Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 20:48:35 +0000 From: Peter Harrison <four.harrisons@googlemail.com> To: Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Browser Message-ID: <8C0EEF92-18FD-45A8-90EF-F26EC8762704@googlemail.com> In-Reply-To: <20120104165405.GF8500@hemlock.hydra> References: <CAHsiZG-op0MO79qaWG2gRLYLeaTKcip8iabQ%2B0AYQVK7iDZ5pg@mail.gmail.com> <20120104165405.GF8500@hemlock.hydra>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 4 Jan 2012, at 16:54, Chad Perrin wrote: > On Wed, Jan 04, 2012 at 07:17:47AM -0500, Daniel Lewis wrote: >> Im running Free BSD 8.2 and was wondering whats a good web browser = for >> version 8.2? >> Where and how would we install it? ( Im really new to unix) >=20 > There are at least as many answers to this as there are browsers, and > probably quite a few more answers than that. >=20 > For minimalist browsers in the X Window System environment, I quite = like > Surf. >=20 > For its incredibly rich extension system, I use Firefox (and = extensions > such as Pentadactyl, Perspectives, HTTPS Everywhere, and Scrapbook). >=20 > For a combination of excellent GUI design, smooth built-in features, = and > stability (relative to Firefox), Chromium is a good choice (that's the > open source project behind Google Chrome). >=20 > For a relatively lightweight, modular design that offers an = interesting > alternative interface for people who prefer keyboard navigation rather > than mouse navigation, there's Uzbl (though the Pentadactyl extension = for > Firefox offers some of the same benefits). >=20 > For the most complete feature set of any console-based browser I've = used > (which means I don't necessarily need a running X Window System = session > to use it), there's w3m. >=20 > Some OpenBSD people have started working on the xxxterm project, which > looks quite promising to me, and I intend to give it a serious look = very > soon. >=20 > There are others as well. Others have already mentioned Epiphany, > Midori, and Opera. Lynx and Links are a couple more console-based > browsers. In addition to Firefox, the Mozilla guys also offer = SeaMonkey. > Konqueror is the canonical choice amongst KDE users, I think, and = Flock > has a small but dedicated following. Conkeror, despite the similarity = of > its name to Konqueror, is not a KDE browser; instead, it appears to be = a > Firefox variant specifically designed for keyboard navigation (with a > less vi-like set of default keybindings than Pentadactyl provides). I > think NetSurf is a popular browser for the Haiku OS, but has been = ported > to other OSes such as FreeBSD. >=20 > I don't have a favorite. All browsers I have encountered disappoint = me > in some way (though I hold hope for xxxterm when I get around to = giving > it a try). Each of the browsers I mentioned in their own paragraphs = are > browsers that I use at least occasionally, except for xxxterm -- which > gets its own mention basically because it looks promising. For the > negatives: >=20 > Surf - It's so feature-minimal that I would need to build a bunch of > custom scripts to interact with it and give me the functionality I = need. > I have not tried yet. >=20 > Firefox - It's getting huge, bloated, and unstable for my purposes, = and > its recent rapid iteration model regularly breaks the very things that > keep me using it at all: the extensions. >=20 > Chromium - The extension system is (intentionally) brain-dead. >=20 > Uzbl - It's a bit of a pain in the butt to configure to my = preferences, > and the extension "system" is very, very ad-hoc. I like some of the > principles of the underlying architecture, but in practice I do not = think > it is as well executed as it should have been. >=20 > w3m - I find its keyboard navigation capabilities somewhat less than > convenient and, as a console-based browser, that's kind of a fatal = flaw. > It's still better than any other console-based browser I've used = though. > Then, of course, there's the fact that it lacks the conveniences of = the > major GUI browsers (plugin support, for instance). >=20 > xxxterm - It's not in FreeBSD's ports system (yet), and I don't need a > new custom software installation project this week. Beyond that, I = don't > know what I may or may not dislike about it. Chad, xxxterm is in ports - at least I have it installed on my netbook and = although I can't remember how it got there, I never (ever) install stuff = that's not in ports. I installed for exactly the same reasons you're looking at it - fast = lean browser with good (vi-like) keybindings. Firefox runs like a dog on my atom processor, but I do still keep it = around for some stuff although compiling to keep their release schedule = is gradually turning me off. First impressions of xxxterm are that it's very good. The keybinding is = quite as good as uzbl or vimperator on firefox, but it's live-able with, = and it seems to have fewer performance or configuration downsides. Peter Harrison. >=20 > the stuff in the paragraph listing a bunch of browsers - I like all of > these less than any of the browsers I mentioned before this paragraph, > for a variety of reasons. >=20 > I hope that helps, in conjunction with the advice others provide. >=20 > --=20 > Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ] > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to = "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?8C0EEF92-18FD-45A8-90EF-F26EC8762704>