Installation on Linux Mint 19.1

[BKelley56]

I am trying out Linux (again) for the first time. I say again for the first time because I've tried it before only to format the hard drive only moments later out of sheer frustration. But I honestly want to give it a whirl this time because of where I see MicroThief steering Windows.

That said, I downloaded Linux Mint 19.1, Cinnamon, got it installed, and I would like to install Palemoon on it. Unfortunately I do not understand the directions on Palemoon's install page for Linux installations. I need to find someone who can take me step by tedious step, remembering my knowledge of Linux is "zero" (remember Kung Fu Panda, there is now a "Level Zero") and help me get it installed. I would be greatly humbled, and profoundly in your debt.

Thank you.

[vannilla]

As per http://linux.palemoon.org/

It is not necessary to install Pale Moon to use it. Pale Moon for Linux is distributed as a bzipped tarball that can be extracted and run from any location on your system.

Which means you download the archive (palemoon-<something>.tar.bz2) and extract it somewhere.
If you don't mind using a terminal (hint: operating on anything Linux means using a terminal) you can then execute these commands (type them one line at a time at the command prompt, and press enter at the end of each line):

Code: Select all

cd ~/
tar xjf palemoon-<something>.tar.bz2
cd palemoon
./palemoon

Of course "<something>" should be replaced with the rest of the file name (e.g. 28.4.0.linux-x86_64).
It's possible to create a launcher so that you can have a desktop icon or something, but as I don't use Mint in particular I can't help you with that.
If the program from the tarball doesn't work, then you probably need to use Steve Pusser's package, but again you have to ask someone who uses Mint.
The advantage of extracting the program in your home folder is that you can then use the built-in updater to update the browser.

[Night Wing]

@ BKelley56

For a newbie coming from Windows 7, Linux Mint is a very good linux distro for a newcomer to linux. But, in my opinon, I think the Xfce desktop environment is a lot easier to customize and learn than the Cinnamon desktop environment.

There is a user on here named, "TwoTankAmin" and I offered him to play around with my Linut Mint 19.1 Xfce experiemtnal hard drive on my computer. He didn't take me up on the offer at that time, but he has now. He sent me a private message 8 days ago and since Windows 7 is going to be "end of life" on January 14th, 2020, he took me up on my offer to him.

I told him to get Teamviewer for his 64 bit Windows 7 computer, since I have Teamviewer on my 64 bit linux Mint 19.1 hard drive. He did. Then with me and him on the phone at the same time, I let him take control of my experimental Mint 19.1 hard drive.

I'm not a fan of using the terminal. It is complicated. On my Mint 19.1 Xfce hard drive, my 64 bit linux Pale Moon 28.4.0 is "not" installed. I run Pale Moon from its executable file. Since Pale Moon is not installed on my computer, Pale Moon does not show up under Internet in the Mint menu and there is no Pale Moon launcher icon. I have to make the Pale Moon launcher icon. But once it is made, once a new version of linux Pale Moon is released, say 28.4.1, I don't have to make the Pale Moon launcher icon anymore.

This past Saturday night, I had TwoTankAmin take control of my computer. The first thing I taught him how to do was download the Pale Moon tarball from the link below and place it on my desktop.

http://linux.palemoon.org/download/mainline/

He downloaded the tarball to my Desktop. Then I told him to right click on the tarball and when the context window showed up, I told him to left click on "Extract here". After the Pale Moon folder was extracted from the tarball, I then told him to put it into my Documents folder.

Then I told him how to add a generic launcher icon to the Panel. Through the use of gui windows and not ever using the Terminal, I had him create the Pale Moon logo launcher icon from the Image Files in the Pale Moon folder. And he eventually learned how to make the Pale Moon launcher icon which is placed on the right side of my Panel (taskbar). He stumbled around the first time with me instructing him on how to do what I've just stated.

Then I deleted everything and had him do the same thing a second time. He made a few mistakes, but he did get it right. Then I deleted everything again and made him do it a third time. He only made two mistakes on the third try. Then I deleted everything again and made him to it again for a fourth time. This time he made only one mistake. Then I deleted everything again and made it do again for a fifth time. This time he made no mistakes.

But I deleted everything again and had him do this for a sixth time. No mistakes on the sixth time. When he calls me again this Tuesday night, he will do this again for the seventh time, but this time, he will write down every step on paper so he will have a written record of how to do this "if his memory gets a little forgetful".

But this upcoming Tuesday night when he calls me, I have some Mint updates which I'm going to let him learn how to download and install via the Update Manager to my experimental Mint 19.1 hard drive. By letting him do my Mint updates for me, this will teach him how to do it on his own if he would choose Mint 19.1 (or 19.2 which will be released around the July 1st 2019) in the Xfce desktop environment.

BTW, the steps he is learning how to do what I'm teaching him in the Mint Xfce desktop environment won't work in the Cinnamon desktop environment. There are different steps just like the steps will be different in the Mate desktop environment. In my opinion, Xfce is very easy to do things with if one wants to avoid using the Terminal and I don't use the Terminal.

I started with Linux Mint 14 XFCE back in late 2012. After Mint 14, I've used Mint 16, 17.0, 17.2, 17.3, 18.0, 18.1, 18.3, 19.0 and now (19.1). Since 2012, I've only had to use the linux Terminal to do things "four times". Two of those times it was with Mint 14.0 and the the other two times with Mint (16).

[stevenpusser]

Some easy-to-use Linux distros also include Pale Moon in their own repositories, or in a "software store".

One might suggest that the Mint developers add it to their own repository...

[Night Wing]

@ stevepusser

There are not that many people on Mint, as far as I can tell from reading the Mint forums, who are using Pale Moon. In order for the developers of Mint to allow linux Pale Moon in the Mint repository, in my opinion, there would have to be many more Mint users using Pale Moon.

There are other mitigating circumstances too, but these circumstances are not for public consumption here on the Pale Moon Forums site.

[Moonchild]

There are not that many people on Mint

And why do you think that is? Because it's not in Mint's offered applications. If it was, more would be using Pale Moon; so using that as a criterion for inclusion of software is a self-fulfilling prophecy to keep everything alternative out.

[BKelley56]

Nightwing

I went with Cinnamon because that's what someone recommended, but I'm at such an early stage I can always go back and get the Xfce image and put that one on the hard drive instead if you feel that one is easier to use, and right now I'm all about the easiest route to take. I just want to have a fully functional Linux operating system that I can understand, be able to use the Internet with, pay the bills, and find a good email client that's not Thunderbird.

I'll check back later when I get more black DVDs and get the Xfce image downloaded and programmed on the spare hard drive I have. Oh, in case you're wondering, I have a removable hard drive tray in my tower so I can plug and unplug hard drives in at will.

Thanks.

[Night Wing]

There are not that many people on Mint

And why do you think that is? Because it's not in Mint's offered applications. If it was, more would be using Pale Moon; so using that as a criterion for inclusion of software is a self-fulfilling prophecy to keep everything alternative out.

And as for why there not many people on Mint using linux Pale Moon, there was a poll taken a while back in the Mint forums and Pale Moon popularity wise, was a distant third in that poll if my memory serves me correctly. And I did cast my vote in that poll for Pale Moon.

If you want to know why Pale Moon is not in the Mint repository, then you need to directly get in touch with the main Mint developer and ask him why Pale Moon is not in the Mint repository. The main person in charge of Mint; Project Founder and Lead Developer Clement (Clem) Lefebvre is the man you need to get in touch with. He lives in France.

In order to get in touch with Clem, I think you have to do that through the Mint website which is at the link below.

https://www.linuxmint.com/

[Moonchild]

Look, since you're dancing around the topic and reason why it's not in the repo, it's probably some reason dealing with favoritism or unfair bias. That's fine - his distro, his rules, his choices. I won't pressure him.

[Night Wing]

@ BKelley56

I've worked with both Cinnamon and Mate. I've found Xfce is more to my liking since I find it easier to work with and customize than Cinnamon and Mate. The is just an opinion of mine because of how I worked with Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce back in late 2012 and early 2013. Since I do not install linux Pale Moon in Mint, Xfce was the easiest to do this.

In Xfce; since Pale Moon is not installed, when I want to delete an older version of Pale Moon, in Documents where my Pale Moon folder resides, I just right click on the Pale Moon folder to highlight it, then left click on Edit and when the context window shows up, I left click on Delete and Pale Moon is gone. No need to use the Terminal in Mint and it wouldn't do any good to use the Terminal since Pale Moon is not installed.

I'm not a power user. Just a non technical person who knows my strengths and weaknesses when using Mint. You probably have more smarts than I do so if you prefer Cinnamon, then you need to stick with it and find out how to install Pale Moon in Cinnamon or run it non installed as I do. Basically the way I use Pale Moon in Mint Xfce, not installed, it is like a portable with "lots of stuff in it". I now have about 50 folders in my Bookmarks Toolbar in my Pale Moon which total around 800 bookmarks.

So far, "TwoTankAmin" likes how my non installed Pale Moon works in my Mint Xfce. If you want to try out Xfce, then you can use my Mint Xfce by accessing my experimental Mint Xfce hard drive. Since I have Teamviewer installed in Xfce, all you would need is to download and install Teamviewer in your Cinnamon. Then you just take control of my Mint Xfce hard drive via Teamviewer and I'll give you the same lesson I gave TwoTankAmin in showing him how to create the Pale Moon launcher icon since Pale Moon is not installed.

If you don't have Pale Moon installed in Cinnamon, then you can use the default browser in Cinnamon which is Firefox. Then use Teamviewer to access my Mint Xfce and and see if you like Xfce. And as a bonus, you can take my non installed Pale Moon for a "test drive". You can click on anything you like in my 50 folders containing about 800 bookmarks. Or you can go to some of your favorite places you like to visit.

I live in the state of Texas which is in the Central Time Zone so keep this in mind if you want to speak with me via a phone call. And I don't mind giving you my "home" phone number since I do not use a mobile phone. I do have an old flip style cell mobile phone, but I never really use it. I take it with me when I do some traveling, but it is always turned off. Say like down at the beach when I go sup surfing with my 11'1" length long board. If my truck gets stuck in the sand, then I turn my flip phone on, call my wife and tell her I'm stuck in the sand and I will be late returning home. Once back on the road to home, I call my wife and tell her I'm on my way and after I hang up, I turn my flip phone "off" again.

Getting back to Mint Xfce and my non installed Pale Moon in Xfce, the above is "food for thought".

[stevenpusser]

Well, Mint users can also add my OBS Pale Moon repo and just "sudo apt-get install palemoon", but doing that requires the ability to read the directions and copypaste the commands into a terminal.

If that's beyond them, there's always the MX XFCE distro that makes it even easier, but Mint users probably don't want to hear about that!

[BKelley56]

@ Night Wing

Sorry this took so long. I had to get some blank DVDs and I had a really important renovation project going on at work that needed extra time put into it.

I got Linux Mint Xfce on a hard drive now. I think I liked the Cinnamon desktop better just because it was more pleasing to the eyes and I liked how the menu looked (this menu is so small) but since is my first time doing this I'm very impressionable. My opinions on Linux will no doubt change from day to day.

From what I'm reading, installing Palemoon doesn't sound easy and I don't think I want to attempt it. It sounds like it is easier to download a portable version of Palemoon, put it in a directory in the Documents directory, expand it, and use it there basically the same way I do with the portable version of 26.5 I use on my Windows machine. On my Windows machine I have the latest Palemoon installed and I have an older portable version that still works with video downloading programs that no longer work in newer versions of Palemoon.

The only other thing I would want to do is put a shortcut on my desktop. Does that sound about right?

If that's the case, then the easiest method of doing that would suffice, like where to download the most current of Palemoon from, where exactly to download it to, the exact commands to decompress the file contents, setting up a desktop icon, etc.

Thanks for your time.

[BKelley56]

@ Night Wing, Part Two

Ummmmmmm, Nevermind!

I got brave and followed the instructions in your earlier posting and voila! I am posting this message from Palemoon 28.4.0 on Linux Mint. I have slain the first beast in my conquest of Linux.

I have also installed Google Chrome so I guess you can say I have two beasts. Now I gotta figure out what's next. What do you suggest? I know I want to try and install Windows 7 via a virtual box but I'll need a larger hard drive before attempting that, so that's on hold. Oh, a good email client. Something other than Thunderbird, something Outlook-ish but not Outlook. Then I'll need to check out Gimp and see if it's up to the challenge.

[Night Wing]

@ BKelley56

Since you want install Windows 7 inside of Virtual Box, I'm assuming you're using a laptop computer. Those on the Mint forums will not recommend installing VB which is found in the Mint repositories. They will all suggest you install VB at the link below.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

If you need help with VB on Mint, get yourself a username and password and register on the Mint forums, make a topic and you'll get plenty of help.

I think when you install W7 inside of VB running in MInt, in a folder, the W7 time might be off by about 5 hours at some point. Not sure about this because I don't use VB. I have 4 computers (2 desktop towers, 2 laptops). I gave one of my laptops to my wife and she has been running various versions of Mint since 2015. My second laptop is loaded with W7 since I take care of my sister-in-laws W7 desktop tower via Teamviewer since she lives 221 miles from me. Some of the programs she uses have new versions and I try them out on my W7 hard drive "first". If there are no problems with those programs on my end, then I tell her to download and install them on her computer.

One of my desktop towers has 2 hard drives in it, one running Mint 19.1 Xfce and the second hard drive running W7. The second desktop tower has 3 hard drives in it; one hard drive running Mint 19.1 Xfce, the second hard drive is running W7 and the third hard drive is an experimental hard drive which I use to install and play with different linux distros (Mint, Manjaro, Linux Lite) when I'm in the mood.

Because of the multiple hard drives, I have no need for VB. When I turn on either of my two towers, since I changed the boot order of the drives in the BIOS which affects the Boot Menu, Mint always loads to the desktop. If I want to access a W7 hard drive, if I'm using Mint, I have to restart my desktop tower I'm in, wait for the monitor's screen to turn black colored, start tapping my ESC (escape key) since they are HP computers and when the Boot Menu shows up, I select the W7 hard drive, click Enter and it will boot into W7. If I want to go back to Mint, I just restart the computer from the W7 Start Menu and the computer will boot straight into Mint.

As for an email program, I don't use Thunderbird. I just use my online email address, Excite and Hotmail (through Outlook.com). I don't get a lot of emails so there is no important data, ad or otherwise, that Excite or Microsoft can get from reading my emails (incoming as well as outgoing).

As for Gimp, you just have to play with it and that is how you'll learn it. Looking at YouTube videos how to use Gimp will be a big help to you also.

[NotFunny]

Well, Mint users can also add my OBS Pale Moon repo and just "sudo apt-get install palemoon", but doing that requires the ability to read the directions and copypaste the commands into a terminal.

LOL

[stevenpusser]

Or they could just go to the repo and grab the deb directly from the link that says that, and install it with gdebi.

I was thinking about adding a postinstall script to the deb that would add the repo and its key to the user's source, like Google Chrome or Opera does, but then I realized that might not be well-received, plus the script would have to detect what distro release is running and add the matching repository and key.

[Uppity]

Or they could just go to the repo and grab the deb directly from the link that says that, and install it with gdebi.

I was thinking about adding a postinstall script to the deb that would add the repo and its key to the user's source, like Google Chrome or Opera does, but then I realized that might not be well-received, plus the script would have to detect what distro release is running and add the matching repository and key.

Hope I'm not too offensive for butting in, but, for what its worth...

I'm using a newer gaming laptop which has win10. I put Mint Cinnamon 19 on it and upgraded to 19.1. I just put Mint Cinnamon 18.3 on it, but will go back to 19.1 as none of my issues were resolved with 18.3.

I also have a 6 year old Dell Inspiron which has Mint Cinnamon 17.3, 2 copies of Mint Cinnamon 19.1 and one copy of Mint Cinnamon 18.3.

I tried using gdebi to install Pale Moon, but kept getting an error.

I think it required: libc6 v. 2.28 or greater. and would not install since my version was not up to that required version.
My version was just below the requirement and I was unable to force a higher version via the Synaptic Package Manager.

I just discovered that on Mint 18.3, it is: libc6 v. 2.23.

I'm fast and loose, so I wind up reinstalling Mint Cinnamon a few times, each year.

It seemed easier in Mint 17.3, as I could somehow get it installed with gdebi, regardless if the libc6 version was right... or not.

Can't seem to make it work like that in Mint, anymore.

( I had skipped 18, but just tried it. I'll likely go back to 19.1 and hope 19.2 is released sooner than later.)

I must have a mental block, as I had to extract the tar ball to ~/Home and run it uninstalled.
I do miss the bouncing ball when I start Pale Moon, but even that is inconsistent.

On at least one install, it bounces, but not the others....

[stevenpusser]

You probably download the deb packages for a newer Ubuntu.

Mint 18= Ubuntu 16.04 packages
Mint 19= Ubuntu 18.04 packages

Ubuntu 18.10 packages are built against glibc (libc6) 2.28, so it seems you have grabbed the wrong versions.

[Uppity]

Thanks, Steve.

I just replaced Mint 18.3 with 19.1 on the gaming laptop.
Tried the terminal commands for the first 3 debian options before I got one to work.

Installed and configured,, but not yet tested.
I guess it would help if I understood the differences in Debian editions.

For some reason, I prefer Debian vs. Ubuntu.
Likely because all I need to do is click it.
Though that is all you have to do on the tar ball, but it feels incomplete or risky, somehow.

I don't know. Maybe one or more decisions, such as destination to extract to.

[stevenpusser]

Debian and Ubuntu are related, but still different. DO NOT USE the Debian packages in normal Mint! Especially when the Ubuntu packages are right there! (except the special Mint Debian edition, LMDE)

Did you see my post directly above yours where I explain what Ubuntu package to use for what Mint version?