Portable Firefox 1.5.0.1 and 2.0 Alpha 1 Released

Submitted by John T. Haller on April 6, 2006 - 4:44pm

Firefox logoPortable Firefox 1.5.0.1 has been released. New in this version is:

  • Update to Firefox 1.5.0.1
  • Ability to use local homepages (see Readme.txt)

Get it from the Portable Firefox homepage at PortableApps.com.

Also available is a test version based on the Bon Echo 2.0 Alpha 1 release. Get it from the Portable Bon Echo homepage.

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PFF 1.5.0.1 Already?

When I select About Mozilla Firefox it indicates that I am using 1.5.0.1.

I let FF update a while back (you know the failed update and then the full download version.)

Is ther any difference?

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

Updates

PFF 1.5 can successfully update after the failure. This new version adds in a few things like the ability to use local homepages if you use an INI. It also has a launcher with the right number of prongs on the USB plug in the screenshot... which some people really wanted. :-) Also an updated help file. But you're ok using PFF 1.5 updated.

Live with purpose.

I'm going to sound like a dork but

Yes! I'm one of those. I was going to hold off updating until 2.0 final was released but if it will fix the image of the USB end, huzzah! Thanks.

1.5 and 2.0 same time?

Thanks John.

Yeah I had the update already, I was just pointing out the failure thing as proof I did it right.

Can you launch PFF 1.5 an 2.0 at the same time?

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

I believe so...

Just use the INI with AllowMultipleInstances turned on. There's a sample INI and a readme that explains it in the PortableFirefoxCode directory. I was able to use them side by side without issue... but it may have unknown side effects (Bon Echo being an Alpha and all).

Live with purpose.

Thanks.

Already downloaded PFF Bon Echo and will begin copying profile over tonight.

I'm very gratefull for all of your work.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

1.5.01

Nice. Now only PThunderbird and it would be amazing :)

This week

It's coming out this week. Along with a couple more apps. I just didn't want to overload things and release ALL of em at once. (I've had a lot ready to go but couldn't release until PortableApps.com had a new dedicated server) Plus I'm in CA until Tuesday.

Live with purpose.

Where in California? (That's

Where in California? (That's where I live...)

~nm35 {blog} {personal space}

~nm35 {blog} {site}
Mark Smith | PortableApps.com Developer

Mt View

I'm in Mountain View at the moment.

Live with purpose.

Hm... not that far away

Hm... not that far away (well, not as much as in New York, anyway). I'm in SF.

~nm35 {blog} {personal space}

~nm35 {blog} {site}
Mark Smith | PortableApps.com Developer

Congratulations!

You've made it a long way, John, way to go. The server seems to be pretty stable now!

Rob Loach [Website] [Projects]

Thanks! So far so good

We'll see what happens on Friday during the day as blogs pick up on the releases. I'm releasing more stuff later today.

Live with purpose.

So many programs!

I was waiting for an official release for version 1.5.0.1 since it came out. Thank you so much! You released so many apps in the last few days. I'm going to have lots of fun with this! Portable Firefox is awesome!

PC Hackers

I hate to seem a fool but is

I hate to seem a fool but is there a way to convert my old bookmarks to SQLite for use in Bon Echo?

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

I don't know...

I honestly don't know, but I don't think so... at least I didn't see a way. It's a pre-preview release (hence the non-FF branding) just for testing the new features out, so it doesn't have import/export working yet.

Live with purpose.

Got it. Heres how you do

Got it. Heres how you do it.

1. Import old Firefox favorites into IE
2. Open Bon Echo and use the import from IE function
3. Sorted!

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

You might also be interested

You might also be interested in this extension:

http://users.blueprintit.co.uk/~dave/web/firefox/buildid/nightly.html

as it allows you to use non compatible extensions in Bon Echo

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

No UPX compression? No jar recompression?

Hi John
I downloaded the newly added Portable Firefox 1.5.0.1 but I realised that the size was substantially larger than the previous release (1.5)
I compared the downloaded file to my local Firefox 1.5.0.1 installation and I realised that the EXEs DLLs and JARs are *identical* to the ones used in PFF. I assumed they would be compressed to save space in our USB stick. Am I missing something? Was UPXing the files against Mozilla license and you decided to drop this procedure? Only trying to guess...
Keep up the good work!

Two reasons

1. Keeping things uncompressed allows the update system to work within Firefox

2. Altering the binaries is a violation of Mozilla's trademark distribution guidelines.

Live with purpose.

Ok, I get it now Thanks for

Ok, I get it now
Thanks for clarification!

Fast!

I'm not sure whether it is the lack of extensions I have installed in Bon Echo, but PBE (Portable Bon Echo) seems to be lightning fast.

I did try to install a nightly build tester extension to get Bon Echo to use 1.5 extensions that I like.

Does not seem to want to work. I know that this is the wrong place to ask and I am not asking.

Anyboy have any luck with bookmarks yet?

I cannot use the IE trick because of work restrictions.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

You need to get the lastest

You need to get the lastest version from his personal homeoage (the one I linked to).

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

Link

I used the link you gave in the earlier post in this topic. I am going to try it again today.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

Hmm, he seems to have

Hmm, he seems to have released a new version recently, try the second one down (1.0rc1) as that works fne for me.

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

Thanks so much for making it!

Thanks so much for makiing this program! FINALLY, those without computers (like me!) have an option for web-work besides the annoyingly common IE! Can't work online without it. :D

-----------------------------------
To all the open-source programmers:
Thanks for all the good work, guys!

-----------------------------------
To all the open-source programmers:
Thanks for all the good work, guys!

Copy Profile from 1.5 to Bon Echo

FYI

I coppied my profile from PFF 1.5.0.1 to Bon Echo. Not a good idea.

Nearly all of the extensions I had were incompatible and the bookmarks did not show up.

I now have to try a clean copy of PBE.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

PBE ain't PFX

PBE uses SQLLite for bookmarks, not bookmarks.html.

Personally, I never copy a profile folder from one version of PFX to another -- extensions break, some extensions modify the app folder and thus break... I just copy key3.db, passwords.txt, bookmarks.html, cookies.txt, and the other really important files.

~nm35 {blog} {personal space}

~nm35 {blog} {site}
Mark Smith | PortableApps.com Developer

Suggestion for John

http://portableapps.com/support/portable_firefox#local_profile

Which comes off of the following link:
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/browsers/portable_firefox/test

This is the link that I followed.

Obviously PBE is another animal than PFX. Many differences like you pointed out.

Maybe write a warning in that section for PBE or take the upgrade part out.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

It says...

"Though there is no help specifically for Portable Bon Echo, much of the information at Portable Firefox Support applies:"

and

"Test Note: This is a test version of Portable Firefox based on Bon Echo Alpha 1 (the first development milestone of Firefox 2.0). It is NOT A FINAL OR PRE-RELEASE VERSION OF FIREFOX. If you don't wish to be a tester, you may wish to use the standard Portable Firefox release instead."

Basically, NOONE except techies should be using this alpha software... and you shouldn't be using it as your primary browser. You can use your PFF 1.5 profile with it... and it will work just as if you installed Bon Echo to your local machine with FF on it. Obviously, it won't use the extensions, etc. This release is for testing only and I don't think I can make it any clearer.

Live with purpose.

Don't misunderstand.

I was just posting a warning in this forum for others who may have tried a traditional copy profile.

I was not upset or worried that it didn't work.

I have been trying it out as a "regular joe".

I really appreciate all you are doing for those of us who are "techies", devs, or just wanna-be-geeks(me).

Thanks again John.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

Splash Screen

How come when I set DisableSplashScreen=true in the INI it still shows the Portable Firefox splash screen. I have always had this issue with all versions of Portable Firefox. Am I doing something wrong?

Move the ini

to the same directory as the launcher.
----
R McCue

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

Worked like a charm! THANKS!

Worked like a charm! THANKS!

We need to sticky a thread

We need to sticky a thread on this. And yes I know what it says in the readme but who reads it?

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

I read the readme

Still didn`t notice it.
----
R McCue

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

Forgot the INI note

I actually meant to put a comment IN in the ini to say it's an example and not in the right directory. I'll do it for 1.5.0.2.

Live with purpose.

Oops it always used to be in

Oops it always used to be in there.

Yours

Steve Lamerton

Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog

'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK

A note to read the readme.txt

A note to read the readme.txt has always been in there. But few people actually read it... even when told to right in the INI.

Live with purpose.

Yes, well

no one ever reads the instructions.
Take my dad for example. He tryed to put a cabinet together, 3 hours later he finally admitted defeat and read the instructions.
----
R McCue

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

Automatic 1.5.0.2 update?

My PFF 1.5.0.1 just automatically downloaded and update to 1.5.0.2. Can I let it go ahead and execute this update without messing things up, or should I wait for an official 1.5.0.2 release from you?

(P.S. Many thanks for these portable applications. I can now move effortlessly from home to work computers and back. It's especially a lifesaver since I never managed to make myself understand file synchronization...)

Yup

The ability to update is preserved in Portable Firefox. The only change is that it asks rather than just doing it as the update process can be a bit slow on a flash ram device (flash ram is slow and can make the update take a few minutes).

Live with purpose.

FAQ.

Another one for the FAQ.

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

I'm using it this very moment!

I'm using it this very moment indeed. My only major gripe if you will is the load time but it's still alot better then using Internet Explorer! Now if only there was a portable Opera.