Category Archives: Geekery

Firefox e10s extension compatibility

Firefox Add-ons

Firefox Add-ons

The Firefox browser is undergoing some major surgery (this rebuild project is known as Electrolysis or e10s for short) which means some of your favourite extensions may not be compatible until the author updates them. I downloaded and installed the latest nightly [1] version of Firefox and ran some tests.

First of all I installed all my must-have extensions and tested them. Then I started adding in all the nice-to-have add-ons and tested those. Everyone works without a hitch.

Here’s a full list:

  • BetterPrivacy 1.74
  • Bluhell Firewall 2.5.3
  • Cookie Whitelist, With Buttons 3.4
  • Dummy Lipsum 3.0.0.1-signed.1-signed
  • Extension List Dumper 2 1.0.1
  • Forecastfox (fix version) 2.4.3
  • HTTPS-Everywhere 5.1.9
  • NewsFox 1.0.9.4.1
  • NoScript 2.9.0.11
  • Old Location Bar 2.2.1-signed.1-signed.1-signed
  • Privacy Badger 1.7.0
  • Tab Mix Plus 0.5.0.0
  • The Addon Bar (restored) 3.2.9-compat-fixed-4
  • TinEye Reverse Image Search 1.2.1
  • Web Developer 1.2.5.1-signed.1-signed

How’s the browser, you ask? Just peachy. It’s fast even on old hardware.

[1] Mozilla release a version running the latest code every night, hence “nightly”.

openSUSE vs Windows 7

Desktop customisation: openSUSE13.2 vs Windows 7 Starter edition

The starter edition has little in the way of options. You can move the taskbar and that’s about it. You can’t even change the desktop wallpaper.

Windows 7 Starter edition

Windows 7 Starter edition

 

The openSUSE desktop is endlessly tweakable. Here’ a grab of the same cheap netbook computer running openSUSE 13.2

openSUSE 13.2

openSUSE 13.2

Click the thumbnail images for a full size view.

It’s about time

Alan Turing finally gets an apology

From The Guardian:

“Gordon Brown issued an unequivocal apology last night on behalf of the government to Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker who took his own life 55 years ago after being sentenced to chemical castration for being gay.”

Meanwhile, El Reg has a more cynical view:

“Brown’s statement concludes with: ‘So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.’

Proud to say sorry for an overdue apology? What does that even mean? The cynical may see Brown’s apology as an attempt to shore up support among the gay community for an unpopular government. Still, whatever Brown’s motives, the apology is welcome.”

Alan Turing Memorial

Alan Turing Memorial

Wikipedia article about Turing.

Turing biography.

Image source.