Brave vs. Firefox: Your Ultimate Browser Choice for Private Web Experience

Web browsers have evolved over the years. From downloading files to accessing a full-fledged web application, we have come a long way.

For a lot of users, the web browser is the only thing they need to get their work done these days.

Hence, choosing the right browser becomes an important task that could help improve your workflow over the years.

Brave vs. Firefox Browser

Brave and Mozilla’s Firefox are two of the most popular web browsers for privacy-conscious users and open-source enthusiasts.

Considering that both focus heavily on privacy and security, let us look at what exactly they have to offer, to help you decide what you should go with.

Here are the comparison pointers that I’ve used, you can directly navigate to any of them:

• User Interface
• Performance
• Browser Engine
• Ad & Tracking Blocking Capabilities
• Containers
• Rewards
• Cross-Platform Availability
• Synchronization
• Service Integrations
• Customizability
• Extension Support

User Interface

The user interface is what makes the biggest difference with the workflow and experience when using the browser.

Of course, you can have your personal preferences, but the easier, snappier, and cleaner it looks, the better it is.

Brave browser

To start with, Brave shares a similar look and feel to Chrome and Microsoft Edge. It offers a clean experience with minimal UI elements and all the essential options accessible through the browser menu.

It offers a black theme as well. The subtle animations make the interaction a pleasant experience.

To customize it, you can choose to use themes available from the chrome web store.

When it comes to Mozilla Firefox, it has had a couple of major redesigns over the years, and the latest user interface tries to offer a closer experience to Chrome.

Firefox browser

The Firefox design looks impressive and provides a clean user experience. It also lets you opt for a dark theme if needed and there are several theme options to download/apply as well.

Both web browsers offer a good user experience.

If you want a familiar experience, but with a pinch of uniqueness, Mozilla’s Firefox can be a good pick.

But, if you want a snappier experience with a better feel for the animations, Brave gets the edge.

Performance

Practically, I find Brave loading web pages faster. Also, the overall user experience feels snappy.

Firefox is not terribly slow, but it definitely felt slower than Brave.

To give you some perspective, I also utilized Basemark to run a benchmark to see if that is true on paper.

You can check with other browser benchmark tools available, but Basemark performs a variety of tests, so we’ll go with that for this article.

Firefox benchmark score

Brave benchmark score

Firefox managed to score 630 and Brave pulled it off better with ~792.

Do note that these benchmarks were run with default browser settings without any browser extensions installed.

Of course, synthetic scores may vary depending on what you have going on in the background and the hardware configuration of your system.

This is what I got with i5-7400, 16 GB RAM, and GTX 1050ti GPU on my desktop.

In general, Brave browser is a fast browser compared to most of the popular options available.

Both utilize a decent chunk of system resources and that varies to a degree with the number of tabs, types of webpages accessed, and the kind of blocking extension used.

For instance, Brave blocks aggressively by default but Firefox does not block display advertisements by default. And, this affects the system resource usage.

Browser Engine

Firefox utilizes its own Gecko engine as the foundation and is using components on top of that from servo research project to improve.

Currently, it is essentially an improved Gecko engine dubbed by a project name “Quantum” which was introduced with the release of Firefox Quantum.

On the other hand, Brave uses Chromium’s engine.

While both are capable enough to handle modern web experiences, Chromium-based engine is just more popular and web developers often tailor their sites for the best experience on Chrome-based browsers

Also, some services happen to exclusively support Chrome-based browsers.

Ad & Tracker Blocking Capabilities

As I have mentioned before, Brave is aggressive in blocking trackers and advertisements. By default, it comes with the blocking feature enabled.

Firefox also enables the enhanced privacy protection by default but does not block display advertisements.

You will have to opt for the “Strict” privacy protection mode with Firefox if you want to get rid of display advertisements.

With that being said, Firefox enforces some unique tracking protection technology that includes Total Cookie Protection which isolates cookies for each site and prevents cross-site cookie tracking.

This was introduced with Firefox 86 and to use it, you need to enable a strict privacy protection mode.

Overall, Brave might look like a better option out of the box, and Mozilla Firefox offers better privacy protection features.

Containers

Firefox also offers a way to isolate site activity when you use Facebook with help of a container. In other words, it prevents Facebook from tracking your offsite activity.

You can also use containers to organize your tabs and separate sessions when needed.

Brave does not offer anything similar but it does block cross-site trackers and cookies out-of-the-box.

Rewards

Unlike Firefox, Brave offers its own advertising network by blocking other advertisements on the web.

When you opt in to display privacy-friendly ads by Brave, you get rewarded with tokens to a crypto wallet. And you can use these tokens to give back to your favorite websites.

While this is a good business strategy to get away from mainstream advertising, for users who do not want any kind of advertisements, it may not be useful.

So, Brave offers an alternative in the form of rewards to help websites even if you block advertisements. If it is something you appreciate, Brave will be a good pick for you.

Cross-Platform Availability

You will find both Brave and Firefox available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Mobile apps are also available for iOS and Android.

For Linux users, Firefox comes baked in with most of the Linux distributions. And, you can also find it available in the software center. In addition to that, there is also a Flatpak package available.

Brave is not available through default repositories and the software center. Hence, you need to follow the official instructions to add the private repository and then get Brave installed in your Linux distro.

Synchronization

With Mozilla Firefox, you get to create a Firefox account to sync all your data cross-platform.

Brave also lets you sync cross-platform but you need access to one of the devices in order to successfully do it.

Hence, Firefox sync is more convenient.

Also, you get access to Firefox’s VPN, data breach monitor, email relay, and password manager with the Firefox account.

Service Integrations

Right off the bat, Firefox offers more service integrations that include Pocket, VPN, password manager, and also some of its new offerings like Firefox relay.

If you want access to these services through your browser, Firefox will be the convenient option for you.

While Brave does offer crypto wallets, it is not for everyone.

Similarly, if you like using Brave Search, you may have a seamless experience when using it with Brave browser because of the user experience.

Customizability & Security

Firefox shines when it comes to customizability. You get more options to tweak the experience and also take control of the privacy/security of your browser.

The ability to customize lets you make Firefox more secure than the Brave browser.

While hardening Firefox is a separate topic which we’ll talk about. To give you an example, Tor Browser is just a customized Firefox browser.

However, that does not make Brave less secure. It is a secure browser overall but you do get more options with Firefox.

Extension Support

There’s no doubt that the Chrome web store offers way more extensions.

So, Brave gets a clear edge over Firefox if you are someone who utilizes a lot of extensions (or constantly try new ones).

Firefox may not have the biggest catalog of extensions, it does support most of the extensions. For common use-cases, you will rarely find an extension that is not available as an addon for Firefox.

What Should You Choose?

If you want the best compatibility with the modern web experience and want access to more extensions, Brave browser seems to make more sense.

On the other hand, Firefox is an excellent choice for everyday browsing with industry-first privacy features, and a convenient sync option for non-tech savvy users.

You will have a few trade-offs when selecting either of them. So, your will have to prioritize what you want the most.

Let me know about your final choice for your use case in the comments down below!

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/3BV4K0U
via IFTTT

Zathura: A Minimalist Document Viewer for Keyboard Shortcut Pros

Every Linux distribution comes with a document viewer app that lets you read PDF and other documents.

Most of the time, it is Evince from GNOME that is displayed as Document Viewer in Ubuntu and some other distributions. Evince is a handy tool and supports a wide variety of document formats.

However, there are other applications for reading documents. Take Foliate for example. It’s an excellent application for reading ebooks on Linux.

I recently came across another document viewer called Zathura.

Enjoy a mouse-free document reading experience with Zathura

Zathura is a highly customizable document viewer based on the girara user interface and several document libraries. girara implements a simple and minimalist user interface.

Zathura sure feels to load fast. It is minimalist, so you just get an application window with no sidebar, application menu or anything of that sort.

Zathura Document Viewer Interface

You may open its command line prompt by pressing the : key. You may close the CLI prompt with Esc key.

If you want to create a bookmark, type :bmark and then provide an index number to the bookmarked page.

Bookmarking in Zathura

You may highlight all the links by pressing the F key. It will also display a number beside the highlighted URL and the command line prompt will appear at the bottom. If you type the URL number and press enter, the URL will be opened in the default web browser.

Highlighting and opening links in documents

Zathura also has automatic reloading feature. So if you make some changes to the document with some other application, the changes will be reflected as Zathura reloads the document.

You may also install additional plugins to improve the capabilities of Zathura and use it for reading comics or PostScript.

The problem with Zathura is that you won’t see any documentation or help option anywhere on the application interface. This makes things a bit more difficult if you are not already familiar with the tool.

You may find the documentation on the project website to learn about configuration, but I still found it confusing. There is no information on default keyboard shortcuts or if there is, I could not find it.

I discovered a few on my own:

• R: Rotate
• D: Toggle between single and double page viewing mode
• F: Highlight all links on the current screen
• HJKL: Moving with the Vim type keys
• Arrows or PgUp/PgDown or the mouse/touchpad for moving up and down
• / and search for text, press n or N for moving to next or previous search (like less command)
• Q: Close

This is something that must be improved by the Zathura developer(s).

Installing Zathura on Linux

Zathura is available in the repositories of the most Linux distributions. I could see it available for Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and Debian, thanks to the pkgs.org website. This means that you can use the package manager of your distribution or the software center to install it.

On Debian and Ubuntu based distributions, use this command to install Zathura:

sudo apt install zathura

On Fedora, use:

sudo dnf install zathura

Use pacman command on Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -Sy zathura

And if you want to have a look at its source code, you may visit its GitLab repository:

Zathura Source Code

Conclusion

I’ll be honest with you. I am not a fan of mouse-free tools. This is why I prefer Nano over Vim as I cannot remember so many shortcuts.

I know there are people who swear by their keyboards. However, I would prefer not to spend time learning to configure a document viewer. This is more because I do not read too many documents on my desktop and for the limited PDF viewing, the default application is sufficient.

It’s not that Zathura does not have it usage. If you are someone who has to deal a lot with documents, be it PDF or LaTex, Zathura could be your next favorite tool if you are a keyboard love.

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/3BEKtwA
via IFTTT

UVdesk: A Free and Open-Source Helpdesk Ticket System

There are countless open-source solutions (including website creation tools and forum software) that power the web, and a helpdesk system is one of the vital areas that can benefit from it.

UVdesk is a free and open-source PHP based support ticket system with impressive options that you can start for free.

Here I shall mention more about it and how you can set it up for your business.

UVDesk: Open-Source Customer Support Solution

UVDesk is a helpdesk system built on Symfony (PHP framework for web development). An exciting alternative to proprietary ticketing systems like Zendesk.

It is another open-source offering from the same company responsible for Bagisto (an ecommerce platform that we’ve covered before).

UVDesk is primarily free but offers paid options if you want extra features and added security for your business.

You can respond to customer queries, create documentations, manage the support tickets, and do a lot of things from a single place. This is especially helpful if you have an eCommerce platform setup.

To explore more about it, let me highlight the key features it offers.

Features of UVDesk Helpdesk System

In addition to the basic abilities of a support system, it also offers some interesting features.

Here’s an overview of the features offered:

• Ticket management and administration
• Task management options to assign tickets and set a deadline for support agents
• Email management to convert emails to support tickets
• Ability to create documentations (knowledgebase) to guide customers for self-help
• Theme customization of the support system/portal
• Multi-channel support (aggregating support requests from different platforms like Facebook, Amazon, Website)
• Automated options for customer follow-up reminders
• Improve the workflow with the ability to automate tasks and how they’re handled
• Progress Web App support
• Social Media App integration
• Ecommerce multi-channel integration
• Form builder
• Monitor agent’s support performance
• Easy migration options when switching from a different support system to UVdesk
• Self-hosting

Do note that some of the features will be limited to the paid option. But the essential features should be available completely for free.

Get Started Using UVdesk

You can directly download the zip package from the official website. It can be deployed using Docker as well.

For installation instructions, you can check their GitHub page and the official documentation to check the system requirements. In either case, you can also opt for a one-click setup on your Linux server using Softaculous installer.

UVdesk

Quick Impressions on the Demo

They offer you the ability to try a live demo before you consider using it.

I’ve never worked on a support system before, but limited to eCommerce projects using OpenCart, which is one of the best open source eCommerce platforms.

But I found the back-end system to be pretty simple and accessible. It is not a breathtaking experience on the back-end side, but ranging from the branding customization options to managing the knowledge base, it is an easy-to-use experience.

I also found the ticket management good enough.

Wrapping Up

Overall, UVdesk is a flexible, open-source helpdesk system that you can try and use for free. Of course, if you have a sizable business, you may need to opt for the paid plans available.

What other open-source helpdesk systems do you know of? How important do you think a helpdesk portal is? Let me know in the comments below!

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/3hZYyx2
via IFTTT

Fixing Flatpak Error: No remote refs found similar to ‘flathub’

So, I just installed Fedora. Installing my favorite applications was among the list of things to do after installing Fedora.

I tried installing VLC in Flatpak form, but it gave me an error:

error: No remote refs found similar to ‘flathub’

No remote refs found error displayed with Flatpak

Fixing “no remote refs found similar to flathub” error

The fix is rather simple. Add the Flathub repository in the following way:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

It will ask for your password, or you could use the above command with sudo.

Now, if you try to install a Fltapak package from Fltahub, it should work as expected.

Adding the Flathub repoistory fixes the issue

Reason why you see this error and how it was fixed

Now that have fixed the error, it would be a good idea to also learn why you saw this error in the first place and how it was fixed.

Like most other package managers in Linux, Flatpak also works on the concept of repositories. In simpler words, you can imagine package repositories as a warehouse where packages are stored.

But in order to retrieve a package from this warehouse, you need to know the address of the warehouse first.

That’s what happens here. You are trying to download (and install) a package from a certain repository (Flathub in this case). But your system doesn’t know about this “flathub”.

In order to solve this issue, you added the Flathub repository. When you do that, your Linux system can look for the package you are trying to install in this repository.

You may see all the remote Flatpak repository added to your system.

List Flatpak repositories added to your system

Let’s have a deeper look at the command which was used for adding the repository:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

• flatpak: this is the flatpak CLI tool.
• remote-add: this option indicates that you are adding a new remote repository.
• –if-not-exists: this ensures that the remote repository is only added if it is not added already.
• flathub: this is short reference for the complete URL of the actual repository. You may name it something else but the convention is to use the one provided by the developer.
• https://ift.tt/2W91O0u The actual repository address.

So, the bottom line is that when you see Flatpak complaining about ‘no remote refs found similar to xyz’, verify that the said repository is not added and if that’s the case, figure out its URL and add it to the system.

I hope this quick tip help you with this Flatpak issue.

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/36QYIAr
via IFTTT

Top Android Emulators to Run and Test Android Apps on Linux

Android is built on top of a heavily customized Linux kernel. So, running mobile apps on Linux makes sense using an Android emulator.

While this is not something new that you can do on your Linux machine, it is a feature more in demand after Windows introduced the ability to run Android apps in 2021.

Not just limited to using apps, some of the Android emulators can also come in handy for development and testing.

Hence, I have compiled a list of the best emulators that you can use to test or run Android applications/games on Linux.

1. Anbox

Anbox is a pretty popular emulator that lets Linux users run Android apps. Probably this is what Deepin Linux utilizes to make help run Android apps out of the box.

It isolates the Android operating system from the host using a container, which also lets them make the latest Android version available to use.

Android apps running will not have direct access to your hardware—which is a good security decision.

Unlike some of the other options here, Anbox does not technically need an emulation layer to make Android work. In other words, it is as close to a native Android experience on your Linux system.

For this reason, it may not be the easiest option available. You cannot just use the Google Play Store to install applications, you need to utilize Android Debug Bridge (ADB). All you need is the APK file of an app to install and use it.

Anbox

2. Genymotion

Genymotion is an impressive solution tailored for testing and development.

It is not a free and open-source option. They provide virtual Android experiences as a service through the cloud or a desktop client that is independent of Android Studio.

You can simulate a variety of hardware configurations and Android versions to create a virtual device for testing. It also gives you the ability to scale up and has multiple Android virtual devices running for extensive tests.

It can help you test how file uploading works in your app, impacts battery, performance, memory, and so on.

While it is a premium solution mostly for professionals, it does support the latest Linux distributions that include Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Genymotion

3. Android-x86

Android x86 is an open-source project to make Android run on a PC with 32-bit support.

You can choose to install it using a virtual machine manager on your Linux system or directly try it on your PC.

Official installation instructions are available if you need to go ahead.

Unlike some other options, it is a simple emulator that tries to work on a PC with no fancy features.

Android x86

4. Android Studio (Virtual Devices)

Android Studio is a full-fledged tool for development and testing. Fortunately, with the support for Linux, you can use it to emulate the Android experience for experiments if you need to.

You just need to create an Android Virtual Device (AVD) that you can configure and then simulate as an emulator.

There are good chances to find support for some of the latest smartphones, TVs, and smartwatches as well.

It needs a certain learning curve to be able to pull it off, but it is free and completely open-source.

Android Studio

5. ARChon

An interesting solution is an Android emulator that you can use in Linux and any other platform.

It helps run Android apps on Chrome OS or with Chrome browser on any operating system. Unlike some others, you may not get a complete Android experience but only the ability to run Android apps.

You just have to unpack the runtime and load it into Chrome extensions. Next, add the app you want to use by downloading the APK file onto it.

ARChon

6. Bliss OS

Bliss OS is yet another open-source project, similar to Android x86 that aims to make Android run on PC.

Unlike Android x86, it gives more compatibility options by supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. Also, you can download the compatible file as per your processor.

It is actively maintained and supports the latest Android versions available in the market.

Bliss OS

Wrapping Up

While you will find several Android emulators available for Linux, they may not replace a full-fledged smartphone experience.

Every emulator comes with a set of features along with a specific purpose. Choose the one that you need!

Have you tried Android emulators yet? What’s your favorite emulator that you have used in Linux? Feel free to let me know in the comments down below.

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/3zltgGq
via IFTTT

Three Fingers Swipe Not Working in GNOME 40? Here’s How to Fix it

GNOME 40 brought a radical new interface with a horizontal first approach. One of the features in this approach is a three finger swipe for touchpad.

Swipe three fingers up on the touchpad and brings up the activity menu. Do it once more and you’ll have the application menu. Move the fingers down and you’ll be coming out of the application menu and the acitivity area.

Illustration of three fingers swipe in GNOME

Similarly, moving three fingers horizontally moves you to the next workspace on your right (or left).

I have installed Fedora 34 with GNOME 40 on my second laptop and experimenting with it in my free time. When I logged into the system after a few days, I realized that three fingers swipe was not working anymore.

If you are facing the same issue, here are a couple of methods to fix it.

Method 1: Use Wayland for three finger swipe in GNOME 40

In my case, I had switched to the legacy Xorg display server instead of the default Wayland. I had to do this because no screen recorder would work with Wayland.

Please make sure that you are using Wayland. To check, use the following command:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

If it shows x11, you’ll have to switch to Wayland. Save your work and log out of your system.

On the log in screen, click on your username. In the bottom right corner, you’ll see a gear symbol. Click on it. You should see a few options like GNOME, GNOME Classic and GNOME on Xorg. Go with GNOME which uses Wayland by default.

Switching between Xorg and Wayland

After selecting that, enter your password and log into the system. You should have the three fingers gesture working again.

The three fingers swipe works only in Wayland by default. It can be used in X display server as well but that requires some additional effort and I’ll show that to you in the second method.

Method 2: Using three fingers gesture with Xorg and/or GNOME 38 and higher version

If for some reasons, you must use X display server (Xorg), you could still make the three fingers swipe work with some additional efforts.

You’ll need two things here:

• Install and enable Touchegg
• Install and enable X11 Gestures GNOME extension

This works not only on GNOME 40 but older versions like GNOME 38 and 36.

Install and enable Touchegg

Touchegg is a daemon that transform the gestures you make on your touchpad or touchscreen into visible actions in your desktop.

If you are using Ubuntu or Debian, use the following commands to install it from the official PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:touchegg/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install touchegg

If you are using Fedora, Red Hat or openSUSE, install it from the official copr:

sudo dnf copr enable jose_exposito/touchegg
sudo dnf install touchegg

Arch and Manjaro users can find it in the AUR.

Once installed, you should start the daemon:

sudo systemctl start touchegg

You should also make it start automatically at each boot:

sudo systemctl enable touchegg.service

With that done, you should go ahead and install the X11 Gestures extension.

Install and enable X11 Gestures GNOME extension

I have written in detail about how to use GNOME extensions, so I am not going to repeat the steps here.

Go to the extension page and enable it:

X11 Gestures gnome extension

X11 Gestures Extension

Once you have enabled it, you can test the three finger swipe immediately. No need to log out or restart.

That’s it. Enjoy GNOME 40 to its fullest.

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/3hPC7uc
via IFTTT

Meet Clapper: A Sleek Looking Linux Video Player for Minimalists

Love minimalism? You’ll love Clapper.

Clapper is a new video player for Linux. Actually, it’s more for GNOME than Linux.

Built on top of GNOME’s JavaScript library and GTK4 toolkit, it blends naturally in the GNOME desktop environment. It uses GStreamer for media backend and OpenGL for rendering.

I like application with minimalist approach. While VLC is the Swiss Knife of media players, I prefer MPV player for the sleek, minimal interface. And now I think I am going to stick with Clapper for sometime.

Clapper video player

A screenshot of Clapper video player

Clapper uses hardware acceleration by default. It supports Intel and AMD GPUs and works on both Xorg and Wayland.

Clapper doesn’t use the traditional upper window bar. There are auto-hiding preference menu, mode changer and window control buttons for you to access a few features. This gives it a sleek, minimalist look.

It has three modes:

• Windowed mode: the default mode shows the progress bar and window control
• Floating mode: the progress bar is hidden and the player is floating on top of other applications like the ‘always on top‘ feature or ‘picture in picture’ mode
• Fullscreen mode: Player goes full screen, progress bar is bigger but they all auto-hide

Interface of Clapper video player with preference control and window modes

Clapper also has an adaptive UI which can also be used on Linux-based smartphones and tablets. So if you have got yourself a Pine Phone or Librem5, you can use Clapper on it.

There is support for subtitles with option to change the font. However, the subtitles didn’t work in my testing. There is also no option to explicitly add subtitles to a playing video. This is something that must be improved.

Like VLC, Clapper also gives you the option to resume playback from the last point if you open the same video file again. One of the handy features I love in VLC.

Clapper supports playing videos from the internet as well if you provide the URL.

Here, in the screenshot, I am playing a YouTube video in Clapper. It is a beautiful song sung by a beautiful singer and actress. Can you guess which song or movie it is?

Clapper playing a video from YouTube

Install Clapper on Linux

Clapper is available in AUR for Arch and Manjaro users. That should not be a surprise for anyone. AUR has everything under the sun.

For other distributions, Clapper officially provides Flatpak package. So, please enable Flatpak support for your distribution and then use the following command to install it:

flatpak install flathub com.github.rafostar.Clapper

Once installed, simply search for it in the application menu or right click on a video file and choose to open it with Clapper.

Clapper is far from being the perfect video player. However, it has potential to become a popular Linux application.

If you use it, please do share your experience. If you find bugs, please notify the developer.

from It's FOSS https://ift.tt/3eyk89u
via IFTTT