Mr. Szymanski

I was happy to recieve one of my latest podcasts from japanesepod101.com. It mentioned a firefox extension called “Rikaichan” that would translate the translation of a Japanese word in a webpage and translate it to either English, German, French or Russian. This software is free and licensed under GNU General Public License v2. Homepage: http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

FireFox

Firefox Extensions

Japanese

Translate

Rikaichan

I was happy to recieve one of my latest podcasts from japanesepod101.com. It mentioned a firefox extension called “Rikaichan” that would translate the translation of a Japanese word in a webpage and translate it to either English, German, French or Russian. This software is free and licensed under GNU General Public License v2. Homepage: http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

FireFox

Firefox Extensions

Japanese

Translate

Rikaichan

First to set the Proxy settings we need to edit the file called all.js in the greprefs folder and find the line that starts with proxy.type. Here is how to do this…

1. When logged onto the machine as an admin user open the Terminal and type..
sudo gedit /usr/share/firefox/greprefs/all.js

This will open the all.js in gedit text editor, search for the string “proxy.type” (Press CTRL+F) and change it to look something like this. Just replace your relevant information…

pref(“network.proxy.type”, 1);
pref(“network.proxy.ftp”, “YourIPAddressToProxy”);
pref(“network.proxy.ftp_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.gopher”, “YourIPAddressToProxy”);
pref(“network.proxy.gopher_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.http”, “YourIPAddressToProxy”);
pref(“network.proxy.http_port”, 0);
pref(“network.proxy.ssl”, “YourIPAddressToProxy”);
pref(“network.proxy.ssl_port”, 0);
pref(“network.proxy.socks”, “YourIPAddressToSocks”);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_port”, 0);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_version”, 5);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_remote_dns”, false);
pref(“network.proxy.no_proxies_on”, “localhost, 127.0.0.1, .yourlocal.domains”);

Now to set the Home Page and other preferences.

To do this we need to edit this file like above in the terminal….

sudo gedit /etc/firefox/pref/firefox.js

// disable search suggestions by default. This prevents queries going to the
// internet for every letter that is typed into the search box.
pref(“browser.search.suggest.enabled”, false);
//Setup Home…
pref(“browser.startup.homepage”, “http://szone.berlinwall.org”);
pref(“browser.startup.homepage_reset”, “http://szone.berlinwall.org/welcome”);

Just change the URLs in there to reflect your desired default homepage for any account on the machine.

Another thing that I like to disable by default is the search suggestion feature. Open up this file and search for “suggest” and change the true to false…

// Disable search suggestions by default
pref(“browser.search.suggest.enabled”, false);

Linux

Ubuntu

FireFox

ltsp

~Application Choices~

Application choices for LTSP have been a trial and error process. If you do not want your client machines using a certain program the rule of thumb is do not install it on the server. The base install of ubuntu/edubutu comes with Gaim (Instant messanging), Kino (DV video editing) and others applications that would either put a heavy load on the LTSP server of violate your acceptable use policies(AUP).

Notes on Removing Default Packages:

When you remove default applications it also removes a meta-package called either “ubuntu-desktop” or “edubuntu-desktop”. this sounds alarming at first but it does not break the system. Later on, If you are going to upgrade to a new release (dist-upgrade) then you will want to re-add this package because the new release will most likely have other needed packages included under this meta-package.

Removing an Installation Package:

To remove the applications use Synaptic Package Manager. Right-click on the package and choose “Mark for Complete Removal” and then Apply.

Linux

Ubuntu

ltsp

This is an example of how to deploy firefox remotely to your windows based domain client machines using psexec with proxy settings. First you need to download the latest 7-zip from here: www.7-zip.org after you have that installed find your firefox installer package. As of this articles writing the name of this file was “Firefox Setup 2.0.0.3.exe”. Right-click on it and choose the following…

Once the package unzips go into the directory called Firefox Setup 2.0.0.3 and have a look around.

Home Page Setup:
The first folder is called “localized” open the file called “browserconfig.properties” with wordpad and edit the urls to reflect the homepage that you want your clients to have. In my case the file looked like this when I was done…
browser.startup.homepage=http://www.berlinwall.org
browser.startup.homepage_reset=http://www.berlinwall.org
There is also a prefs.js file in the localizeddefaultsprofile directory. You can add entries here is you like and they will be the default preferences. Having a look at about:config will give an idea of options that you can set: http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/edit#aboutconfig

Proxy Settings:
The proxy settings can be set in all.js file found in the nonlocalizedgreprefs folder. Search for the phrase proxy.type to jump to the part we are looking for. By default the value is 0 (no proxy). Setting the value to 1 will enable the proxy. If you have auto detection setup on your network you can use 4. If your proxy was 192.168.1.1:8080 then you would make the file look like this…

pref(“network.proxy.type”, 1);
pref(“network.proxy.ftp”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.ftp_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.gopher”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.gopher_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.http”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.http_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.ssl”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.ssl_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.socks”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_port”, 1080);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_version”, 5);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_remote_dns”, false);
pref(“network.proxy.no_proxies_on”, “localhost, 127.0.0.1,.192.168.1.1 , yourlocalserver.com”);

There are a lot other settings in this file. Take a long look at it and make any changes you would like.

Disabling Talkback.
If you do not want your users being bothered to file crash reports then delete this directory: optionalextensionstalkback@mozilla.org

Disabling Suggested Searches
If you do not want hundreds of queries for search suggestions every time a single letter is typed in the search bar then open this file: nonlocalizeddefaultspreffirefox.js and search for “suggest”. You should find: pref(“browser.search.suggest.enabled”, true);
Change it to: pref(“browser.search.suggest.enabled”, false);

Disabling Application Updates
In the firefox.js there is a line that looks like this: pref(“app.update.enabled”, true); Change that to: pref(“app.update.enabled”, false); and then your clients will not check for updates automatically.
There are many other preferences in this file. Take a look at it and make any other changes you like.

Remote Deployment
Use the method that I share on this page: http://szone.berlinwall.org/win32/DeployinganInstallationPackagetoMultipleClients

The batch file for firefox would be a little different than the example in that article. Something like this should work…

echo “checking for Installers directory on the target…”
if not exist %1C$installers mkdir %1C$installers
if not exist %1C$installersfirefox2.0.0.3 mkdir %1C$installersfirefox2.0.0.3
echo “copying Firefox install to install directory…”
xcopy “MyServerUpdatesfirefox2.0.0.3*” “%1C$installersfirefox2.0.0.3” /e /y
echo “Installing Firefox…”
psexec.exe %1 “c:installersfirefox2.0.0.3setup.exe” -ms
echo “All Done.”
Credits: http://www.appdeploy.com/packages/detail.asp?id=357 (For the silent install switch)

Update here: http://cswtech.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/silent-remote-installation-of-mozilla-firefox-3-x/

Windows

FireFox

Silent Installation

This is an example of how to deploy firefox remotely to your windows based domain client machines using psexec with proxy settings. First you need to download the latest 7-zip from here: www.7-zip.org after you have that installed find your firefox installer package. As of this articles writing the name of this file was “Firefox Setup 2.0.0.3.exe”. Right-click on it and choose the following…

Once the package unzips go into the directory called Firefox Setup 2.0.0.3 and have a look around.

Home Page Setup:
The first folder is called “localized” open the file called “browserconfig.properties” with wordpad and edit the urls to reflect the homepage that you want your clients to have. In my case the file looked like this when I was done…
browser.startup.homepage=http://www.berlinwall.org
browser.startup.homepage_reset=http://www.berlinwall.org
There is also a prefs.js file in the localizeddefaultsprofile directory. You can add entries here is you like and they will be the default preferences. Having a look at about:config will give an idea of options that you can set: http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/edit#aboutconfig

Proxy Settings:
The proxy settings can be set in all.js file found in the nonlocalizedgreprefs folder. Search for the phrase proxy.type to jump to the part we are looking for. By default the value is 0 (no proxy). Setting the value to 1 will enable the proxy. If you have auto detection setup on your network you can use 4. If your proxy was 192.168.1.1:8080 then you would make the file look like this…

pref(“network.proxy.type”, 1);
pref(“network.proxy.ftp”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.ftp_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.gopher”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.gopher_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.http”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.http_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.ssl”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.ssl_port”, 8080);
pref(“network.proxy.socks”, “192.168.1.1”);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_port”, 1080);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_version”, 5);
pref(“network.proxy.socks_remote_dns”, false);
pref(“network.proxy.no_proxies_on”, “localhost, 127.0.0.1,.192.168.1.1 , yourlocalserver.com”);

There are a lot other settings in this file. Take a long look at it and make any changes you would like.

Disabling Talkback.
If you do not want your users being bothered to file crash reports then delete this directory: optionalextensionstalkback@mozilla.org

Disabling Suggested Searches
If you do not want hundreds of queries for search suggestions every time a single letter is typed in the search bar then open this file: nonlocalizeddefaultspreffirefox.js and search for “suggest”. You should find: pref(“browser.search.suggest.enabled”, true);
Change it to: pref(“browser.search.suggest.enabled”, false);

Disabling Application Updates
In the firefox.js there is a line that looks like this: pref(“app.update.enabled”, true); Change that to: pref(“app.update.enabled”, false); and then your clients will not check for updates automatically.
There are many other preferences in this file. Take a look at it and make any other changes you like.

Remote Deployment
Use the method that I share on this page: http://szone.berlinwall.org/win32/DeployinganInstallationPackagetoMultipleClients

The batch file for firefox would be a little different than the example in that article. Something like this should work…

echo “checking for Installers directory on the target…”
if not exist \%1C$installers mkdir \%1C$installers
if not exist \%1C$installersfirefox2.0.0.3 mkdir \%1C$installersfirefox2.0.0.3
echo “copying Firefox install to install directory…”
xcopy “\MyServerUpdatesfirefox2.0.0.3*” “\%1C$installersfirefox2.0.0.3” /e /y
echo “Installing Firefox…”
psexec.exe \%1 “c:installersfirefox2.0.0.3setup.exe” -ms
echo “All Done.”
Credits: http://www.appdeploy.com/packages/detail.asp?id=357 (For the silent install switch)

Update here: http://cswtech.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/silent-remote-installation-of-mozilla-firefox-3-x/

Windows

FireFox

Silent Installation