Replacing Firefox to improve user privacy...

Robin

Since the last update, Linux-brave has been choppy, crashy, and the pdf reader quit working. I'm betting it has do do with the "Linux compatibility layer," and I want as little to do with Linux as possible. I find Waterfox excellent, speedy, and fully functional. I tried Dooble just for grins, and it's very fast! But it doesn't allow for importing bookmarks ("favorites") or passwords. Very nice, though! Adding in all that stuff manually and saving to my SQL with a master password is an extra step but probably well worth it.

I loved Brave on Linux, but it's "iffy" at best on GhostBSD. I wonder if it's safe to delete all the "Linux stuff" along with Linux-brave.

vimanuelt

Robin

At present, the Linux compatibility layer on FreeBSD is a weak point. The Linux userland it relies on does not consistently receive timely security updates, and applications that depend on this layer may therefore lag behind upstream security fixes. For security-sensitive workloads, this limitation should be taken into account.

Robin

Is it safe to use Software Station to remove the Linux pollution from my OS?

vimanuelt

Robin

If you take a snapshot before making the change, then yes.

Bluey

Robin
Regarding Librewolf

You know what? So bloody what? Yes, It is a bit immature for project leads to post politically divisive statements. Lunduke is just a two bit blogger/podcaster trying to be a Temu Joe Rogan. Some of the stuff he surfaces is remarkable and some of it is attention seeking.

My litmus test is:
Does the software project achieve its aim. Is the code useful to me. I could care less about programmers personal political proclivities.

stu

Robin How did you get Ungoogled-Chromium installed?

Robin

stu It's in the Software Station

wastlnd

UG is maybe the best one in terms of blocking unsolicited requests, it doesn't phone home whatsoever, while LW has still some connections at startup. Unfortunately, being based on Chromium and unlike LW, UG doesn't have a straightforward way to use the Tor proxy.

vpx

I say keep Mozilla Firefox as the base browser, I think it fits better to BSD than Chrome.

I will install LibreWolf anyway but I would need Firefox as a base browser for stuff that doesn't work on privacy browsers, e.g. Full HD streaming of DRM protected media.

As GhostBSD is mostly oriented towards ex-Windows users that would make sense as Windows also has Edge as the base browser which is always good to have as a fallback.

Also then you'd already have most of the necessary packages required for GNU IceCat, LibreWolf, Pale Moon, SeaMonkey, Tor Bowser, Waterfox, Zen Browser, right?

me12345

I prefer keeping the base install of Firefox. I don't like their direction nor their wasting $$$ on bad marketing and endless chain of overpaid useless CEOs. But the alternatives are far worse. Anyone who values privacy can just copy one user.js file from yokoffing/Betterfox

I would recommend anyone review the user.js as it may disable some Firefox features you do want.

Please don't add Brave made by crypto thieves. No one should ever recommend Brave as a browser even though it is open sourced.

Endless references from the Brave crypto thieves can be found on
Reddit

Also latest Brave nonsense at:
https://community.brave.app/t/please-ditch-crypto-adware-crap/600951

Robin

All those features can be disabled (opt-out) on Brave, which is always the first thing I do when installing it. I decline their search engine, sync, crypto stuff, etc., and then enjoy the best built-in ad-blocking and privacy protection you can find in a browser, including "incognito with Tor."

The only bugaboo for me is having to install the "Linux compatibility" stuff. To avoid that I tend to recommend ungoogled-chromium and using it with a hosts file.

dreamcatcher

Robin I gave up on Brave because it kept asking me if I wanted to use it as my default browser. If I wanted Brave as my default, I would have set that option.

ericbsd

Same with Chromium.

Robin

Brave takes a few seconds to launch, too, because it has to load up the Linux stuff first. I test-drove Midori and it was cool but it can't import bookmarks & passwords. Waterfox is quite a surprise, though! Based on Firefox but privacy enhanced, better and faster than Librewolf. All the cool tools and add-ons if you want.

« Previous Page