Thanks for restoring Flash! (and some Linux banter)

[Night Wing]

I kicked Windows to the curb when Windows 8 was released. I experimented with linux distros until I found a few that I liked real well. When I was running Windows 7, I had Flash installed for a few games (real old simple games). One of those games was "Bloody Penquin Baseball".

I forgot I still had it and I wondered, since Flash is not installed on either of my two linux distros I use now (MX Linux, Debian) if it would play. I clicked on the link to where it was and attempted to play the game. And it does play much to my surprise. Must be something in MX and Debian which allows it to play.

https://www.gameflare.com/online-game/y ... ts-bloody/

As for the command line terminal in linux, I am not a fan of the Terminal because I am a non-technical computer person and not a power user. But when "push comes to shove", if I have to use the Terminal, I know how to use it. I had to use the Terminal in both MX Linux and Debian to update my Grub Menu. Those commands for the Terminal are below.

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sudo update-grub

Ditto for when I installed Debian 12 on my HP PowerBook. The timezone was correct for the install, but the time was off by five hours after installation. This was because this laptop came with Windows 11 and Windows does not use local time. I had to use the Terminal to change the America/Chicago to US/Central. I found the commands/instructions to change the time zone by searching online. And they are at the link below.

https://wiki.crowncloud.net/?How_To_Cha ... _Debian_12

But since I changed the local time in Debian 12, when Debian 13 was released and I installed it on that laptop, the local time was correct this time and I was relieved since I did not have to use the Terminal.

I have to use the Terminal to get to the Hosts file in MX and Debian. Those commands are below.

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sudo nano /etc/hosts

Since Debian has point releases for the main version, I had to learn the commands to see the "specific version" number in Debian 12 and now with the point releases in Debian 13. Those command are below.

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cat /etc/debian_version

When I was starting out using Linux everyday as my daily driver (January of 2013) I was not comfortable using the Terminal in Linux. Now I am more comfortable using the Terminal. Sometimes I am forced to use the Terminal because some linux distro developers remove a program that was installed by default, but now it is not because it is no longer maintained or it is too much work for them to keep it.

Case in point. The Mint developers had the Synaptic Package Manager (SPM) installed by default in the Mint Menu in version 22. But in version 22.1, it was removed to the repository. I am one who uses the SPM a lot. I was told it could be installed by using the Terminal, using the Software Manager.

The SPM gives more information about a program and what programs go with it, but the Software Manager does not. But Debian 13 was released nine days ago (at the time of this posting) and the Synaptic Package Manager is still installed by default in the Debian Menu.

Also the Mint developers decided to intentionally hide the Grub Menu. I use the Grub Menu because I have multiple hard drives installed in my two desktop tower computers. I had to use the Mint forums since a few users had the answer in a topic forum to see the Grub Menu again. And that link is below.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=429335

All in all, I much prefer those linux distros which offer the Xfce desktop environment to any Windows operating system which started with Windows 8. And it does not bother me if Flash is not installed.

Just remember, one does not need to be power user in linux to use a linux distro unless of course, you venture into the Arch distro. I found out about Arch the "hard way".

[frostknight]

Updated the topic to reflect

Wise

But eventually, on Linux, you always do, sooner or later. Never needing the Command Prompt (or PowerShell in more recent time) is absolutely the case for most Windows users, but Linux still can't avoid it. Unless you are a user who literally only uses their computer for a few applications, never adventures outside of them and never wants to learn or is super-set into their workflow*, it's almost guaranteed you end up needing to use the terminal on Linux.

At least the terminal most stuff isn't hard to do and old commands you used last can be found easily.

when in terminal, pressing up and down allows you to recall command you used before. This is something that isn't true for DOS which I am sure is why people fear CLI.

If you shutdown the computer and reboot, linux bash history doesn't disappear like command line stuff does with DOS.

So while I do understand somewhat of why people fear the CLI, I don't completely understand..

* For those who fall into this category, the O.S. is completely irrelevant anyway. They would be just as happy on Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, iOS or some proprietary embedded OS.

Unless they hate the shackles of proprietary software.

Gnu.org/malware

Has some good reasons why some people hate proprietary operating systems and proprietary software.

There is a list of things on that page people hate about proprietary software such as it having built in malware including restricting what you can or can't do.

Microsoft Edge was at one point forced down windows users throats with deception and all sorts of crap.

Microsoft tried to intimidate people into using it over firefox for example, with warnings that their web browser is safer, etc...

False btw...

Also, some people are just paranoid without even knowing all of this stuff just because of hearing about the government program PRISM.

I don't know what you mean by * for those who fall into this category meant though. I could be misunderstanding. But anywho, thoughts?

[frostknight]

Since Debian has point releases for the main version, I had to learn the commands to see the "specific version" number in Debian 12 and now with the point releases in Debian 13. Those command are below.

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cat /etc/debian_version

I never had to do this on any linux distro. I just kept myself up to date because I do a lot of web surfing and/or forum stuff.

Thus, I knew what version I was on.

And if it wasn't for that, I also added repositories to my sources.list

Or if you prefer the apt edit-sources place.

[UCyborg]

It looks like I've installed Flash Player back when I setup KUbuntu few years back, it's more broken now than I remember. I actually made a .deb package for myself containing the latest international version with timebomb disabled.

I remember it was crashing back then with hardware acceleration enabled, though that problem wasn't there on Manjaro distro of the time. Now I also don't get any audio. Audio was problematic with Flash Player for as long as I remember since it doesn't like PulseAudio. I can't find that latency environment variable...though running Pale Moon with it didn't strike me as the best idea since Pale Moon doesn't have the problem, just Flash Player. Oddly, I don't find it in the command history, not sure if I actually never used that variable on this installation or I lost part of the or maybe deleted accidentally. I delete parts of history occasionally since it gets repetitive with time.

I have PipeWire instead of PulseAudio, though I'm not sure it makes much difference.

On top of that, I added a dedicated sound card to the PC since, a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Rx and for some reason, I have to choose S/PDIF output to get sound out of ANALOG output. Finally, there's EasyEffects in the mix to be able to mess with audio.

Edit: I noticed Pale Moon was being launched like PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=120 palemoon
I removed the variable, Flash has audio now, though it's delayed. That variable used to take care of the delay, though now it just disables the audio, I also tried 20 and 60 for values.

[frostknight]

I remember it was crashing back then with hardware acceleration enabled, though that problem wasn't there on Manjaro distro of the time. Now I also don't get any audio. Audio was problematic with Flash Player for as long as I remember since it doesn't like PulseAudio. I can't find that latency environment variable...though running Pale Moon with it didn't strike me as the best idea since Pale Moon doesn't have the problem, just Flash Player. Oddly, I don't find it in the command history, not sure if I actually never used that variable on this installation or I lost part of the or maybe deleted accidentally. I delete parts of history occasionally since it gets repetitive with time.

I have PipeWire instead of PulseAudio, though I'm not sure it makes much difference.

Pulseaudio didn't usually cause me problems in the early days of my using linux, but alsa also worked well by itself too.

I guess my point being, if pulseaudio doesn't work, or pipewire, pure alsa is still an option.

[Moonchild]

At least the terminal most stuff isn't hard to do and old commands you used last can be found easily.

Command recall has been a thing in Windows for a long time as well. Yes also in the standard CMD prompt. Also TAB-completion.

If you shutdown the computer and reboot, linux bash history doesn't disappear like command line stuff does with DOS.

And that is a double-edged sword. I've seen plenty of hacks happening because people got their hands on bash history of administrators. It's a very often overlooked attack point.

[frostknight]

Command recall has been a thing in Windows for a long time as well. Yes also in the standard CMD prompt. Also TAB-completion.

Do you know how most commands work in windows command prompt? If so, you know more than I ever did. I used windows up from 1995-2012 before I started experimenting with linux.

And I knew almost nothing about command prompt, I actually tried one time to see what would appear and not many commands appeared.

With linux, whatever letter you put out will bring up commands of all that start with the current letters you have typed in. For example anything with As will appear from tab if you typed in As before you hit tab

I never got that to work in windows? does it work that way?

And that is a double-edged sword. I've seen plenty of hacks happening because people got their hands on bash history of administrators. It's a very often overlooked attack point.

Yes well, you shouldn't save such information if you are running a server or supercomputer or similar.

If its just on desktop, one would be wise to not leave their comp unattended.

Aka, lock it all.

disable terminate server
disable vt-switching
disable sys-rq
lockscreen

You can do all those things on linux if you use the app pactions.

I had it bookmarked. oddly enough, I might have to ask the person to reupload it. He took it down for some reason... weird stuff.

I however have a copy of it still.

[UCyborg]

I guess my point being, if pulseaudio doesn't work, or pipewire, pure alsa is still an option.

I never experimented in that direction. I think I tried official DOOM 3 port at some point and temporarily stopped PulseAudio then. I know you have handy GUIs for changing audio settings tied to PulseAudio / PipeWire and that it takes care of multiple applications playing sound at once. No idea how straightforward or complicated is that supposed to be with ALSA.

It's common these days for applications being able to talk to PulseAudio (or compatible PipeWire if available). For those that talk directly to ALSA, PA/PW has to intercept. Admittedly, I have ancient version of PipeWire, would be interesting to know if newer does anything different in that regard.
---

I just found out that many years ago Adobe added a way to plug-in additional audio backends for Flash Player through libflashsupport.so. That file is still referenced in latest official libflashplayer.so. I found this ancient code and actually managed to compile it.

The instructions are here, but some small alterations were needed.

First, you'll need git to download the code repo. This should install it on Debian based distros if you don't have it already:

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sudo apt install git

Then you can clone the repo:

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git clone https://git.0pointer.net/libflashsupport.git

Additionally, you need to install these:

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sudo apt install build-essential automake autoconf libtool libpulse-dev libssl-dev libv4l-dev

Then, normally, you would go to libflashsupport folder and start compiling:

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cd libflashsupport
./bootstrap.sh
make

At this point, it may complain about missing linux/videodev.h, in this case, you have to open flashsupport.c with your favorite text editor and change line 183 from:

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#include <linux/videodev.h>

to:

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#include <libv4l1-videodev.h>

Run "make" again after saving the file and finally:

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sudo make install

When you run Flash Player content, in your audio settings where applications playing audio are shown, you should now see Adobe Flash: Flash Animation instead of plugin-container, a good sign Flash is now talking to PulseAudio / PipeWire.



I can't believe I only found out about this in 2025!

[UCyborg]

I kicked Windows to the curb when Windows 8 was released. I experimented with linux distros until I found a few that I liked real well. When I was running Windows 7, I had Flash installed for a few games (real old simple games). One of those games was "Bloody Penquin Baseball".

I forgot I still had it and I wondered, since Flash is not installed on either of my two linux distros I use now (MX Linux, Debian) if it would play. I clicked on the link to where it was and attempted to play the game. And it does play much to my surprise. Must be something in MX and Debian which allows it to play.

https://www.gameflare.com/online-game/y ... ts-bloody/

They use Ruffle emulator to run it.

Ditto for when I installed Debian 12 on my HP PowerBook. The timezone was correct for the install, but the time was off by five hours after installation. This was because this laptop came with Windows 11 and Windows does not use local time. I had to use the Terminal to change the America/Chicago to US/Central. I found the commands/instructions to change the time zone by searching online. And they are at the link below.

https://wiki.crowncloud.net/?How_To_Cha ... _Debian_12

But since I changed the local time in Debian 12, when Debian 13 was released and I installed it on that laptop, the local time was correct this time and I was relieved since I did not have to use the Terminal.

Shouldn't Debian have time zone setting in menus somewhere?

Technically, Windows interprets computer's clock to be stored as local time by default while Linux interprets it as UTC. This combination is good way to have wrong time when changing to another OS. Both can be set interpret time the other way, I prefer to set Windows to use UTC time as well, this way, computer's hardware clock is never shifted regardless of timezone and Daylight Saving Time (when will we stop with the latter?), so there's no confusion as UTC can always be unambiguously converted to local time according to time zone and DST.

Command recall has been a thing in Windows for a long time as well. Yes also in the standard CMD prompt. Also TAB-completion.

You mean by the means of Clink? CMD's pretty bare bones by default, autocomplete works for file and directory names of folder you're in. You can type HELP to see some of the available commands / utilities.

Do you know how most commands work in windows command prompt? If so, you know more than I ever did. I used windows up from 1995-2012 before I started experimenting with linux.

And I knew almost nothing about command prompt, I actually tried one time to see what would appear and not many commands appeared.

With linux, whatever letter you put out will bring up commands of all that start with the current letters you have typed in. For example anything with As will appear from tab if you typed in As before you hit tab

I never got that to work in windows? does it work that way?

CMD's pretty bare bones by default, though PowerShell is another story, has auto-complete for command arguments as well.

I was connected to a customer's system at work once where they managed to break something in the SQLite database. I was severely restricted, the guy's computer I was connected was connected to destination server through some web interface. Couldn't get anything like SQLiteStudio on the server.

The database of the program I'm dealing with needed small corrections, I ended up loading its SQLite library through PowerShell and issued needed SQL commands that way.
---
I did pick some tricks in Linux environment. On few occasions that I wanted to restore one of my old smartphone's partitions from backup, I did that through some weird chain of commands involving netcat. That was before I realized ADB's push command does actually work, just have to specify exact numeric block device directly rather than referencing more friendly symbolic name. The latter is more difficult to get wrong, lesser chance to swap "userdata" for "system" than "mmcblk0p24" for "mmcblk0p22".

I learned enough about systemd to get it to run picom (one of compositors) on my KUbuntu install and restart it if it crashes. Until I get around updating KUbuntu, I set it up to use archived software repos to be able to install programs on an otherwise EOLed distro version.

My old Lenovo laptop - there is a way to toggle its battery conservation mode on Linux, it's a feature that keeps battery charged at about 60% when plugged it. I always forget the path to the control file, which is /sys/bus/platform/drivers/ideapad_acpi/VPC2004:00/conservation_mode. On Windows, I have some Lenovo's utility that adds the option to the popup on battery icon added to the taskbar.

When I first started using Git, I used exclusively command line. Though I've been using TortoiseGit (Windows shell extension, enables interacting with Git through context menus added to Explorer) for interacting with Git in recent times and it's awesome!

So while I can sorta get around Linux if needed, I can't say I'm confident there, then there's random things that are missing or don't quite work as expected...plus multibooting in my case means multiple places where things tend to get disorganized.

Regarding graphics, I've had enough interest in games that discrete GPU is a must. Web browsers also make good use of it and some other graphical programs as well. I've been using MySQL Workbench in the past, I noticed tables in it get redrawn noticeably faster on my older PC at home than laptop at work, which while faster and more functional in some ways due to using SSD disk and newer CPU with more instructions, is still lacking in graphical department due do Intel graphics. While it has additional NVIDIA graphics (Optimus), it probably only works in programs using 3D graphics APIs and even then, it's still a mobile GPU on a slower side.

ATI's driver had its issues even on Windows, particularly when it came to OpenGL, but I don't recall having any problems with NVIDIA. It just works in my case.

[Night Wing]

Ditto for when I installed Debian 12 on my HP PowerBook. The timezone was correct for the install, but the time was off by five hours after installation. This was because this laptop came with Windows 11 and Windows does not use local time. I had to use the Terminal to change the America/Chicago to US/Central. I found the commands/instructions to change the time zone by searching online. And they are at the link below.

https://wiki.crowncloud.net/?How_To_Cha ... _Debian_12

But since I changed the local time in Debian 12, when Debian 13 was released and I installed it on that laptop, the local time was correct this time and I was relieved since I did not have to use the Terminal.

Shouldn't Debian have time zone setting in menus somewhere?

Technically, Windows interprets computer's clock to be stored as local time by default while Linux interprets it as UTC. This combination is good way to have wrong time when changing to another OS. Both can be set interpret time the other way, I prefer to set Windows to use UTC time as well, this way, computer's hardware clock is never shifted regardless of timezone and Daylight Saving Time (when will we stop with the latter?), so there's no confusion as UTC can always be unambiguously converted to local time according to time zone and DST.

Debian does have a time zone setting after installation and I put "America/Chicago" in the setting, but it didn't take. After exiting the setting, the setting said America/Chicago was now the time zone, but the Debian panel was still five hours off time wise. This is why I had to use the Terminal with the commands above for the US/Central to make the correct time for my time zone location.

[Mæstro]

I switch my settings between Europe/Berlin and America/New York depending on where I am at any given time. I can do this within Cinnamon’s date and time GUI settings on Debian 10 and have never needed the terminal for this or suffered any problems. As long as I was using Gajim, dates would automatically convert between time zones upon switching, so I supposed Greenwich time was used under the bonnet, but Pidgin records my conversations according to the time zone to which my computer had been set at the time.

Hearing that you used the terminal for this, Night Wing, makes me feel relieved. I was in awe of you and a bit ashamed of myself when I read long ago that you had never needed the terminal at all in Linux, for I had not been so lucky. Knowing we are now on the same level, as laymen who have descended to it on rare occasions, is a comfort.

[Night Wing]

Hearing that you used the terminal for this, Night Wing, makes me feel relieved. I was in awe of you and a bit ashamed of myself when I read long ago that you had never needed the terminal at all in Linux, for I had not been so lucky. Knowing we are now on the same level, as laymen who have descended to it on rare occasions, is a comfort.

I have been using the Terminal more and more in Debian than I was in either of Mint (which I am no longer using) and now in MX Linux. When I was using Mint and now in MX Linux and Debian, since I had surgery on my right and left eye, I used a utility program named "xsct" (without the quote marks).

Xsct controls the screen color temperature of my external monitor and laptops because the light affects the new lenses surgically placed in my right and left eyes.

Since you are uising LMDE, you can try this out if you want. In LMDE, you can go into the Software Manager and search for it and install it. Once installed, you can control the color of your monitor. The default color is 6500 for daytime use and you can control the color (dim) for night time use from 1000 to 4200.

If by chance LMDE's software manager does not offer "xsct", you can install it by using the Terminal with the commands below.

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sudo apt install xsct

Then follow the prompts. It is a neat little program. To show you how to use it, open the Terminal and at the prompt type in this command below with the number 3500.

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xsct 3500

Then tap your Enter key. Your screen will instantly dim. You can use this even during noon time (at lunch) during the day. Keep the Terminal open because if you want to go back to the default color of your monitor, type in this command below with the number 0 (zero).

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xsct 0

Then tap your Enter key again. Then exit out of the Terminal.

[frostknight]

Xsct controls the screen color temperature of my external monitor and laptops because the light affects the new lenses surgically placed in my right and left eyes.

I been using that for a few years to be honest. I have it set to start when I enter my jwm window manager. Its great.

I have my temperature set to 1500 and 1.0 usually.

[Night Wing]

Off-topic:
@ frostknight

Getting a little "off topic" for this topic thread, but since you and I both use "xsct", I thought I would mention this to you.

I like to experiment. Xsct is only supposed to work with numbers between 1000 and 10000. I went below the 1000 number and got a Terminal prompt saying xsct does not work with any number below 1000.

But I wanted to see if I received another prompt if I went way "beyond" the number 10000. I decided to use xsct again and typed in the number 60000 and tapped my Enter key. I was expecting to get another prompt saying the number 60000 would not work.

To my surprise I did not get that prompt. When I tapped my Enter key, my external monitor's screen color switched to a darkish "grayish-white" color. I played around with this color for about 30 minutes.

And then I got another surprise. After using this color for 60 minutes, it does not affect the new lenses which were surgically implanted into my right and left eyes. Normally, with these new lenses, my eyes would start giving me a pinching feeling and then ache even if I used the number 4200 night time color.

I can now sit in front of my 32" external monitor and I do not have to have a light on in the room to keep my eyes from being irritated (hurting).

[frostknight]

Off-topic:
@ frostknight

Getting a little "off topic" for this topic thread, but since you and I both use "xsct", I thought I would mention this to you.

I like to experiment. Xsct is only supposed to work with numbers between 1000 and 10000. I went below the 1000 number and got a Terminal prompt saying xsct does not work with any number below 1000.

I can now sit in front of my 32" external monitor and I do not have to have a light on in the room to keep my eyes from being irritated (hurting).

Off-topic:
Whats odd about this is I can go to 50 and it will still work. Not a clue why

[UCyborg]

I find enthusiasm towards Linux I find here odd to be honest. Pale Moon strikes me as the project that tends to get in conflict in some way with other open source projects. I faintly remember the drama with OpenBSD years ago. Then there's the whole GTK2 vs GTK3 thing (maybe not a conflict per se, but definitely an inconsistency in how two build come out visually) or browser not being natively compatible with Wayland. Then you have web-based applications that just don't render properly in Pale Moon, eg. Jenkins and NextCloud. Wasn't Gitea also problematic at some point? Last but not least, there's a hassle of dealing with Python 2.7 if you want to build the browser from source, which at least Debian-based are happy to get rid of.

Well, the enthusiasm of Linux people towards Pale Moon is not universal. At least where I waste my life (workplace), there are at least two people I'm aware of that have been apparently using Linux for a long time and neither use Pale Moon. One referred to Pale Moon as the "weird browser" when I pointed out the issue in internal application that came out wrong in Pale Moon due to badly written form HTML / CSS. That form is actually just one pixel away from breaking in Firefox. The other time he asked me why I use Pale Moon...whuh, why are you using Linux, man??

[Moonchild]

Pale Moon strikes me as the project that tends to get in conflict in some way with other open source projects.

I think that is primarily because we don't go "all in" with one particular flavour of Open Source at the cost of others.

OpenBSD

being a prime example of that.

GTK2 vs GTK3

GTK2 and 3 (and 4) are different widget toolkits that look different. If we want how Pale Moon looks to be uniform across widget toolkits, then we can't have a UI that blends in with the O.S. (and that's what mainstream browsers have chosen -> brand styling over OS styling). It can be made uniform with different theming, but that's just not what we've done here.
And wayland is a massive can of worms because it is like an octopus with tentacles in a ton of different parts of the OS and interaction with it is stupidly opaque and complex.

Python 2.7

That hassle is only because Linux doesn't want to supply users with the toolchain needed to build. Having a specialized build environment is nothing strange; it's common everywhere. And we just can't rewrite large chunks of our build system whenever something gets deprecated (and we're lacking python specialists to be able to rewrite the build system in today's preferred flavour of Python). Just grab the package from a third party if your distro's main package repository no longer carries it.

Well, the enthusiasm of Linux people towards Pale Moon is not universal.

The enthusiasm for Pale Moon isn't universal, regardless of O.S.

One referred to Pale Moon as the "weird browser" when I pointed out the issue in internal application that came out wrong in Pale Moon due to badly written form HTML / CSS. That form is actually just one pixel away from breaking in Firefox.

Did you point that out to them? And how Pale Moon actually exposed a potential issue with the internal application that could break very easily for other users?

[UCyborg]

The enthusiasm for Pale Moon isn't universal, regardless of O.S.

Eh, true.

Did you point that out to them? And how Pale Moon actually exposed a potential issue with the internal application that could break very easily for other users?

I was only talking to that one guy that was tasked to look into some unrelated issue and he didn't want to touch the UI without approval of the lead developer, who was absent at the time. I also forgot to note it down, it was a label and the input field being split into two lines.

Generally, trying to convince people testing on Pale Moon makes most sense is like talking to a brick wall. I'm the only user of Pale Moon there.

But that company has other issues, understaffed with management living in the alternate reality where things are still done like 20 or 30 years ago. Many features come out bugged and incomplete and they have this one guy working on something entirely new and unrelated to the "the bread and butter" of the company while features customers have been asking for years still haven't been done. It didn't move them even when one of the biggest long time clients left for competitor's solution.

Python 2.7

That hassle is only because Linux doesn't want to supply users with the toolchain needed to build. Having a specialized build environment is nothing strange; it's common everywhere. And we just can't rewrite large chunks of our build system whenever something gets deprecated (and we're lacking python specialists to be able to rewrite the build system in today's preferred flavour of Python). Just grab the package from a third party if your distro's main package repository no longer carries it.

Yeah, I figured the .deb from older Debian worked on then current build of Raspberry Pi OS.

I probably wouldn't ever attempt to build Pale Moon if it wasn't for Raspberry Pi (5), which I actually bought when I got overexcited about the possibility of fixing an old router and I wanted Pale Moon for a web browser on the Raspberry. But the router turned out to be shortcircuited. So I updated an old program to rewrite router's flash through its JTAG header that in theory now works on the latest Raspberry Pi 5, but no router to try it on. The router is Linksys WRT54GL. Old tech, but It was an iconic model and I remember it still being in production few years ago.

[UCyborg]

And on Pale Moon on Linux, it's just a poor performer in my experience. WebGL performs poorly (low frame rate), CSS animations are laggy, moving tabs around feels sluggish...I find Chromium to have the best cross platform compatibility...

But the most important thing with web browsers for me...ClearType, fonts just don't look good to my eyes on Linux and I don't know how to make them like on Windows. I mean, most people apparently tolerate even Chromium's exceptionally poor font rendering on Windows with thin not fully black fonts due to the way Skia does fonts, it actually looks about the same on Pale Moon on Windows if you force Skia in about:config. That's the reason I consider Edge to be the only other acceptable browser for me. https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2021/06/02/improving-font-rendering-in-microsoft-edge/ There is a userscript CSS hack to bump up the contrast, but it's annoying due to flickering when something on the site changes dynamically and on initial load.

Default just doesn't work for me, my eyes start to hurt after a while, I need ClearType with slightly bumped up contrast to avoid eye strain. Pale Moon is one of the few browsers on Windows that still obeys Windows' ClearType settings, the only other one I know is SeaMonkey, the others, if they even exist, are probably even less usable... And I have to clear out gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.force_gdi_classic_for_families in about:config because some fonts are excluded from default rendering method by default.