Install 32-bit firefox

First, install firfox.i686 package.

# linux32
# yum install firefox.i686

Firefox can simply run now. But we still need to fix some issues.

When run firefox, we may get these warnings:

(firefox:4860): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “clearlooks”,
Gtk-Message: Failed to load module “pk-gtk-module”: libpk-gtk-module.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Gtk-Message: Failed to load module “canberra-gtk-module”: libcanberra-gtk-module.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

To fix these warnings, install needed packages:

# yum install libcanberra-gtk2.i686 \
 gtk2-engines.i686 \
 PackageKit-gtk-module.i686

However, there is no input method. To enable ibus-gtk2 input method in 32bit Firefox, install the ibus-gtk2 package

# yum install ibus-gtk2.i686

Install the flash-plugin

Enable rpmfusion repository: Enable RPM Fusion repositories

Install flash plugin

# yum install flash-plugin.i386

Set up flash plugin

# /usr/lib/flash-plugin/setup

There is no sound in flash. For sound support and curl support, install

# yum install alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 curl.i686

You should have sound. flash-plugin works.

Firefox should complain nothing and work well now. Enjoy it.

Additional gift:

Force to run firefox in 32-bit mode:

#!/bin/bash

setarch i686 firefox -new-tab $*

64-bit flash plugin for Firefox on Linux

First, download Flash Player Release for 64-bit Linux from Adobe Labs.

Then, unpack the package:

$ tar xf flashplayer.tar.gz

Check whether all needed library is ready for it. If not, install the needed packages.

$ ldd libflashplayer.so

Give it executable attribute:

$ chmod +x libflashplayer.so

Copy the plugin to the plugin directory so that Firefox can use it:

$ cp libflashplayer.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/

32-bit flash plugin for Firefox on Linux

32-bit flash plugin can also work well for 64-bit firefox on 64-bit Linux. We can use the rpm packages from adobe’s repository.

First, install adobe release repository:

# rpm -Uvh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm

Install nspluginwrapper so that 32-bit plugins can run on 64-bit system, and 32-bit alsa plugin for pulseaudio so that the 32-bit flash plugin can play sound on the 64-bit system.

# yum install nspluginwrapper.{x86_64,i686} \
 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 --disablerepo=adobe-linux-i386

Install the 32-bit flash plugin:

# su -c 'yum install flash-plugin'

1. Pipe-lining network connection

Most of us use a broad band width network, then why not pip line the connection from Firefox?

Type “about:config” into the address line and enter.

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining.ssl” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 25. This number means how many requests Firefox can make at most. It depends on the network. I am a crazy guy and I set it to 50 in my browser.

2. No waiting before action

Type “about:config” into the address line and enter.

Right-click on the page and select New-> Integer.
Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

3. Put cache into memory

If your memory is larger than 1GB, you can try this method. If you experience problem, please change it back. (delete browser.cache.disk.parent_directory)

Type “about:config” into the address line and enter.

Right-click on the page and select New-> String.

Name it “browser.cache.disk.parent_directory” and set its value to “/dev/shm/ffcache“. The Cache of Firefox will be putinto /dev/shm/ffcache/Cache.

4. Diable IPv6 support

If you experience very slow DNS lookup in Firefox, you can try to disable IPv6 support in Firefox and Linux if you don’t use it:

For Firefox:

Type “about:config” into the address line and enter.
Set “network.dns.disableIPv6″ to “true”

For Linux:

I test it on Fedora 12. On other systems, the configuration may be different.

# cp /etc/modprobe.d/dist.conf /tmp/dist.conf.bak0
# echo “alias net-pf-10 off” >> /etc/modprobe.d/dist.conf
# echo “alias ipv6 off” >> /etc/modprobe.d/dist.conf

Then restart you Firefox and try whether Firefox is faster and enjoy it :)

# echo "alias net-pf-10 off" >> /etc/modprobe.conf
# echo "alias ipv6 off" >> /etc/modprobe.conf

Type “about:config” into the address line and enter.
Set “network.dns.disableIPv6″ to “true”

2. Some other tweaks

Type “about:config” into the address line and enter.

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 25 depending on the network. 25 requests will be made at one time.

Right-click on the page and select New-> Integer.
Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

I test it on Fedora 11 and the firefox is much faster now.