## 15.2 Browsers 

DragonFly does not come with a particular browser pre-installed. Instead, the [www](http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/www.html) directory of the ports collection contains a lot of browsers ready to be installed. If you do not have time to compile everything (this can take a very long time in some cases) many of them are available as packages.



 **KDE**  and  **GNOME**  already provide HTML browsers. Please refer to [x11-wm.html Section 5.7] for more information on how to set up these complete desktops.



If you are looking for light-weight browsers, you should investigate the ports collection for [`www/dillo`](http://pkgsrc.se/www/dillo), [`www/links`](http://pkgsrc.se/www/links), or [`www/w3m`](http://pkgsrc.se/www/w3m).



This section covers these applications:

[[!table  data="""
 Application Name | Resources Needed | Installation from Ports | Major Dependencies 
  **Mozilla Firefox**  | heavy | heavy |  **Gtk+**  
  **Netscape®**  | heavy | light | Linux Binary Compatibility 
  **Opera**  | light | light | FreeBSD version (should work on DragonFly): None. Linux version: Linux Binary Compatibility and  **linux-openmotif**  |

"""]]







### 15.2.1 Mozilla Firefox 

 **Mozilla Firefox**  is perhaps the most suitable browser for your DragonFly Desktop. It is modern and stable. It features a very standards-compliant HTML display engine. It provides a mail and news reader. It even has a HTML composer if you plan to write some web pages yourself. Users of  **Netscape**  will recognize the similarities with  **Communicator**  suite, as both browsers shared the same basis.



On slow machines, with a CPU speed less than 233MHz or with less than 64MB of RAM,  **Mozilla Firefox**  can be too resource-consuming to be fully usable. You may want to look at the  **Opera**  browser instead, described a little later in this chapter.



The Mozilla package from the network by:



    

    # pkg_add firefox



If the package is not available, and you have enough time and disk space, you can get the source for  **Mozilla** , compile it and install it on your system. This is accomplished by:



    

    # cd /usr/ports/www/mozilla

    # make install clean



The  **Mozilla**  port ensures a correct initialization by running the chrome registry setup with `root` privileges. However, if you want to fetch some add-ons like mouse gestures, you must run  **Mozilla**  as `root` to get them properly installed.



Once you have completed the installation of  **Mozilla** , you do not need to be `root` any longer. You can start  **Mozilla**  as a browser by typing:



    

    % mozilla



You can start it directly as a mail and news reader as shown below:



    

    % mozilla -mail



### 15.2.2 Mozilla, Java™, and Macromedia® Flash™ 

***Contributed by Tom Rhodes. ***



Installing  **Mozilla**  is simple, but unfortunately installing  **Mozilla**  with support for add-ons like Java™ and Macromedia® Flash™ consumes both time and disk space.



The first thing is to download the files which will be used with  **Mozilla** . Take your current web browser up to http://www.sun.com/software/java2/download.html and create an account on their website. Remember to save the username and password from here as it may be needed in the future. Download a copy of the file `j2sdk-1_3_1-src.tar.gz` and place this in `/usr/ports/distfiles/` as the port will not fetch it automatically. This is due to license restrictions. While we are here, download the ***java environment*** from http://java.sun.com/webapps/download/Display?BundleId=7905. The filename is `j2sdk-1_3_1_08-linux-i586.bin` and is large (about 25 megabytes!). Like before, this file must be placed into `/usr/ports/distfiles/`. Finally download a copy of the ***java patchkit*** from http://www.eyesbeyond.com/freebsddom/java/ and place it into `/usr/ports/distfiles/`.



Install the [`java/jdk13`](http://pkgsrc.se/java/jdk13) port with the standard `make install clean` and then install the [`www/flashpluginwrapper`](http://pkgsrc.se/www/flashpluginwrapper) port. This port requires [`emulators/linux_base`](http://pkgsrc.se/emulators/linux_base) which is a large port. True that other  **Flash**  plugins exist, however they have not worked for me.



Install the [`www/mozilla`](http://pkgsrc.se/www/mozilla) port, if  **Mozilla**  is not already installed.



Now copy the  **Flash**  plug-in files with:



    

    # cp /usr/local/lib/flash/libflashplayer.so \

            /usr/X11R6/lib/browser_plugins/libflashplayer_linux.so



    

    # cp /usr/local/lib/flash/ShockwaveFlash.class \

            /usr/X11R6/lib/browser_plugins/



Now add the following lines to the top of (but right under `#!/bin/sh`)  **Mozilla**  startup script: `/usr/X11R6/bin/mozilla`.



    

    LD_PRELOAD=/usr/local/lib/libflashplayer.so.1

    export LD_PRELOAD



This will enable the  **Flash**  plug-in.



Now just start  **Mozilla**  with:



    

    % mozilla &



And access the About Plug-ins option from the Help menu. A list should appear with all the currently available plugins.  **Java**  and  **Shockwave® Flash**  should both be listed.



### 15.2.3 Netscape® 

The ports collection contains several versions of the Netscape browser. Since the native FreeBSD ones contain a serious security bug, installing them is strongly discouraged. Instead, use a more recent Linux or DIGITAL UNIX version.

Netscape is no longer supported by AOL. AOL recommends people to switch to Firefox with a Netscape theme.



The latest stable release of the Netscape browser is  **Netscape 7** . It can be installed from the ports collection:



    

    # cd /usr/ports/www/netscape7

    # make install clean



There are localized versions in the French, German, and Japanese categories.



 **Caution:**  **Netscape 4.x**  versions are not recommended because they are not compliant with today's standards. However,  **Netscape 7.x**  and newer versions are only available for the i386™ platform.



### 15.2.4 Opera 

 **Opera**  is a very fast, full-featured, and standards-compliant browser. It comes in a version that runs under Linux emulation. Opera is free for personal & commercial use, but not open source.



To browse the Web with  **Opera** , install the package:



    

    # pkg_add opera



Some FTP sites do not have all the packages, but the same result can be obtained with the ports collection by typing:



    

    # cd /usr/ports/www/opera

    # make install clean



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