Firefox 3 Beta; you're making me nuts

[employeeno5]

Not only do you crash at least an average of 3 out of 5 times that I open a webpage with flash content, but today you erased all of my bookmarks. For the second time. I didn't alter anything with you or even anything else on my entire os. Hell I didn't even do any updates. Yet, somehow, you now have no bookmarks left for me.

That wouldn't be such a bother if foxmarks worked, but foxmarks along with the only three other extensions I've come to rely on from Firefox (like google notebook) don't work with you yet, because, well, you're a beta.

But hey you are faster, and you do look better, and you're still free and secure and the best darn browser I've ever used.

Hardy Heron is the man. It's fantastic.
Couldn't we have just upgraded to Firefox 3 when it was ready though? I assumed that it would be more stable than I've experienced so far. I assumed that it would be because if the beta was good enough for Ubuntu's newest LTS release than it should be stable enough for me.
However, that just doesn't appear to be the case. And why should it? It's beta software.

Ugh. Anyone else have bookmarks disapear in a completely inexplecable manner? I haven't installed, uninstalled or updated a single piece of software on my computer. I haven't even altered a font or emptied the recyle bin or restarted the computer or even changed my wallpaper since last they were there. Just opened up Firefox and found them missing. All of them.

I know this isn't exactly a tragedy, but really, This shouldn't happen. I have to find a new apartment this month and I've been bookmarking all kinds of listings to call later.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I screwed something up despite being so sure I didn't. It's still perfectly possible. Maybe Firefox being beta doesn't have to do with it.
But still, I think most of us, whether you're a novice computer user or a full-time coder, probably rely on a web browser more than any other individual program on a day to day basis and so far Firefox 3 has been fairly unstable for me.

Ubuntu has such a great system for automated updates that I don't see what the tragedy would have been in just updating Firefox 2 once things were more settled.

Are other people having problems? Is it just me? Am I being an ignorant jerK?

Please don't think me ungrateful. I'm incredibly grateful to have such a fantastic Linux operating system provided to me free of charge. Getting involved with Linux and Ubuntu specifically is the most positive experience with computers I've ever had. Even before then, Firefox, aside from being free and amazing for millions, was one of the first truly demonstrative examples to me of the power and beauty of free open source software.

I'm starting to understand though why so many people were criticizing the choice to go with a beta browser for an LTS release. I previously wasn't with them on that. This just seems silly though.

Sorry. Just needed to vent I guess.

But really, is anyone else finding Firefox 3 full of annoying problems despite it's worthy improvements...?

[employeeno5]

Well, this is interesting:

Unlike the last time all of my bookmarks disapeared, this time I can't replace them.

The little bookmarking star is gone from my address bar. Also if I bookmark a page through other means (like right-clicking or the bookmarks menu) they don't actually save when I check to see in my bookmarks organizer.

Strange.

Maybe I'm due for more than just my rant and rave, maybe I need some real technical help or advice here.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Any thoughts on what's happened?

Many thanks if anyone has any ideas or solutions.

[employeeno5]

What?

My forward, back, refresh and stop buttons all don't work anymore either.

What's going on here??

I'm going to bed. This is weird though. I hope there's an explanation for all of this...


Oh, Firefox 3 Beta; you're making me crazy.

[Tigershell]

I had a similar experience using Firefox 2 on XP. :(

[akiratheoni]

Well, Firefox 3 Beta 5 has seemed to not respond as often as it used to and I've used the beta since Beta 1 or 2... Actually I've only had the issues on Hardy. Swiftweasel is fine for me on Gutsy.

[Polygon]

so your blaming firefox for crashing with a buggy closed source plugin? Your being a bit unfair.

and are you sure your bookmarks are gone? firefox makes backups of them in your profile folder

[pt_lam]

I know and expect Firefox 3 will be great, but not at the moment, it's still a beta.
It really doesn't make much sense to have the beta version of a software pre-installed in a LTS version of an OS.

[wannadumpwindows]

I know and expect Firefox 3 will be great, but not at the moment, it's still a beta.
It really doesn't make much sense to have the beta version of a software pre-installed in a LTS version of an OS.

I'm right there with you on that one. I've used firefox for longer than I care to remember, on Ubuntu and various versions of windows, and I love it. But I was still dead surprised when I found out that a beta was going to be in the final release version. It just didn't make much sense to me. Yes it's new, and new releases need something spiffy right? But I don't think including beta software is the way to do it.

[ErwinC]

My troubles vanished when I made a new profile.

terminal: firefox -p

[SuperSon!c]

hopefully they'll get the cpu pig issue fixed. i still use ff3b5 on my xp and vista systems with absolutely no issues. as a matter of fact, it's the best ff yet - just not on *nix.

[ssam]

uninstall flash.

[gn2]

Use of FF3 isn't mandatory....
There's a link in my sig for a viable solution to FF3 problems.

[kevdog]

Can someone tell me why they include FF3Beta on the LTS solution? I thought LTS implied extremely stable which does not equal beta software. I do not think that was a very wise decision.

[gn2]

Can someone tell me why they include FF3Beta on the LTS solution? I thought LTS implied extremely stable

LTS does not imply stability, it just means that it has a longer support life.

FF3 was expected to have been out of beta before 8.04 released.
During the lifetime of 8.04 FF3 will come out of beta.

During the life of 8.04 FF2 will expire.

FF2 and FF3 are available for 8.04, the choice is yours, although I agree that the default should have been FF2, if it was, the number of FF3 bug reports would probably be much less, slowing development.

[cb951303]

Can someone tell me why they include FF3Beta on the LTS solution? I thought LTS implied extremely stable which does not equal beta software. I do not think that was a very wise decision.

because if they go with firefox 2 they should stay with it till next release (8.10)
and by that time firefox 2 will be deprecated so I believe including ff3 is the right decision.

Also LTS means Long Term Support, it doesn't necessarily mean "stable from the start". Its development cycle is just 6 months just like any other non-LTS release so let's not wait a miracle from the start.

FYI, I use firefox 3 since beta 2, I never had a problem :confused:

[retskrad]

because if they go with firefox 2 they should stay with it till next release (8.10)
and by that time firefox 2 will be deprecated so I believe including ff3 is the right decision.

Also LTS means Long Term Support, it doesn't necessarily mean "stable from the start". Its development cycle is just 6 months just like any other non-LTS release so let's not wait a miracle from the start.

FYI, I use firefox 3 since beta 2, I never had a problem :confused:

I agree, plus some pages are slow for me in ff3b5 plus no addons man

[bonzodog]

People, calm down.

There is a simple, if annoying, solution to the problem.

The firefox 2 profiles do not work properly with FF3.

So, either create a brand new profile, or simply delete your ~/.mozilla directory and start again.

Before you delete the dir though, go into ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profileID>/
look for a file called bookmarks.html, and copy it somewhere safe. then, go back to the top of your home dir with cd ~, and rm -rf .mozilla

This does however, mean that you will have to start all over again with the Extensions, downloading them, and installing them.

[gn2]

This does however, mean that you will have to start all over again with the Extensions, downloading them, and installing them.

What about the extensions that currently will not work with FF3?

[cb951303]

What about the extensions that currently will not work with FF3?

there is an extension that will disable ff version check
I used downthemall with that method in ff3 beta 2 without a problem

[gn2]

there is an extension that will disable ff version check
I used downthemall with that method in ff3 beta 2 without a problem

Yes, it works with some, but not stable with all extensions or Flash.
Doubtless FF3 will become better, but it's just not up to scratch yet.

[cb951303]

Yes, it works with some, but not stable with all extensions or Flash.
Doubtless FF3 will become better, but it's just not up to scratch yet.

what do you mean by Flash? it works perfectly for me... never crashed since hardy rc :confused:

[kevdog]

They should have kept FF2 and then when the final FF3 was released added it to the repositories. Its really that simple. To go with a beta released software for a long term solution is just ridiculous. I use a lot of beta software (and alpha). I love it. However I would never want these versions released to the mass market. They often need some tweaking.

Just my two cents -- but decision to include a beta version in a final release.

[cb951303]

They should have kept FF2 and then when the final FF3 was released added it to the repositories. Its really that simple. To go with a beta released software for a long term solution is just ridiculous. I use a lot of beta software (and alpha). I love it. However I would never want these versions released to the mass market. They often need some tweaking.

Just my two cents -- but decision to include a beta version in a final release.

they simply won't do that.
upgrading to a new version of a software is strictly for new releases.
if they do what you recommend, it wouldn't be a 6 month cycle distro.

again, LTS means long term support, and that means it will be more and more stable with time. it doesn't mean that it will be rock solid stable from the start.

cheers

[pdusen]

LTS means long term support, and that means it will be more and more stable with time. it doesn't mean that it will be rock solid stable from the start.

Quoted for truth.

What I can't understand is why whenever people talk about problems with Firefox 3, they say "Doesn't work with my extensions", as if this is some weakness of Firefox.

It's the plug-in author's fault if their plug-in doesn't work with Firefox 3 yet, not some failing on the browser's part. If you need it really badly, you might consider contacting the author about updating their plug-in for Firefox 3's latest version.

[SuperSon!c]

It's the plug-in author's fault if their plug-in doesn't work with Firefox 3 yet, not some failing on the browser's part. If you need it really badly, you might consider contacting the author about updating their plug-in for Firefox 3's latest version.

and i'm quoting you for truth. it's totally the author's fault. fortunately for me, as far as themes go, i love phoenity modern (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=phoenity+modern&cat=all) which was updated the same day ff3b5 was released.

[ssadhale]

I dont have any problems in FF3 b5 on ubuntu linux. Its been working like a charm - the difference? I didnt upgrade from gutsy - I did a complete fresh new install of hardy.

[SuperSon!c]

I dont have any problems in FF3 b5 on ubuntu linux. Its been working like a charm - the difference? I didnt upgrade from gutsy - I did a complete fresh new install of hardy.

so did i.

[the8thstar]

Another solution if you're not content with Firefox 3 beta: uninstall it and reinstall Firefox 2 for the time being.

Check Add/Remove and Synaptic. :)

[ssadhale]

If you are still facing problems with FF3b5 then do the following.
Go to synaptic. Search for firefox, mark for complete removal and say apply. This will remove it completely. Then reinstall again and try it out. If it still breaks for you, then again remove it completely and download the stable 2.0 version from mozilla.org and install it separately.

[SuperSon!c]

those solutions are obvious though. i'm just using opera in the interim as i'm confident they'll get this ironed out soon.

[Polygon]

lol, not only does ff3 have trouble with flash, you cnat even visit their bug reporting page cause of the new ff3 security features =P




bugs.adobe.com uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate expired on 04/23/2008 04:59 PM.

(Error code: sec_error_expired_certificate)

[portach king]

I'm having lots of similar issues with Firefox 3 and Hardy.
Crashes very often when I try to open a page with flash content and I've seen it consume almost 400MB of memory (Only one tab was open, and that was google.com, I had to restart the browser).
It is disappointing.

Btw, there is a beta for foxmarks that works with FF3. I signed up and got invited to join a few days later.

[cb951303]

ok

there are people who doesn't have a single problem with ff3beta and there are those who can't even use it because of crashes

there should be an obvious reason. fresh install maybe?
anyone?

[SuperSon!c]

lol, not only does ff3 have trouble with flash, you cnat even visit their bug reporting page cause of the new ff3 security features =P

yep, opera threw that flag up too. that's one feature ff should have had ages ago.




there should be an obvious reason. fresh install maybe?
anyone?

nope. two installs for me, same problem.

[gn2]

fresh install maybe?
anyone?

Maybe when it's stable and working properly, for now it's FF2 for me.

[maniacmusician]

yep, opera threw that flag up too. that's one feature ff should have had ages ago.



nope. two installs for me, same problem.
FF2 had that feature as well. It warned me yesterday that adobe's security certificate had expired. But I guess from what Polygon says, FF3 actually prevents him from viewing the page because of it? Sounds odd. Traditionally, FF has just given a warning with information and given you a choice as to if you want to view it or not.

[Samueltehg33k]

you think its bad on ubuntu? well on OSX not only does it have those problems but it looks like a IE7 copier with a OSX style :P

[Darkhack]

there are people who doesn't have a single problem with ff3beta and there are those who can't even use it because of crashes

Yeah, it's crazy. I've heard about this problem for months now but it has never happened to me even once. No crashes from Firefox even on pages with heavy uses of flash. I have both 9.0 r115 and r124 installed and enabled and it works fine.

[Polygon]

FF2 had that feature as well. It warned me yesterday that adobe's security certificate had expired. But I guess from what Polygon says, FF3 actually prevents him from viewing the page because of it? Sounds odd. Traditionally, FF has just given a warning with information and given you a choice as to if you want to view it or not.

it prevents you from viewing the page, but you can still see it if you add an exception (a button on the error page)t

[maniacmusician]

it prevents you from viewing the page, but you can still see it if you add an exception (a button on the error page)t
Ah, interesting. Not sure how I feel about that. There's tons of lazy webadmins out there who'll just sort of forget about things like certificates and let them slide. But I guess this feature should do more to make them aware of that. I think I approve.

[employeeno5]

Wow. Hi everyone.

For those who pointed out that a LTS doesn't mean more stable and that firefox 3 should have been done and firefox 2 won't last the full life cycle of hardy; those are very good arguments.

I did a clean install of Hardy. This is a brand new machine. I'm not upgrading from a firefox 2 profile.

My bookmarks are not backed up. They're just gone. They're not in their folder. They just freakin' disappeared. This isn't the first time the Beta has done this on me which is pretty darn annoying. So please don't tell me I'm being unfair for saying it's making me nuts, particularly when I went out of my way to also praise firefox and Ubuntu for everthing that's amazing about them, but saying I just needed to vent about this one issue.

Also, I don't know if anyone caught this, but by bookmarking doesn't work anymore, period. No star for bookmarking, and an empty bookmarking manager no matter how I try to add new bookmarks.

Also, my forward and back buttons and my stop and refresh buttons have all ceased to work. They just sit there greyed-out and non-responsive.

I have no idea how this happened. They all happened at the same time though.

If anyone knows anything about this that would be great.

If anyone could help me out with at least doing a clean install of ff3 that would be great too. I could probably do it myself but I'm worried I might miss a package or a file somewhere and end up with the same issue.

[the8thstar]

Works fine in Windows 95. :lolflag:

[cogitordi]

I am using FF 3 beta 5 on MS Windows 2003 Server, MS Windows XP, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, and OS X Tiger.

No problems encountered on any MS Windows at all. It has been stable if a little slow on OS X. On Ubuntu, it was just fine before but has not been behaving well since a recent update. The scrolling is not performing well and the browser goes grey frequently -- but recovers before crashing.

[employeeno5]

Well, for the curious, I just removed and then reinstalled every package relating to firefox I could find in synaptic and I still have no bookmark support or navigation tools.

I'm clueless as to how this happened. I'm wracking my brain as to something I could have changed. I can't come up with anything though.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Firefox has been an odd one like this fairly often in Ubuntu, for example with Firefox 2. This is neither the first nor the last time Firefox's schedule will be horribly incompatible with Ubuntu's, and so I think it would have made more sense to address the problem directly. It may make more sense, in the long run, to use a browser that follows the same release schedule. (For example, Epiphany).

As for anyone crashing, rest assured: The alternative browsers have all improved and are running up to date rendering engines. That, and Firefox 2 is still available. It isn't default because changing major releases of included software can cause regressions, which are bad in between major releases of the distro.

Odd that it is causing problems, though; the browser has been extremely stable for me.

[fjf]

I've had my share of trouble with FF3b5, but I have Opera installed for those days when FF seems on strike ;)

[nick09]

I agree, plus some pages are slow for me in ff3b5 plus no addons man

You can install some addons such as No Script! on FF3.

[BigSilly]

I've got Adblock and Filterset G on FF3b5. That's about good enough for me to be going on with.

It's been mostly fine here, but I have installed Opera and it's definitely faster for me. Since I've been looking for an excuse to get to grips with Opera I think I'll stick with it until FF3 is ready. But I've had no crashes or anything to report. Just a general sluggishness.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Something neat you can do, actually, is disable the Flash plugin (among others) manually by going to Tools -> Addons -> Plugins.

[BanskuZ]

Personally I don't see a problem. My Firefox works like a charm and I even installed it on Windows as well.

[maniacmusician]

Wow. Hi everyone.

For those who pointed out that a LTS doesn't mean more stable and that firefox 3 should have been done and firefox 2 won't last the full life cycle of hardy; those are very good arguments.

I did a clean install of Hardy. This is a brand new machine. I'm not upgrading from a firefox 2 profile.

My bookmarks are not backed up. They're just gone. They're not in their folder. They just freakin' disappeared. This isn't the first time the Beta has done this on me which is pretty darn annoying. So please don't tell me I'm being unfair for saying it's making me nuts, particularly when I went out of my way to also praise firefox and Ubuntu for everthing that's amazing about them, but saying I just needed to vent about this one issue.

Also, I don't know if anyone caught this, but by bookmarking doesn't work anymore, period. No star for bookmarking, and an empty bookmarking manager no matter how I try to add new bookmarks.

Also, my forward and back buttons and my stop and refresh buttons have all ceased to work. They just sit there greyed-out and non-responsive.

I have no idea how this happened. They all happened at the same time though.

If anyone knows anything about this that would be great.

If anyone could help me out with at least doing a clean install of ff3 that would be great too. I could probably do it myself but I'm worried I might miss a package or a file somewhere and end up with the same issue.


You probably won't be able to get your firefox bookmarks back, unless they were indeed backed up. You said they weren't, but where did you check? In the actual .mozilla folder -> inside your profile? In the future, I would recommend throwing your bookmarks up on a social bookmarking site. Makes them easier to keep track of. I use Ma.gnolia (http://ma.gnolia.com/), because it had the least intrusive "social" features, which I wasn't planning on using. I just wanted an easily accessible place for my bookmarks. It also had a nice, clean site design.

As for your FF3b5 problems, as ErwinC suggested, try creating a new firefox profile.


My troubles vanished when I made a new profile.

terminal: firefox -p

[bonzodog]

Well, for the curious, I just removed and then reinstalled every package relating to firefox I could find in synaptic and I still have no bookmark support or navigation tools.

I'm clueless as to how this happened. I'm wracking my brain as to something I could have changed. I can't come up with anything though.

Have you done as I said and deleted your ~/.mozilla dir?

You almost certainly have a corrupted profile.

Also, delete your ~/.macromedia dir -- thats where flash stores it's settings.

You will then get a completely clean brand new unadjusted FF3 with no extensions.

[SuperSon!c]

You probably won't be able to get your firefox bookmarks back, unless they were indeed backed up. You said they weren't, but where did you check? In the actual .mozilla folder -> inside your profile? In the future, I would recommend throwing your bookmarks up on a social bookmarking site. Makes them easier to keep track of. I use Ma.gnolia (http://ma.gnolia.com/), because it had the least intrusive "social" features, which I wasn't planning on using. I just wanted an easily accessible place for my bookmarks. It also had a nice, clean site design.

As for your FF3b5 problems, as ErwinC suggested, try creating a new firefox profile.

out of curiosity, why not just zip it up and upload to your webmail?

[maniacmusician]

out of curiosity, why not just zip it up and upload to your webmail?
my bookmarks? Because if I then wanted to look at them, potentially from a different location, I'd have to redownload them, load them, and look through them.

Having them on Ma.gnolia gives me various features, the most useful of which are a wide range of accessibility, and tagging for the bookmarks. If I want to direct a friend to a certain set of bookmarks, I can just send them to a tag on my account, and they'll get the links hassle-free. It also makes it easier for me to browse by topic when I'm looking for something I've bookmarked in the past. Tags just happen to be, in the case of bookmarks, more versatile than folder-based organization.

[gn2]

Foxmarks is good for bookmark back-up and synchronisation, works a treat.

[maniacmusician]

Foxmarks is good for bookmark back-up and synchronisation, works a treat.
Indeed it is, I used it for quite a while. I still use it between my personal computers, but I usually make sure to throw the links up on my ma.gnolia account as well. Once I'd invested some time and effort in it, and transferred all my bookmarks, there was just no going back. The organization and accessibility it provides is really useful.

[SuperSon!c]

my bookmarks? Because if I then wanted to look at them, potentially from a different location, I'd have to redownload them, load them, and look through them.

Having them on Ma.gnolia gives me various features, the most useful of which are a wide range of accessibility, and tagging for the bookmarks. If I want to direct a friend to a certain set of bookmarks, I can just send them to a tag on my account, and they'll get the links hassle-free. It also makes it easier for me to browse by topic when I'm looking for something I've bookmarked in the past. Tags just happen to be, in the case of bookmarks, more versatile than folder-based organization.

ah, i understand the implementation now, thanks. i'll have to take a look at that for myself.

[Wish4Me]

I just installed Ubuntu making the switch from xP and this is my first Linux distro. I learned abit before switching and debated Fedora 9 vs Ubuntu 8.04 and KDE vs Gnome. I tried a live KDE disc with Fedora. Then I just decided to install ubuntu 8.04. First I had a login problem directly related to my ATI graphics card/Driver.

After I fixed that I had massive total system crashes for about two days. It pissed me off so much that I considered switching to Fedora where no crashes were to had. I got the Gnome live CD and what do you see. Crashes there too. But wait, there were no crashes on the KDE disc? Wait, wasn't I using konqueror? OH YEAH. Reinstalled ubuntu with Alt-Disc to clean up some things. Everything works perfectly but what is wrong with Firefox?

If i use it I get a total system crash on the most random action. I would like to install Opera but i dont know how to install i368 on 64 bit ubuntu 8.04. Help on that would be apreciated. For now im using Epiphany.

How do I install Opera on 64 bit and why is firefox giving me a massive total system crash(My screen is going white or fuzzy with me being able to do nothing, not sure if a force quit would work but I dont know the hotkeys, im new to linux.)

Edit: Also, epiphany doesnt show up in my applications after I installed using Add/Remove. I had to default it as a browser and click the link in the install to even get it open.

[riven0]

Whoa! I thought I had it bad with FF3b5, but you guys take the cake. Bookmarks disappearing? Back and Forwards buttons greying out? I can't believe this is the last beta. Oh well, I'm sure they'll fix it up before the final release.

Thankfully, my problems are not so bad: I just did a fresh install of Hardy and I only have problems with some slow scrolling on select webpsites. It does seems strange that Canonical would make a beta version the default web browser, however. They should have named it Edgy Eft #2.

[howefield]

How do I install Opera on 64 bit.....

I am using the 64 bit version of Opera 9.50, unfortunately it is a beta but seems stable for me so far. There is a .deb package on the opera site.

[Wish4Me]

I am using the 64 bit version of Opera 9.50, unfortunately it is a beta but seems stable for me so far. There is a .deb package on the opera site.

Where do you find the 64 bit version?

[bigbrovar]

i have this issue where firefox freezes my system especially when am on compiz ... i thought it was just me till i did some research and found out that the culprit was firefox ..it all made sense xus the freezing happens when i after i open firefox

[vexorian]

Please use firefox's bugzilla for bug reports.


i have this issue where firefox freezes my system especially when am on compi

You got an issue where compiz freezes your system especially when you are using firefox.


Hopefully they'll get the cpu pig issue fixed. i still use ff3b5 on my xp and vista systems with absolutely no issues. as a matter of fact, it's the best ff yet - just not on *nix.

It IS the best ff yet, on *n*x as well.
--
And please stop with the opera adverts, it is non-free and, accept it, it is just lower quality, there are better alternatives that are FOSS , like epiphany, konqueror and so many options, we don't need that opera stuff.

[bigbrovar]

i would be glad to ... can u please give me a link... ok i would search

[vexorian]

In all seriousness, firefox 3 Beta is the most stable firefox ever, though my experience is on feisty.

So, perhaps you can blame other factors?

* The firefox2 profile?
* Compiz? (I don't use such thing, ALWAYS causes problems with some applications)
* flash plugin (I would bet on this one, it is almost always its fault when it relates to firefox issues...)

Also, LTS implies that it will be supported for longer, not that it will be more stable, if you like stable , wait 3 month before upgrading.

[cybil]

My ff3b has worked well in both gutsy and hardy. I really can't complain. I know it is still beta, but most devs probably would have released ff3 by now. While they probably should have included ff2 in the release, I think it is a pretty solid beta.

[maniacmusician]

In all seriousness, firefox 3 Beta is the most stable firefox ever, though my experience is on feisty.

So, perhaps you can blame other factors?

* The firefox2 profile?
* Compiz? (I don't use such thing, ALWAYS causes problems with some applications)
* flash plugin (I would bet on this one, it is almost always its fault when it relates to firefox issues...)

Also, LTS implies that it will be supported for longer, not that it will be more stable, if you like stable , wait 3 month before upgrading.
Well, FF3 Beta is stable in your experience. I think it's clear that while it's running beautifully for some people, it's being quirky and weird for others. Don't put it on a pedestal; it's code. It can be buggy, even if it hasn't been in your experience.

The three points you outlined, I can agree with, for the most part (though Compiz hasn't really given me any problems with any particular apps). However, while flash may have been the source of some of employeeno5's problems, I doubt it cause their bookmarks to disappear, or cause buttons in FF's interface to stop working.

And lastly, not all people on this forum are purely FOSS users or advocates; I think you're overstepping your boundaries a little by telling people to stop recommending Opera. While some of us might prefer to use FOSS (I do myself), there's no purist agenda on this forum, and people are really free to recommend and use whatever they want.

[Colonel Kilkenny]

Where do you find the 64 bit version?

ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/linux/950b2/final/en/x86_64/opera_9.50b2-20080422.2-shared-qt_amd64.deb

http://my.opera.com/desktopteam has always the latest information.

[feest]

I really think how it was possible for BETA SOFTWARE to be the default browser in a LONG TERM SUPPORT version. Shame on you ubuntu team. Your doing a great job but this buggy Firefox 3 keeps irritating me with unresponsiveness.

[herbster]

Firefox 3 beta 4 is a godsend, just perfect. Until a new beta arrives with enthralling reviews I can't imagine changing, it's exactly what I always hoped FF would be.

[regomodo]

wow, who knew. A beta release is a stable release. Learn something knew each day.

[yaztromo]

hopefully they'll get the cpu pig issue fixed

I had this along with disk thrashing and long freeze ups (but not crashes) until I deleted my old Firefox 2 profile and started completely from scratch. Now FF3b5 is smooth as Angel's delight.

[saxsux]

I don't know if this is at all helpful, but the most recent release of flashplugin-nonfree (I think it was released with Hardy stable) recommended that you remove libflashsupport "to increase stability".


flashplugin-nonfree (9.0.124.0ubuntu2) hardy; urgency=low

* fix "frequent crashes with flash on youtube"; we fix this by
demoting libflashsupport from depends: to suggests: (LP: #192888)
This has positive as well as negative consequences:
(+) increased stability for firefox and nspluginwrapper
(-) pulseaudio users reported that this breaks sound if flash
while other applications are running that use the sound
device for output.
Users that installed libflashsupport during hardy cycle should
uninstall it to increase stability.

Ought to be worth trying...

[tophue]

With ff2 I was able to listen to music in rhythmbox, pause the music and watch a youtube video, then put the music back on without having to close eother application. I cant do that anymore with ff3b5 (looks like a chord..). I also get the usual freezes and high cpu usage. I'm on opera for the time being

[subzero316]

Firefox often crashes.....i have the fox2 tot they wud have resolved it in the 3 lookz like it still persistz..i use opera it savez resources n very fast.:KS

[doorknob60]

I removed Firefox 3 from my hardy :P But only until either the iSafari theme gets updated for Firefox 3 or I switch to a different theme (using Mac4lin right now, getting kinda boring though). I prefer Firefox 3 over Firefox 2 any day though, as long as that youtube/flash problem got fixed that is (did it?).

[Helios1276]

I'm not sure if I like it and more unsure about whether it should have been in the Hardy release

[martyssweb07]

totally agree, ff3 beta sux big time, remove it and go back to ff2. Really, not only is it bloated, and crashy, but it's got some of the most severe threading issues I've ever seen an application have. I mean really, All the time, it will go grey while waiting to load parts of a page (usually a banner). I mean really the whole app hanging trying to load a freaking banner. Who designed that feature?

Sorry to be so negative, but really in this day and age the browser is the central focus of everyones desktop.

[mrgnash]

totally agree, ff3 beta sux big time, remove it and go back to ff2. Really, not only is it bloated, and crashy, but it's got some of the most severe threading issues I've ever seen an application have. I mean really, All the time, it will go grey while waiting to load parts of a page (usually a banner). I mean really the whole app hanging trying to load a freaking banner. Who designed that feature?

Sorry to be so negative, but really in this day and age the browser is the central focus of everyones desktop.

Doesn't happen to me.

[Quillz]

I'm right there with you on that one. I've used firefox for longer than I care to remember, on Ubuntu and various versions of windows, and I love it. But I was still dead surprised when I found out that a beta was going to be in the final release version. It just didn't make much sense to me. Yes it's new, and new releases need something spiffy right? But I don't think including beta software is the way to do it.
Normally, I'd agree, but I've actually had no issues with Firefox 3 Beta 5 at all, regardless of the platform. Actually, there was one issue on 8.04 with extremely large font size, but this was remedied by going into the advanced preferences and simply setting the DPI to 96. Now Beta 5 works great and looks beautiful.

[CiRuS]

I've been having problems with ff3b5 as well. I can't load a page without ff3b5 hanging up for around 5 seconds with the window going grey (that's compiz telling me that the UI isn't responding).

[norwyn]

Yeah it's crashing extremely often on me as well. Why did Hardy Heron ship with a beta version of the most important piece of software in a operating system? It's not too late for change, so please change. Out goes beta, in goes Firefox 2.

[Samueltehg33k]

Well the release candidate is a bit better seems to be a bit slower but a lot more stable i'm still waiting for the final version :popcorn: