VL and Enlightenment

[warpman]

There are new E17 packages going into the 7.0 Testing repositories.

The primary problem you had with installing them before, is that you need newer package management software inorder to handle the new txz file extension. To add support for TXZ to 6.0, checkout this thread http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?topic=12771.msg79489#msg79489. You won't have to do the whole list of steps since you don't want newer kernel, these are the ones of most interest to you:
# slapt-get --install xz
# xz -cd pkgtools-tukaani-1.2.5-i586-1vl60.txz | lzma > pkgtools-tukaani-1.2.5-i586-1vl60.tlz
# installpkg pkgtools-tukaani-1.2.5-i586-1vl60.tlz

Pierce.jason, I was wondering if you could give me a hand with the commands that you mention. I try running them but on the second one I get a message about a directory was not found. Am I missing something here?
Any info would be appreciated.

[warpman]

So, I was finally able to install pkgtools-tukaani on VL6.0 Lite. After I did this I downloaded and upgrade Firefox to version 7 and now firefox doesn't start.
After this I decided to download and install opera version 11, I think, but that doesn't start either! I guess I'm in trouble now. The only browser available that I have at this moment is Dillo which is not the greatest browser.
Any help with these issues would be greatly appreciated.

[nightflier]

Start by launching firefox from a terminal window and see if it gives a reason why it won't launch.

Second option; delete or rename your ~/.mozilla directory and try again.

If neither of the above work, try the official binaries from Mozilla. Their download is a self-contained build of the browser, you can just extract it and run the firefox executable without removing your existing installation.

[pierce.jason]

Chances are you have installed a version of firefox that is compiled against too new of libraries for your system. When using repos that are not intended for your release, you must be careful and selective in what you install.

To downgrade firefox and opera, try the downgrade commands here http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/docs/vl60/manuals/vl6_slaptget_en.html#othermenus

This considered, enlightenment from 7 might have the same issue.

[warpman]

Chances are you have installed a version of firefox that is compiled against too new of libraries for your system. When using repos that are not intended for your release, you must be careful and selective in what you install.

To downgrade firefox and opera, try the downgrade commands here http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/docs/vl60/manuals/vl6_slaptget_en.html#othermenus

This considered, enlightenment from 7 might have the same issue.

nightflier, the message I get from Opera is Illegal instructions. The message I get with Firefox is: Couldn't load XPCOM.

Pierce.Jason, so what you are saying is that I cannot upgrade the browsers to the latest version under VL6? I have to wait until VL7? It doesn't make sense why...

[hata_ph]

VL6 is a 2 - 3 year old product which still using some old library that some latest browser like Firefox are not compatible with it. You can update the library one by one but will be a troublesome work and may break your current OS. I would recommend use VL7. 

[retired1af]

Pierce.Jason, so what you are saying is that I cannot upgrade the browsers to the latest version under VL6? I have to wait until VL7? It doesn't make sense why...

You should be able to. I'm running FF 7.01 on SOHO 6 with no issues at all.

Here's what I did. I nuked the existing 3.6 package and downloaded the tar ball from Firefox. I then installed FF to /usr/lib/firefox7-01, updated the firefox symlink in /usr/lib, and then created a new menu item pointing to /usr/lib/firefox. Works just fine.

[GrannyGeek]

I'm using the latest Firefox. SeaMonkey, and Opera on VL6 Light on my laptop. No problems. I install the Slackware download for Opera and the self-contained binaries from Mozilla for FF and SM. I put those in /opt.

Flash current versions haven't worked in Opera for quite a while but the latest Flash works fine in FF and SM. This is in Light. No problems in Vl7.
--GrannyGeek

[pierce.jason]

Pierce.Jason, so what you are saying is that I cannot upgrade the browsers to the latest version under VL6? I have to wait until VL7? It doesn't make sense why...

What I'm saying is that since you are on an older 6.0 system, you will likely run into problems with many applications from the VL7 repositories. Many of these applications have been compiled against different libraries than what you have on your system.

You can get firefox updates from firefox website in either source format to compile yourself or in binary format. The same is likely true with Opera. Alternatively you can put in a package update request on the Package Request board (http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?board=35.0).

However for the case of firefox in 6.0, I believe it is the intent to stick with one of the older branches and only do maintenance update packages for it. Ie 3.5.X where only the .X part gets updates.

[warpman]

I'm using the latest Firefox. SeaMonkey, and Opera on VL6 Light on my laptop. No problems. I install the Slackware download for Opera and the self-contained binaries from Mozilla for FF and SM. I put those in /opt.

Flash current versions haven't worked in Opera for quite a while but the latest Flash works fine in FF and SM. This is in Light. No problems in Vl7.
--GrannyGeek

GrannyGeek, how do you get to install FF? I cannot seem to be able to get it going. I get the following message:

Illegal instruction

How do I determine if I have all the packages that it needs?

Any info would be appreciated.

[GrannyGeek]

GrannyGeek, how do you get to install FF? I cannot seem to be able to get it going. I get the following message:

Illegal instruction

How do I determine if I have all the packages that it needs?

Any info would be appreciated.

I go to mozilla.org and click on Firefox--Free Download. As root I move the firefox-7.0.1.tar.bz2 to /opt. Then with Midnight Commander I highlight the file and select F2 (Unpack selected file). It expands into a directory that should have just about everything Firefox needs. I run ldconfig to make sure any new libraries are added to what the system is aware of. Then as user I run the firefox executable file in the new directory from a terminal and note any error messages. If things are working, I make a symlink in usr/bin to the firefox executable. Plugins are in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and you usually don't need to touch those unless you are updating Flash.

Some error messages are either bogus or don't matter. If the program runs, that's all that counts unless it turns out to crash a lot. I haven't had to deal with that. I guess I'd go back to a version that didn't crash.

Remember that if you're running the executable in its own directory, you must type
./firefox
and not just
firefox.

I'm at VL7 RC3.4 as I type this but I'm pretty sure that's what I do in VL6 Light. I use VL6 Light every day because it's on my laptop and I do most of my Web visits, forums, and e-mail on my laptop while I watch TV in the evening. My VL6 Light is quite elderly now. I do use kernel something.31.8, I think, not the kernel that came with VL6 originally. I got the newer kernel from our repos. I haven't done any other major library updates and don't think there's anything particularly special about my VL6 Light.

I wish I could be more precise. When I turn on the laptop tonight I need to install a new SeaMonkey, which is done exactly the same way. I'll make sure I didn't leave out a step in what I wrote above.

To be clear, you're not using a VL package for Firefox and SeaMonkey. You're using the self-contained binary file you download from Mozilla.org. It should be independent of any distro.
--GrannyGeek

[warpman]

GrannyGeek, Thanks for the info. I already tried all the steps that you have mention and I keep on getting the same message... Illegal Instruction when I run the ./firefox file.

I have no idea what else I'm missing... any ideas?