[SOLVED] Firefox in Zorin with ubuntu add-on

This may be an Ubuntu/Firefox issue rather than specifically a Zorin 8 concern.

I've installed Firefox and set it up as the default browser. However, I found some buttons (like the search button of the default home page) non-functional.

After a bit of research I found I could restore functionality by disabling the "Ubuntu Firefox Modifications 2.8."

Is this normal behaviour for Firefox under Zorin? Could disabling the add-on cause other problems?

I'm having some other graphics issues with Firefox. Is Firefox really supported and, if so, are there others with tweaks and work around solutions to help optimise my experience. I particularly like the Live RSS toolbar functionality in Firefox and have yet to find a good equivalent within Google Chrome.

Hi,

Firefox has a mind of its own sometimes!.

When you say the search button on a webpage isn't working, that can be the website and not FF!.

What graphics do you have?


Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t) and paste this command so we can see and advise you further:

Code:

lspci

and copy & paste the list back here please!.

Have you done a full system update?:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -f

Restart required!.

I have the dreaded Radeon 9600 series graphics card, which may not be helping me.

Here is the lspci output in all its glory

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 IGP2 (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
00:00.2 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
00:00.3 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
00:00.4 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
00:00.5 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a3)
00:01.1 SMBus: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:02.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:02.2 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: NVIDIA Corporation nForce Audio Processing Unit (rev a2)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3)
00:09.0 IDE interface: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 PCI Bridge (rev a3)
00:0d.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 FireWire (IEEE 1394) Controller (rev a3)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev a2)
01:08.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
01:08.1 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
01:08.2 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 63)
01:0b.0 RAID bus controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3112 [SATALink/SATARaid] Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3C920B-EMB Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller [Tornado] (rev 40)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series]
03:00.1 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV350 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series] (Secondary)


I'm just doing a full update now. It's funny, I hadn't thought of using the concatenation operator to combine update with distribution-upgrade before. That's a helpful tip all on it's own.

Oh, I should have said that it's not a webpage that I've quoted. What I'm describing is the standard Firefox home page with the search field and button. You get here on the first start up of Firefox and it's presented before you go online. I can only assume this is a very simple web page saved with the browser. Something related to the button (javascript?) isn't functioning properly. I get similar behaviour with some other buttons online as well.

Clicking the search button does nothing on my PC with the Ubuntu Firefox Modifications enabled (I click and all of a sudden nothing happens, I wait and again nothing happens). Disabling the add-on makes the button work, but leaves me feeling uncomfortable. This is quite ironic since I'd assume the modification add-on would be intended to improve the behaviour of Firefox.

Again, this is probably a FF/Ubuntu integration question than a specific Zorin one.

Hi,

try running this terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t) command to see if it helps things:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -f

Restart after doing updates!.

Sadly, no joy here.

The update worked fine, but the only way the Firefox home page buttons work is to disable the Ubuntu modifications.

I'm not sure what the side-effects are of disability the add-on. At present nothing bad seems to be happening, so I'm likely to leave things as they are.

If you believe dire things may follow doing this please let me know.

Thanks for the help. If nothing else, I'm improving my understanding of the using the Terminal for updating the OS.

Hi,

leaving it switched off is the best solution!.

If you are interested and want an adventure, here is info for the ATI/AMD drivers, read it carefully!.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6951

This is your card: 03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series]

Actually the latest news on this graphic card is that it's fully supported since Ubuntu 13.04.

Since Zorin OS 8 is based on Ubuntu 13.10 this should now be fully supported. More to the point, installing FGLRX drivers is not advisable https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver

Sorry to contradict, but this might stop someone going down the wrong path and installing outdated drivers.

Hi saleb,

no problem mate, that is a very good bit of info which I will also include in the ATI/AMD guide!. Thanks.

Can we mark this as solved?.

Absolutely. Thank you for all your help.