WetGeek

WetGeek I doubt if anyone here will argue for Chrome over Firefox, but it's a mistake to dismiss all other chromium-based browsers just because Chrome is one. They only share a rendering engine, but apart from that, they differ a lot.

This is absolutely true. Being based on Chromium doesn't make a browser Chrome.

One thing to take note of though.. Firefox is the only browser using Gecko, their web rendering engine. Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, Chrome and any derivatives use Blink.

Safari is the only browser I am aware of using WebKit right now.

The problem with Firefox being the only browser of note using Gecko is that, unlike Safari which is owned by Apple, they don't have vast funds and resources to maintain that web rendering engine.

Firefox use among Linux users is incredibly important. Just days ago Manjaro Cinnamon announced that they were switching from Firefox to Vivaldi. This has left me incredibly torn because, as much as I love and support and represent Vivaldi as Ambassador, it worries me that leaning hard into Chromium-based derivatives will end up with the death of Firefox and Gecko.

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        • Post #269

        jrsilvey Firefox is the only browser using Gecko

        but what about waterfox/librewolf/firedragon? they all are based on Firefox and use Gecko.

        manjaro's move did not become a big news mostly. i visited their forum to see how manjaro users reacted to it and i can say that roughly around 55% of them werent pleasedwith the move ,and i think few of them were saying indirectly that an open source browser got replaced with a propreitary one.

        jrsilvey Safari is the only browser I am aware of using WebKit right now.

        falkon browser and gnome web uses webkit. gnome web used Gecko some years ago.

        microsoft's move to chromium is old news now, but i still think how the world would have changed had they used Gecko for their browser 👀

        i only switched to Solus this year april, until then i had WindOS 10 on my pc and i clearly remember how that edge browser landed on my computer thru a windows update, and then restarting after the update a small blue pop up was shown on the bottom of the screen near the edge logo saying "here's a new edge" or something like that(cannot recall exactly was was written). I liked that browser quite a lot and kept using it for some time till the move to Solus. and to be honest, i did not know anything about free software or gugal's web dominance until i moved to Linux. i have learned a lot of things that i may not have known if i were still on windOS. i feel happy that i can use the terminal a bit, understand some html code etc and that i an no longer a noob windOS user.

        so far, Steam is the only non free software i have on my machine right now. but maybe in the next 5 years or so,we can expect valve to make it open source.......

              [deleted] librewolf

              Great standalone browser.
              But it's built on an old (non-updated) Firefox carcass.
              Once I figured out that I could do what the Librewolf folks (mostly about:config moves) do in the updated Solus-curated Firefox, I went back to updated Solus-curated Firefox.
              If you want to skip mucking about the guts of about:config I don't blame you. Librewolf is a secure browser.
              But there is a wicked satisfaction to disabling the whole creepy Pocket apparatus yourself🙂.

                  brent Would you be willing to make a post or comment on the steps you took to do this? I just started using librewolf and didn't realize that it was based on an old version. My 'version' is showing the same as firefox.

                    My appimage wolf is 85 and my solus is 92(?) so maybe my appimage is old?

                    but the difference between 85 and 92 is about:config settings multiply like bunnies every new version..

                    I had no script.
                    Wolf, about.config, type Pocket. Tried replicate in Solus.
                    Also found this online so I did it:

                    extensions.pocket.enabled = false               (DID ALL 3)
extensions.pocket.site = blank
extensions.pocket.oAuthConsumerKey = blank
extensions.pocket.api = blank
        Disable 3rd party closed-source Pocket integration.
        Note, this is browser.pocket.enabled for older versions of firefox

                    That's about it. I became weirded out because your article reading is shared via pocket to 3rd parties. Plus their selections for me to read left me equally repulsed. That's what I came to believe anyway, so I stopped it from functioning and talking asfaik.

                    Just those two things.
                    I might have took a couple things from ghacks' famous security opus overkill🙂 called 'user.js' regarding pocket and transferring them to solus firefox (edit): but I did not document those 2-3.

                    Chrome is my favourite browser for PC and Soul Browser is my favourite browser for Android Phone.

                    It used to be Brave, but now I'm fully back on Firefox. Love the new re-design and ability to customize it.

                      Conifer I love Brave and use them both. Brave doesn't get the attention Vivaldi does but it's severely under-rated browser. It's a tight sharp ship. I'd say AS security conscious at FF--maybe more. It gets a bad rap because people parrot each other on it's bitcoin bent and ad replacement options but once you disable/decline that stuff it never pesters you again and reverts to a highly stable and unsung browser.

                      They all have their strengths & weakness but I abandoned a single browser maybe 7 months ago to simultaneously use 2-3 browsers to their full strengths so I get the best of all worlds depending on tasks.
                      Not sure I'd go back to a single browser again while computing.

                          elfprince No. With 3 browsers (4 today with two vivaldis) on at the same time at least 2 are minimized (not in use per se). Simultaneous in the sense I meant was using one then using the other, then later the other with apps being the gui's being minimized. So when app is minimized for a while in task bar maybe no drainage? Honestly don't know. I'm never doing anything band-width intensive, either.

                          It's funny you mention that. There's a post today about max (100%) memory usage and GPU so I looked at mine earlier (system settings). Even with 3 browsers open I never hit more than 25%.

                          Long story short 6 or so months into my multiple browser phase I've never had a slowdown or a freeze. Not even when running zoom on top of it.
                          I have to wonder elfprince , though, as a man of modest means who never owned more than 8GB of memory most of my adult life...when I bought some craigslist guy's used DIY rig and BEGGED him to keep the 8 stick in there...so I could use with my own 8. You think it's the 16Gb that is making the difference? Don't know.

                                brent Not sure I'd go back to a single browser again while computing.

                                A single browser suits me just fine, except for the media machine. My TV provider is fussy about the browser it will work with, but for other purposes I prefer the same browser I use on other computers.

                                It's wonderful that we have so many choices available. Everyone gets to use the browser (or browsers) that provides the most happiness.

                                    WetGeek It's wonderful that we have so many choices available. Everyone gets to use the browser (or browsers) that provides the most happiness.

                                    could not put it better than that---cheers!

                                      elfprince I just counted, 26 tabs open, so not too bad. My "active" tab was Stadia, playing Destiny 2. No crashes or performance issues.

                                        I use Firefox partially out of historical preference, and partly out of liking and supporting the idea of there is something not chromium based.

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                                        • Post #283

                                        Conifer I'm fully back on Firefox

                                        ahh... welcome back! 😃

                                          brent Amazing, but I have a strong suspicion that it 's the 16G that make all the difference. Web browsers eat ram like there is no tomorrow. I have 8G, and often see over 70% usage just with Firefox and Brave open, with over 30 tabs. 😅 Delayed response is a common daily thing.

                                              elfprince I have 8G, and often see over 70% usage just with Firefox and Brave open, with over 30 tabs. 😅 Delayed response is a common daily thing.

                                              delayed response was my early Solus life with 4GB^^. It was normal daily to peg out at 99-100% to where you could barely move the mouse.
                                              *and my life with wireless keyboards currently.
                                              ( I am 100% wired again and delay-free there). I digress.

                                              with 8GB (I bought a used 4 to go with my 4) I never had 30 tabs open (20 max once maybe?) though but I could certainly finds ways to make it doggy, so if you aren't running heavy programs alongside the browers/tabs your theory (which I share) would seem to confirm 16 is the difference. I still find memory unaffordable and count my blessings the person would part with that 8 without raising the price of the rig.

                                                  brent it makes a big difference, the jump from 8-12 for my laptop definitely made noticable improvement. I normally have 20+ tabs, Spotify, and some office program running through.