SlimJet 64-bit SFS packages

[Mike Walsh]

For 64-bit SFS packages please see next post


Afternoon, all.

This is a rather early-stage tryout for now, since there are not so many 64-bit Pups around at this moment in time.

I'm starting to use 64-bit Pups a wee bit more these days, since Google saw fit to drop support for my favourite 32-bit browser; Chrome. I recently started experimenting with tazoc's Lighthouse64 'Mariner' Edition, and one of my first goals was to get Chrome running.....with a singular lack of success, I might add. So I decided to try it a different way; forget Chrome, and try with my favourite alternative, SlimJet. Not point-and-click, but not compiling, either; extracting from the tar.xz supplied tarball, on FlashPeak's site.

It doesn't take long.....this definitely works in tazoc's Lighthouse 64 'Mariner'. Start by downloading the current 64-bit tarball from here:-

http://www.slimjet.com/en/dlpage.php

You want the '64-bit Zip package (tar.xz)', under 'Linux Version'. Having done that, you now need to extract it into its intended location. It states that it can be run from any folder, since it's a self-contained package. but we'll stick with /usr/lib, since this is the usual Linux location.

So, use whichever archiver you have installed, and extract the package to /usr/lib. Now, go to /usr/lib/slimjet (with most 64-bit Pups there tends to be a link between /usr/lib and /usr/lib64, although apparently this is missing in FatDog, so I'm not certain whether this will work there.) Locate the 'flash-peak-slimjet' wrapper script, and open 'er up with Geany.

To get this to start correctly (and borrowing from OscarTalk's 32-bit packages...cheers, Oscar!), scroll down to the final few lines of the script. From the point where it says:-

Code: Select all

'# Note: exec -a below is a bashism.

...delete the following:-

Code: Select all

exec -a "$0" "$HERE/slimjet"  "$PROFILE_DIRECTORY_FLAG" "$@"

...and replace it with this:-

Code: Select all

exec -a "$0" /usr/lib/slimjet/slimjet --user-data-dir=/root/.config/slimjet --disable-setuid-sandbox --disable-namespace-sandbox --disable-infobars "$@"

Save, then exit Geany. Go back into /usr/lib/slimjet, and drag the 'flashpeak-slimjet' script to your desktop; this will then act as your launcher. Edit if you want, and if you like, dress it up with an icon. I've supplied one below.

That's it! Slimjet should now launch from the desktop icon, all things being equal.....and since it's Chromium-based, if you have a Google account, just sign in as normal.

Enjoy! I'll be having a go at turning this into a .pet before long; an SFS package may follow. If you have any problems with this, let me know, and I'll try and help you resolve them.

Thanks again to Oscar for the use of his wrapper-script modifications.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

*** --- PLEASE NOTE: SlimJet packages may not work on some of the older Pups. The oldest version of the glibc ('C' library) I've been able to run them on is 2.15, in Precise 5.7.1. To check your version of the glibc, the easiest way is to enter in a terminal:-

Code: Select all

ldd --version

.....if it returns anything older than 2.15, you WILL have problems. Not my doing; it's all down to the version of 'C' the browser's been compiled against, I'm afraid! --- ***

The 15-series SlimJets will need at least glibc 2.19.

Thanks to belham2 for the suggestion for this warning.

(Seemingly, these work without incident in all the 'buntu-based Pups.....or so I've been reliably informed!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Evening, everybody.

As promised, I've created .pet & SFS SlimJet packages for both Tahr64 6.05 and Slacko64 6.3.0. The manual method outlined above was my first experimental steps at installing the 64-bit version of SlimJet. My PepperFlash packages were my very first attempts at making Puppy packages, period; I think I'm getting better at it!

SlimJet themselves say that the 32-bit version will work on x86 and x86_64, but there are problems with that in Puppy. As Bill (rcrsn51) and myself realised when refining the p910nd print server package for both architectures, you've got both lib32 and lib64 directories in the 64-bit Pups. (Slacko has lib, lib32 and lib64!) Some have a symlink in one direction from one to the other, some have it in the other.....and some (FatDog springs to mind, as indeed Slacko64 also), don't have any links at all.

EDIT:- The above statement holds true for Windows, apparently.....but not Linux. FlashPeak do recommend using the 64-bit tar.xz package for x86_64.

32-bit SlimJet is fairly straight-forward, as it invariably installs to /usr/lib; these 64-bit packages, however, install to /opt (which is a nice 'catch-all' directory for individual packages like this, and neatly 'sidesteps' the whole nightmare of the multiple /lib directories. It's where Chrome always installs to, for instance.....and where I myself extract the ESR versions of FireFox that I prefer to use.)

So I thought it couldn't hurt to create SlimJet in 64-bit Puppy packages. OscarTalks has done really excellent work with the 32-bit SlimJet packages; in fact, a big 'Thank you' is due to Oscar for getting me interested in SlimJet in the first place. As you all doubtless know by now, Google have dumped 32-bit Chrome; SlimJet is based on Chromium, which is still being developed for x86 for the forseeable future.....so, for me, SlimJet has replaced Chrome on all my 32-bit Pups. I would indeed recommend it to anybody; very highly so, indeed. It's a brilliant Chrome analogue, with far greater privacy and customising capability.

Anyway, here they are; these are the current releases.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downloads

CURRENT RELEASE:-

For Tahr64 and Slacko64:-

Both packages can be found here.


For those of you running the newest FatDog64 systems (the 700 series), AFAIK, you should be able to install SlimJet directly from the tar.xz package on the Download page..? I stand to be corrected on that one if necessary.....

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Any issues, please let me have your feedback, and I'll do what I can to help resolve them.

A huge 'Thank you' is also due to trio, for his 'Pet Maker' package:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=290171

...which has done some sterling work for me; once I got the hang of using it, that is...!

Enjoy.


Mike.

[trio]

you're welcome. Glad you find petmaker usable

[Mike Walsh]

you're welcome. Glad you find petmaker usable

Morning, trio.

Marvellous little package. I find it easier, personally, after creating the directory in /root/make-pet, to manually move things in with ROX.....but that still doesn't detract from its ease of use; that's just me.

It's nice, too, being able to manually edit the pet.specs via GUI; it's just easier that way!

This is what I used to create my series of PepperFlash .pets; I had one or two 'teething problems', but that was simply getting used to how the naming convention worked.

All in all, a most useful .pet. Thank you so much for this.....definitely a case of credit where credit is due!

Much appreciated.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

Morning, everybody.

Had to re-construct, and re-upload; I forgot the wrapper-script mods to enable it to run..! Almost asleep when I did these last night......

Links as in the above post; the name is now correct, too.

Have fun.


Mike.

[ally]

bad links:

Invalid or Deleted File.
The key you provided for file access was invalid. This is usually caused because the file is no longer stored on MediaFire. This occurs when the file is removed by the originating user or MediaFire.

Still have questions, or think we've made a mistake? Please contact support for further assistance.

[Mike Walsh]

Hey, Ally.

What are you downloading with? I've just tried all four downloads, in both Chrome and SlimJet itself, and they're working perfectly for me.....

Mind you, I haven't tried it with FF yet; it tends to be a back-up browser for me, and as such doesn't get used that often.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi again, Ally.

Just tried downloading these with FireFox; again, entirely successful.. Give 'em another try. It's entirely possible it might be something to do with a block arbitrarily imposed by your ISP..? Just a thought. Maybe I should upload these somewhere else, and see if that fixes the problem...

Let me know if you have any success.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

****Please note****

Above links temporarily removed, pending investigation of start-up problem...

I'm currently working on it (it all revolves around the Menu Entry!), and should have it sorted out before too long.

Many apologies. Bear with me.....


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

Afternoon, all.

I'm pleased to be able to report that the problem that had been haunting me with SlimJet for the last few days has been solved, mainly due to perdido's sharp eyes (and those of a few others...):-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 963#907963

Anyway; the .pet & SFS packages have been re-worked, re-packaged & re-uploaded, and are now available once again. Fully functional this time..!

Links are still as in the second post above^^^, here.

It's possible that a pair of 'ghost entries' may be created in the Menu; one in 'Internet, and one in 'Network' These both read 'FlashPeak Slimjet', and are recognisable by the lack of an icon. Ignore these; they don't do anything. I've tried getting rid of them, with no success.....but they may be peculiar to my own machine. It's been used intensively as a 'testing-ground' this last few days..!

SlimJet will now start (as it should) from its Menu entry under 'Internet'. Old hands who want a desktop launcher will know to drag'n'drop from /usr/share/applications.

If you've d/l'd the original versions, please remove these, and load & try the new ones.....these will work.

Enjoy..!


Mike.

[Belham]

Hi Mike W,

Mucho thanks for working on the 64-bit sfs and .pet of Slimjet. Ever since you've been talking about it (at least what this old brain can remember when I would lurk and read the puppy boards over the years) back in early 2015, I've been trying to get myself off the FF/Chrome pot and give Slimjet a go. Since I've switch myself over these last two years to doing everything on 64-bit, you doing a 64-bit SFS and/or .pet removes any of my lame excuses, haha.

I've got one question regarding Slimjet overall, thought maybe you could answer (or anyone else can chime in too): I've a few friends still stuck in the Windows worlds of Vista & 7 32-bit. When Chrome (and thus Chromium) ditched their 32-bit browser early this year, these people were left in a bit of a jam. Back in summer of 2015, they had finally heeded the constant warnings of removing Adobe Flash from their systems completely, and thus they were happily using Chrome 32-bit & its Pepperflash as their main browser. But, then Google/Chromium pulled the 32-bit plug.

I'd completely forgotten telling them about the Slimjet 32-bit browser (I assume there are other browsers too I am not aware of). But I just have a question though: I just now again read thru the Slimjet home webpage, and I can't find where it explicitly says this (I am assuming it, though)..... but am I correct in thinking Pepperflash is included in the 32-bit version of the Slimjet browser and it is updated frequently when vulnerabilities are found?

Reason I ask is, I've always been unsure if Pepperflash is something that is only developed by Adobe, or is it also devloped & modified by Chrome/Chromium crews, and if so, does it float easily between 32 and 64 bit browsers in terms of its upgrades & being available for both 32 & 64-bit browsers?? Or, did the 32-bit version of Pepperflash die in its tracks (in terms of no more upgrades of it) when Google/Chromium's stopped supporting the 32-bit browser??



P.S. I keep trying to get these people to flip to a 64-bit Puppy, especially the super easy to use Tahr64 6.0.5 (or even Fatdog or Quirky Xenial, both of which I enjoy too), but so far they are resistant and, I guess, a bit scared to change. At least the one Vista person is going to get pushed off the toilet seat come next Jan (or whatever) when MSFT ditches Vista completely ala' XP.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, Belham.

Glad to hear you're happy with it. I, too, have started using some of the 64-bit Pups for the exact same reason; Google pulling the plug on 32-bit Chrome. In my case, Tahr64, Slacko64, and tazoc's (now Dry Falls) Lighthouse64.

As you've probably seen me talking about it, I've been an avid Chrome user ever since it was in beta, back in 2008. (Gawd, where does the time go? ) Since I found OscarTalks' thread on SlimJet, and decided to give it a try, I've been hooked; it's a brilliant Chrome analogue, and a sight more configurable and privacy conscious, too.

To answer your question about PepperFlash; AFAIK, the 32-bit version is dead in the water. Since it was developed by Adobe especially for Chrome, that particular item has now got nowhere to go; since Google are not developing 32-bit Chrome any longer, 32-bit Pepper 'died' along with it.

As to the updating, well; Pepper is only ever updated automatically in Chrome, since the updater mechanism is exclusively Google's property. As you may or may not know, the Chromium Projects are sponsored by Google. This is where the 'cutting-edge' development work is done for Chrome. Whenever a 'stable' version of Chromium is released, Google take it, add their proprietary bits'n'bobs to it, then release it, re-badged as Chrome.

Chrome is released exclusively by Google. Chromium, however, is freely released to most Linux distros as source code, whereupon each distros developers will normally compile it for use with their own release. It's also freely available to independent developers, like FlashPeak. Since Chrome is based upon Chromium, it should come as no surprise that PepperFlash is fully compatible with Chromium.....but although Chromium (and the various Chromium-based browsers) are still being actively developed on the 32-bit platform, unfortunately, they are still stuck with the very last release of 32-bit Pepper; 21.0.0.213.

(Even Ubuntu, for Chromium, have to download Chrome, strip Pepper out of the mess, then discard the rest of it... I know this, having used Ubuntu for several months, till Canonical's constant updates start putting my graphics 'on the fritz'..!)

Each 32-bit release of SlimJet will contain PepperFlash, although it will be that 'final' version. Each 64-bit release will contain the current up-to-date version. But there's no real reason to keep updating SlimJet itself, unless you want to; if you find a version that works for you, stick with it.....and just update the vulnerable bits.

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64-bit Pepper will, of course, continue to be developed further, until the world-wide internet community have had enough of its constant shortcomings, and finally switch to HTML5 for good. This, of course, pre-supposes that website designers and developers get the message 'loud & clear', and ditch the daft habit of crafting sites that will only work with M$'s Internet Explorer; believe it or not, there are still quite a number out there..! Only the other day, I was looking into VPN's; I'd found one that looked perfect for the job - LogMeIn by Hamachi - and then I discovered that you could only set it up online. And guess what; it wanted me to do it in IE8.....which even M$ have now dropped support for.

I have a copy of XP Professional, which I keep hanging about just for oddball cases like this. But I knew it would be a waste of time; with M$ having dropped it, it will no longer even connect, much less work. (And I won't normally touch it with a barge-pole..!) I ask you; how stupid can you get?

As far as Pepper itself is concerned, I shall continue to keep the 64-bit .pets fully up-to-date. Updating Chrome in Puppy always means doing a re-install; the Linux version doesn't auto-update. This is mainly why I came up with the idea of the .pets; there's a lot of Puppy users who can't be bothered to keep re-installing Chrome; 'if it works...', etc. At least with the PepperFlash .pets, they can simply d/l, click to install, and it's done. It's quite handy having discovered that elderly versions will work with the newest Pepper.....and that came about almost by a happy 'accident', as I was 'tinkering' one day, and found out, to my surprise, that the process did work..!

I currently have Chrome 26 (!!!) in rerwin's SuperLucid2 5.2.8.7 (courtesy of TwoPuppies), utilising Pepper 21.0.0.213; it originally came with version 11.7.700.169.....

The rest, as they say, is history. I felt the discovery was too good to keep to myself; which, if I'd been the selfish type, I could so easily have done.....

Hope that answers your questions. Any others, feel free to ask.

Edit:- Answer me one question, if you will. Are you getting the 'ghost' entries in the Menu that I talked about? The 'FlashPeak Slimjet' entries, without an icon? By all rights, you shouldn't, since the cause of that was all stripped out of SlimJet's start-up wrapper-script before I packaged it.....but I would just like an answer, one way or the other. Feedback serves multiple purposes, you see..!

BTW:- I suspect that Oscar, like myself, doesn't consider himself a 'developer'; probably more like an enthusiastic 'tinkerer'. In my case, I try to get packages running that I know I want to use myself; if the outcome is favourable, then I'll try to package them in such a way as to make them available to others. Oscar's reasons are probably even more altruistic than my own; I think he enjoys taking on 'projects', just to see what is possible. He's got a bit more experience at it than me, too..!


Mike.

[davids45]

G'day Mike,

Sorry if this is a bit off-topic (32-bits off?) but this was the thread that made me try Slimjet.


I downloaded the tar.xz file but the 32-bit version as most of my Pups are 32-bitzers.
Expanded the .tar to a slimjet directory in my Puppy Archive on my data partition.
Edited the wrapper file as you indicated above for the 64-bit version (doing a copy-&-paste of the quote in the post worked nicely to avoid making typos.)

In a Wheezy Pup, first I tried running slimjet via a simple desktop drag of the wrapper from the mounted data partition but it didn't run.
Second go, in Rox, I dragged the data partition's slimjet directory to the Wheezy /usr/lib/ directory as a Symlink.

Now a click of the desktop icon ran Slimjet.

Got through a Geoguessr session with no browser problem (recent Chrome versions often fail so my standard Geoguessr fix is with Chromium-34). So far, looking QI.

To hopefully utilise slimjet with all my Pups, I've now copied my "customised" slimjet profile in Wheezy's /root/.config/ to my data partition.

For uniformity across my Pups, Slimjet now needs two symlinks:
- the lib directory for the program (added to /usr/lib), and
- the profile directory (I add this config directory to a new Puppy's /root/.config as another symlink).

Tests with 2 Full Tahrpups have succeeded when they were run from a desktop icon symlinked to the data partition wrapper.

Having the profile symlinked, Slimjet started with my imported Seamonkey Bookmarks, with Google as the search engine, and my deletions of all those unwanted Slimjet default start-up icons. Still a bit uneasy about saving passwords but will persist.

I will soon try this symlink "install" in a Slacko Pup which seems to be a little different judging by the earlier posts in the Slimjet threads. Something about 'sandboxes' whatever they are?

Is there any means to set/open a default email package within Slimjet? I have all my emails in my Seamonkey profile so it may be fun to open seamonkey -mail if I wanted to download an actual email while running Slimjet. I can browse my server emails within Slimjet and delete the junk from the server - just wondering about doing a mail download.

So thanks for giving me something to do as the days now get longer .

David S.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, David.

Glad you like it.....it's quite a nifty browser, ain't it? Strange how your Geoguessr thing works in SlimJet, but not Chrome; but then, it's more closely related to Chromium than it is Chrome, so perhaps it's not so surprising after all.

I'm going to have to investigate this 'sym-linking' technique of yours a bit more thoroughly, and attempt some of what you've achieved. Sounds like a good way of cutting down on duplication, and freeing up disk space, too.

As stated above, it's all thanks to Oscar that I came up with the 64-bit .pet & SFS packages.....but his 32-bit version was the inspiration.


Mike.

[davids45]

G'day Mike,

A belated thank you to Oscar for his initial creations.

Anyway, back to my off-topic topic. Just posting from the one and only Slimjet on this computer - on my data partition (sda5) - via a dragged wrapper icon on a Slacko-6.3.0 Full desktop (on sdb15).

First, I just sym-linked from the data partition's Slimjet profile directory to Slacko's /root/,config/ and the Slimjet program (the expanded .tar directory) to /usr/lib/, then did the wrapper drag to the desktop. Set this wrapper icon as the larger Slimjet icon - so it too would come via the link from sda5. Important for me to always auto-mount sda5 for every Pup, of course.

No start-up issues in Slacko - using the sym-linked profile gave me the same Slimjet as I had for the Tahrpups and the Wheezy I had started all this with.

No pass-word problem - checked emails on my ISP server with user-name and password pre-loaded by the profile.

I might first work my way through the Fulls on this computer (about 15 of various vintages) then think about the thirty or so Frugals on their single partition (sda7) - the symlink may be more efficient than a separate sfs.
Although if I set up the slimjet sfs to use my profile held on sda5 then that could be just as good. I could add the customised slimjet sfs to an existing sfs that every Frugal Pup already loads during booting so no need to do each Frugal in turn. Hmmm .

Pity about Slimjet's lack of a mail option - I'll still keep my Seamonkey (it's set up in the same way, of course).

David S.

[gcmartin]

Hello @Davids45

This might help. @Shinobar has 3 "portable" browsers that he has made available. From the sound of things, Full/Frugal, you "may" be better off mimic'ing his solutions.

The benefit: A portable can be "just clicked to run". Thus you'll merely have to, after you install it once, drag its icon to the desktop whenever you boot ANY other PUP OR you open its portable folder and click to run: the choices are to you.

Hope this is helpful.

[Belham]

Edit:- Answer me one question, if you will. Are you getting the 'ghost' entries in the Menu that I talked about? The 'FlashPeak Slimjet' entries, without an icon? By all rights, you shouldn't, since the cause of that was all stripped out of SlimJet's start-up wrapper-script before I packaged it.....but I would just like an answer, one way or the other. Feedback serves multiple purposes, you see..!

Mike.

Hi Mike,

Sorry to get back to you so late. No, I had and have not seen the "ghost" entries in the Menu bar. Since, like you, I use quite a lot of different distros where Puppy is concerned, I'll give it a go on a few others too and see what happens. Hopefully no ghosts. You know, this darn Slimjet is weird....I'm not use to the browser opening so fast and/or responding to my clicks so fast. I gotta pay attention all the time, lol. Didn't realize how I'd gotten use to supertankers FF and Chrome over the years.........though to be fair to our Overlord Take-My-Life's-Info-Master Google-San, they still make their latest Chrome snap compared to FF. But Slimjet...well... is like, uhmmm, fun to use! Forgotten how speed and ease of use used to be a part of dealing with a browser. It reminds me of 8Geee's FF27 that he keeps alive, tight, and fast.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, Belham.

Ah, glad to hear that. The 'ghosts' are obviously just on my machine, then. I'll get around to chasing down the extraneous entries at some stage..!

You see, feedback is important. If you don't get these things right, it gives the impression that you couldn't care less about putting out a sloppy, half-finished product.....and this helps me to improve my technique.

Thanks for getting back to me. Cheers!


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

*** NEW Version Available ***

Afternoon, all.

The current version, 10.0.7.0, is now available as 64-bit .pet and SFS packages. Links as above in the second post:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 524#907524

Enjoy.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

*** NEW Version Available ***

Afternoon, all.

The current version, 11.0.1.0, is now available as 64-bit .pet and SFS packages. Links, again, as above in the 2nd post:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 524#907524

Have fun.


Mike.