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2. Navigate to where you downloaded the file and unpack it using your favorite
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unzip tool.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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3. Keep in mind that the unzip process creates a directory "firefox" below
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the location you point it to, e.g.
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unzip firefox-3.1.en-US.os2.zip -d c:\firefox-3.1
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will unpack Firefox into c:\firefox-3.1\firefox.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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4. Make sure that you are _not_ unpacking over an old installation. This is
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known to cause problems.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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5. To start Firefox, navigate to the directory you extracted Firefox to,
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ensure that the C library DLL is copied to the installation directory or
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installed in the LIBPATH, and then double-click the Firefox.exe object.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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================================================================================
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Tips and Problems
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================================================================================
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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Running multiple versions concurrently
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--------------------------------------
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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If you want to run more than one copy of Firefox, you have to use the
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-no-remote parameter or set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 in your environment.
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Because various members of the Mozilla family (i.e. SeaMonkey, Mozilla, Firefox,
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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Thunderbird, IBM Web Browser) may use different, incompatible versions of the
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same DLL, some extra steps may be required to run them concurrently.
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One workaround is the LIBPATHSTRICT variable. To run Firefox one can create
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a CMD script like the following example (where an installation of Firefox
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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in the directory d:\internet\firefox is assumed):
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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set LIBPATHSTRICT=T
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rem The next line may be needed when a different Mozilla program is listed in LIBPATH
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rem set BEGINLIBPATH=d:\internet\firefox
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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rem The next line is only needed to run two versions of the same program
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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rem set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
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d:
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cd d:\internet\firefox
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firefox.exe %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
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Similarly, one can create a program object to start Firefox using the
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following settings:
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Path and file name: *
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Parameters: /c set LIBPATHSTRICT=T & .\firefox.exe "%*"
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Working directory: d:\internet\firefox
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(One might need to add MOZ_NO_REMOTE and/or BEGINLIBPATH as in the CMD script
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above depending on the system configuration.)
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Finally, the simplest method is to use the Run! utility by Rich Walsh that can
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be found in the Hobbes Software Archive:
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=Run!
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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Read its documentation for more information.
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Separating profiles from installation directory
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-----------------------------------------------
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To separate the locations of the user profile(s) (containing the bookmarks and
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all customizations) from the installation directory to keep your preferences in
|
2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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the case of an update even when using ZIP packages, set the variable
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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MOZILLA_HOME to a directory of your choice. You can do this either in Config.sys
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or in a script or using a program object as listed above. If you add
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set MOZILLA_HOME=f:\Data
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the Firefox user profile will be created in "f:\Data\Mozilla\Firefox".
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If you are migrating from Mozilla, Firefox's import routine will only find
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the existing Mozilla profile data if MOZILLA_HOME is correctly set to point to
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it.
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Other important environment variables
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-------------------------------------
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There are a few enviroment variables that can be used to control special
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behavior of Firefox on OS/2:
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- set NSPR_OS2_NO_HIRES_TIMER=1
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This causes Firefox not to use OS/2's high resolution timer. Set this if
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other applications using the high resolution timer (multimedia apps) act
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strangely.
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- set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
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Use this to run two instances of Firefox simultaneously (like e.g. debug
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and optimized version).
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2008-03-11 20:06:48 +00:00
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- set MOZ_NO_RWS=1
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Use this to disable Remote Workplace Server support (see below).
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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Find more information on this topic and other tips on
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http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/Warpzilla.html
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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Support for WPS objects
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-----------------------
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2008-03-11 20:06:48 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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Firefox can make use of Rich Walsh's Remote Workplace Server (RWS) library
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to access Workplace Shell objects from the application. This allows helper
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applications for downloaded files to be selected based on their default WPS
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association. In addition, the WPS icons of files will be displayed in the
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download dialog and in directory views.
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2008-03-11 20:06:48 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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To enable this functionality, Firefox has to find the RWS DLLs. They have to
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be located in a directory on the LIBPATH, in the Firefox directory, or
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already be registered as a WPS class. For eComStation 2 this is already the
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case. If RWS is not yet available on your system, download it from
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http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=rws08dll
|
2008-03-11 20:06:48 +00:00
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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If RWS is found on the system, it is used by Firefox automatically. In case
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you need to disable RWS support, create an environment variable MOZ_NO_RWS and
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set it to 1.
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2008-03-11 20:06:48 +00:00
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2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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Idle timer for internal cleanups
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--------------------------------
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If Doodle's Screen Saver (DSSaver) v1.8 or later is installed, Firefox can
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determine how long the user has been inactive. If the user has been inactive
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for a while, cleanup operations are performed (e.g. on the browsing history)
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and reloads of "Live Bookmarks" are suspended.
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DSSaver can be downloaded from
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ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/dssaver/dssaver_v18.zip
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Setting the OS/2 default browser
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--------------------------------
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The default web browser can be set using WPS URL objects. The properties
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notebook of every URL object contains a "Browser" tab where the browser
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executable can be selected. Any changes to these settings will be stored and
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reflected in all URL objects once the user presses the "Set Default" button.
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Two small applications make this change a bit easier and provide options to also
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2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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set default programs for other types of internet-related activities:
|
2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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- ConfigApps
|
2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
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http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=configapps1_1
|
2008-03-11 19:59:55 +00:00
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- Internet Application Integration
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|
http://7cities.net/~mckinnis/os2/
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|
2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
|
|
|
Changed font handling
|
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|
---------------------
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To be able to display text, Firefox cannot make use of normal OS/2 routines
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but has to use FreeType and FontConfig. This has the advantage that text can
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be displayed with antialiasing, but at the same time has some caveats:
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- Firefox cannot make use of OS/2 fonts like WarpSans and others which
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|
are not available in Type1 or TrueType format. It is therefore
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|
recommended to install the "Workplace Sans" font from
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|
http://users.socis.ca/~ataylo00/creative/fonts/
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or
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http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=wpsu_ttf
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which Firefox will use as a replacement of WarpSans.
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- Display of text in some languages (e.g. Arabic) does not yet take into account
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that different forms of some characters exist.
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To tweak the appearance of text, you can add two preferences, preferably using
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about:config.
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- gfx.os2.font.antialiasing (Boolean)
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This preference controls whether antialiasing is enabled, and defaults to
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true.
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- gfx.os2.font.hinting (Integer)
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This preference controls the hinting level, and can be between 0 (no hinting)
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and 3 (full hinting). The default value is 2.
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Font hinting improves the contrast of displayed text, but may produce poor
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|
results for certain characters of some fonts, most notably the OS/2 version
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of "Times New Roman".
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Note that these preferences only take effect when a font gets used for the first
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time, so you may need to restart the application to see the full effect.
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|
2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
|
|
|
Known Problems of the OS/2 version
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cross-platform problems are usually listed in the release notes of each
|
|
|
|
milestone release.
|
|
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|
|
2009-01-10 12:31:01 +00:00
|
|
|
- Printing to normal OS/2 printer queues had to be disabled. It was slow even
|
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|
|
for simple pages and used huge amounts of RAM, so that in most cases the
|
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|
|
application crashed, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=415522.
|
|
|
|
While the queues are still displayed in the printing dialog, any printing
|
|
|
|
operation will instead create a PDF file. By default this file is placed on
|
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|
|
the Desktop, with the name Firefox_<date>_<time>.pdf, where <date> and
|
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|
|
<time> are replaced by the current system time. If you want to use another
|
|
|
|
name, select "Print to file" before pressing the Print button.
|
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The resulting PDF file can be printed using applications like Lucide, Acrobat
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Reader, or GSview.
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- Fonts with names containing special characters (like Asian Unicode names)
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will not display correctly in the list of fonts in the Options panel.
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2007-07-17 21:29:54 +00:00
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- Firefox will beep when copying more than 64 kB of text to the clipboard.
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This is to alert users that many applications (most notably the system
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editor, EPM, and applications running in VIO windows) cannot paste more
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than this.
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2005-08-11 19:33:12 +00:00
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Other known problems can be found by following the link "Current Open Warpzilla
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Bugs" on the OS/2 Mozilla page <http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/>.
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