ubuntu frustrating install experience now security issues that I don't have admin priveleges to sort

[colin]

I'm having lots of issues this time round trying to use Pale Moon.

I installed it sweetly last 2 OSes which where both lubuntu with the um the non KDE desktop, both the different distros of 2018.

Now in this 18.04 LXQtlubuntu everything should be much better as I finally have enough RAM to browse properly and no longer have crash issues due to swap file size and yeh trying to use a toaster as a pc yada yada.

Anyway, tried at least 3 different ways to install pale moon and couldn't do it about 5 times; I know I'm a noob but things just weren't working even trying to follow things exactly from official pale moon dl page twice. Also a couple of other ways from around the web, and a different way from the official...

Luckily finally this link "Pale Moon repacks for Ubuntu and Debian -- maintained by László Kovács" off the pale moon org site worked sweet as gold.

was so thankful to that guy tried to contact him to say thanks even. (hard to find lol)

So anyway ... do lots of apt-get updates and things every day, after that today was doing something else then this message pops up from Pale Moon saying that I need security updates for pale moon, but that I don't have the admin status to get them. To say this was a frustrating message would be a total understatement I feel quite angrily aggrieved at this point lol.

I know lubuntu treats users like morons and this has probably saved my OS a few times. But you know, what a pop up window to read. No links, no help files, not even much info to say who was giving me this heads up from Pale Moon exactly. Not the anything useful about what the important security updates were. Just about 20 words ( wish I'd screenshotted it now ) saying from Pale Moon ( approx ) You need security updates but you don't have the privileges to get them. Well thanks for knowing enough about my OS to say this but not to direct me to any helpful place to sort it out.

Horrible experience. I know what linux users can be like and you're going to be very terse and unhelpful as I'm more artistic and less geeky type of person that annoys the average linux user. Whatever. That's your problem I need to get this off my chest. I LIKE figuring out OSes by stuffing them up over and over again as it's usually better than being ridiculed by facetious linux people. and I have usually managed to be able to search out just about any type of fix for hundreds of different issues so far. Linux users like me aren't going anywhere, we're here to say and we're not stupid we're just kinesthetic and learn in a different style to you guys. Wading through LESS MINUTIAE in life / shorter concentration span whatever we can't change and neither can you you should just be more patient as we are with you (ten times at least, guess that patience of mine ran out today).

Ah well I think you guys should just let browsers fail rather than give unhelpful messages like that pop up window. Just rude and annoying I'd rather go to use Pale Moon one day and simply have it not work. I mean I'm all over VPNs and clearing every possible thing anyway, there's nothing on here that will compromise my life or that isn't backed up. Why are you looking into my privileges without saying anything really helpful about it ... totally pointless. Why do people use Mint and Lubuntu and even Ubuntu to some degree lol, WE'RE NOOBS that's why.

I know this has turned into a bit of a rant but quite frankly I am sick to death of trying to get this browser going in good order - even just finding how / where to post a new thread on here was a total hassle due to the really unclear point that you can't post new threads in most forums .... no obvious noob section .... overly convoluted layout... and I think if you can't get beginners to use something easily then eventually it will disappear.

Rant over. Doubt anyone will care about what I've said and that's fine it looks like pale moon has just got too precious and aloof.

But if you aren't getting many new users you'll know why; your links and dl info might not work, impossible for me to know that they do at this point; and potential users can't ask for help in an unstressful way.

[vannilla]

We are sorry things didn't work out as expected.
Please understand.

[mmouse]

I don't quite understand how you installed palemoon, my guess is that you are using some kind of ppa (argh..just say no to ppas, never, never use ppas, snaps and flatpaks are badmouthed but they are way better than using ppas)

I will just share the way I 'install' palemoon on plain old Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, not Lubuntu., take what you want and maybe it will help you or others.

replace 'mmouse' by your user name in the following, that you have to type in a terminal.
First I downloaded the tar.bz file, let's assume in the 'download' directory.

cd /home/mmouse
tar -jxf /home/mmouse/download/palemoon-28.3.1.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
cd palemoon
./palemoon & -> will start palemoon and it can autoupdate itself without hassle since in this way you have full rights on the 'installation' directory.

Now it's nice to have an icon to start palemoon from this directory, as an application that is not packaged will not get one automatically.
This is the part that can change from a distribution to another.
With Ubuntu 18.04 LTS it's easy, I don't know about Lubuntu it may differ significantly because Lubuntu don't use Gnome.

cd /home/mmouse/.local/share -> not that it's '.local', not 'local'.
mkdir applications -> if this directory already exists, just 'cd applications'
nano 'Pale moon.desktop'
Enter something like

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Exec=sh -c "/home/mmouse/palemoon/palemoon"
Name=Pale Moon
Icon=/home/mmouse/palemoon/browser/chrome/icons/default/default48.png

Note that the file name and the 'name' entry especially are not un-important.
save the new .desktop file, logout, wait 45 seconds (this is an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS awful problem), reconnect, the icon should be in the task bar
Click the icon and enjoy Palemoon, it will update itself no trouble.
I said that I don't know about Lubuntu but this is not really Gnome specific.
it's actually standard freedesktop stuff, if xfce has not changed the default behaviour and the more or less 'standard' directories it could work too.

To be candid, my real 'Exec' entry is a bit more complicated because I have to deal with snappified Libreoffice and it's not pretty.
But it should work just as that. Actually Exec=/home/mmouse/palemoon/palemoon' should work too.

[karlchen]

Hi, colin.

You explained yourself that you installed PaleMoon from a Launchpad PPA.
This means that PaleMoon, like any other software, which has been installed from the official Ubuntu repos or from a PPA, will be kept up-to-date through Ubuntu update manager automatically.
As a consequence, you cannot update PaleMoon from insiide the running PaleMoon instance any longer. This is by design and no mistake.
Instead you have to check e.g. in Synaptic Packages Manager whether the PPA, from which you installed PaleMoon, already offers the most recent PaleMoon update. In case it does Synaptic will show PaleMoon as "updatable".
All you have to do is mark it for updating and applying.

This is how the Ubuntu software management system works. It works as designed. No issue. Only a misunderstanding on your side.

Regards,
Karl

[stevenpusser]

As noted by many others, you can also get it from the OpenSUSE Build Service repo I maintain by following the directions to add the repo to your sources and its key to your keyring. It works if you follow the directions as written, but you provide exactly no details of your failed attempts to install PM so anyone has any chance to see what went wrong. Instead we get a long complaint.

Instead of

Anyway, tried at least 3 different ways to install pale moon and couldn't do it about 5 times; I know I'm a noob but things just weren't working even trying to follow things exactly from official pale moon dl page twice. Also a couple of other ways from around the web, and a different way from the official...

which is of no use, how about some actual details as to what you tried? Also, do you know how to get your "administrator" privileges at all? You don't make that clear, either.

That repacked binary repo you already have would update PM for you if it got updated, however, that doesn't seem to have happened yet. You'd need to light a fire under Kovacs, I guess.

I could recommend another beginner-friendly distro I help develop that already has Pale Moon in its own repo, but frankly, with your "artistic" prima donna attitude...no. Stick with Ubuntu.

[Ez-waker]

I'm having lots of issues this time round trying to use Pale Moon.

I installed it sweetly last 2 OSes which where both lubuntu with the um the non KDE desktop, both the different distros of 2018.

[...]

So anyway ... do lots of apt-get updates and things every day, after that today was doing something else then this message pops up from Pale Moon saying that I need security updates for pale moon, but that I don't have the admin status to get them. To say this was a frustrating message would be a total understatement I feel quite angrily aggrieved at this point lol.

If you installed your own operating system, you almost certainly have, or can easily get, admin status. Many Linux distros have an IRC chat that can help with these sorts of issues.

I know lubuntu treats users like morons and this has probably saved my OS a few times.

Only a few? I'd have to take off my shoes to count all the times this has saved me. The more helpless my OS assumes I am, the better

Horrible experience. I know what linux users can be like and you're going to be very terse and unhelpful as I'm more artistic and less geeky type of person that annoys the average linux user.

Of course, you're right, people can sometimes be rude, but I promise you, terse Linux users are a feature, not a bug! If I'm about to make an error, like step into traffic, I'd much rather someone yell "Stop!" instead of "Excuse me, sir or madam! If you have a moment, would you please refrain from what you're doing and consider a different course of action?"

Why do people use Mint and Lubuntu and even Ubuntu to some degree lol, WE'RE NOOBS that's why.

There are a number of Mint and Ubuntu users on this forum who are more advanced than you and I, and will gladly help when you have trouble. I know from experience.

I know this has turned into a bit of a rant but quite frankly I am sick to death of trying to get this browser going in good order - even just finding how / where to post a new thread on here was a total hassle due to the really unclear point that you can't post new threads in most forums .... no obvious noob section .... overly convoluted layout... and I think if you can't get beginners to use something easily then eventually it will disappear.

I feel your frustration, I've felt it before myself, and probably will again in the future. Having gone through this before, though, I know two things:

1) The solution is usually pretty simple
2) I'm going to learn something that will make my experience smoother in the future

Next time you have an error like this, take an hour, watch some Youtube videos with the beverage of your choice, then come and ask for help.

[mrtok]

yeah man,
hang in there
i've had days my keyboard told me not to touch it coz i made it feel stupid

mrtok

[01101001b]

Excuse me, the problem here is you talk too much without thought. Your problem was not Pale Moon-related, it's "you-related".

Your message resumes like this: "I'm a noob and if something goes wrong, it's your fault". What?? Please.

You rant against Lubuntu, against Pale Moon... Make up your mind: do you want to be a noob all your life? Or do you really want to learn? Because it's blatantly obvious you're proud to be one. If that's not the case, then stop crying and whining "nobody takes my hand". Man up.

Pale Moon and Linux are not for morons. That's a fact. YOU must do your own research instead of talking like a ranting parrot. And if it's too hard for you, Wind*ws and Firefox are always waiting for you.

Today there are legions of people ranting about not being treated like adults while behaving and thinking like a brat. Please, there are just too many of them. No need you to be one more.

One last thing. Nobody is looking forward to Pale Moon is massively used. What's the point of having thousands of obnoxious, demanding and unappreciative users? Please.

Hope you find what you need. All the best for you