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u3 Platform/Firefox

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Anonymous (not verified)
u3 Platform/Firefox

I recently purchased a Mini TravelDrive from Memorex that had the u3 platform on it. It seems to have a nice clean front end and amazing potential to bring portable apps more mainstream. However my issue with it is the fact that some of the software packaged for u3 is low quality. In particular a company/person (YourBrainz) packaged Firefox for u3, and it is riddled with errors. While I was browsing the u3 site I found John Haller’s name under a second instance of Firefox in the software page saying coming soon. Do you have plans to release u3 compatible apps? What are your general thoughts on the u3 platform? I will stick with my Portable Firefox for now, as I have been very impressed with the build quality, but if you plan to make it u3 compatible or any other software u3 compatible I think you could really help get Portable Firefox more mainstream.

Keep up the good work!

John T. Haller
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Coming soon

I am indeed building a port of Portable Firefox for the U3 platform. It is based on the existing code of Portable Firefox and works much the same as the standalone version. As with Portable Firefox, it is fully open source as well. I am hoping to have it available within the next week.

As for other apps on U3, I am doing a couple. Future development hasn't been scoped out yet, though.

And, of course, you can continue to use all of the apps hosted here on any device: USB thumbdrive (standard or U3), portable hard drive, iPod/MP3 player, etc.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

markj (not verified)
Good News!

It is great to hear that you are developing them for the u3 platform. You mentioned you might be doing other apps for the u3 platform; what might these be? Also I am curious to hear your thoughts in general on the u3 platform.

Thank you!

John T. Haller
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Can't reveal

I can't reveal the other apps just yet.

As for U3 in general, these first few apps are essentially me dipping my toe in to test the waters. There are some things I like about it and some things I don't... some of which will hopefully be addressed in later releases.

Regards,
John

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

jojoyohan (not verified)
Not really the right place

Not really the right place but I want to see U3 gaim.

Anyway there is already a U3 Firefox packaged by YourBrainz.

bobharvey
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Confused, of Lincolnshire

I went to www.u3.com and cannot see any clear explanation of what U3 does tht the downloads from this site do not already do

What am I missing?

John T. Haller
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Mozilla Firefox for U3 1.5 is live...
My packaged version of Mozilla Firefox for U3 based on Portable Firefox is now available:
http://software.u3.com/Product_Details.aspx?ProductId=89&Selection=5

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

ahbrown41 (not verified)
Wonderful!!

Are you planning on putting this news as a news item for your site? It is a pain to monitor the U3 site..

Now I look forward to Thunderbird Smile

Thanks!!

John T. Haller
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Still evaluating...

I'm still evaluating my future U3 stuff, so I'm not yet integrating it into the main site. As you might guess from the URLs here, it is something I am keeping open for the future, though.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

RPBirt
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Congrats

Just downloaded it and I am testing it on a Memorex U3. It is great to finally see a "clean" Firefox application. Really professional!

Ridgewood Foundation Open Source Project
http://zedfiles.com

John T. Haller
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Thanks
Thanks, Richard. Glad you like it. Feel free to drop a note my way with feedback. As with my stand-alone portable apps, I try to stay as close to the desktop version as possible while adding in a few polishes that make it work better in a portable scenario.

Regards,
John

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

jojoyohan (not verified)
Can I ask if you know what

Can I ask if you know what the differences between yours and the other one is besides the 5MB's?

John T. Haller
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Different Approaches

The two use different approaches. The YourBrainz version uses a closed source wrapper, so I can't speak to the internals or methods of their version. Mine uses an open source wrapper based on Portable Firefox. It's lightweight and the experience of using my package is quite similar to using Portable Firefox or Firefox on your desktop.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

willycox
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Some questions after firefox u3 test

Hi,
I use portable firefox and local firefox for a while and I don't understand how work the U3 version ...
- What is the "U3UserProfile" created on the key (x://my document/U3UserProfile)
- I can't import bookmarks
- I can't choose any directory for download ... only the desktop issue but the downloaded file go to U3UserProfile on the key ...

Is it normal ?
Regards,
Willy

John T. Haller
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By Design

This is by design. Plugins like Flash store files within the USERPROFILE, so one had to be faked on the U3 device to get around that to keep U3 compliance. You can save to anywhere you'd like through My Computer in file save. If you want to save to the local desktop, you have to browse there through C:\Documents and Settings... etc

Please address further questions about Mozilla Firefox for U3 to the U3 Support Forum:
https://portableapps.com/forums/support/u3apps

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

zphantom
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Your PFF is much better

I recently bought a new USB drive and it came with U3. I was so pleased to see that you had done a PFF, as I was weary of anyone elses. Please tell me that Thunderbird isn't far down the road, and most of your other programs would be great too.

Ryan McCue
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You can use all the apps off this site

and "hack" them into the launchpad.
Easiest way. Search for it on these forums.
----
R McCue
PortaBlog Home and My Website
PortaBlog is now officially out of beta!

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

usasma
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Just my 2¢

I used a U3 drive for my first week of using portable FF and TBird. Frankly, if you're just a tiny bit computer literate you can do away with it (U3) and not even notice that it's gone.

I went to SanDisk (since I've got a SanDisk drive) and downloaded their U3 removal tool. Then I reformatted the drive and all has been well!

- John

- John

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