sudo apt reinstall --purge firefox-esr
E: Command line option --purge is not understood in combination with the other options

Oops, sorry, that works for beowulf's apt(8) but obviously not ASCII's version.

I also reinstalled firefox-esr via Synaptic, but nothing changed. And the Firefox support page to refresh does not work for esr. Oh well, I'll wipe the SSD using your new command and install Beowulf MATE or Cinnamon (I haven't decided). Thanks for your help.

after entering "apt purge firefox-esr," I was informed that Chromium would be installed at the same time.

Yeah, your desktop metapackage has the virtual browser package as a dependency which must be satisfied so you need either firefox-esr or chromium.

# apt reinstall --purge firefox-esr

Thanks for the erase reference. I found the hdparm one a long time ago on Arch's wiki, I think.

Back to the original question. I thought I'd just uninstall firefox-esr and reinstall it, thinking that a fresh start might be the solution. But after entering "apt purge firefox-esr," I was informed that Chromium would be installed at the same time. I declined. Is there any way to uninstall/reinstall firefox-esr without adding something from the googlebeast?

# blkdiscard /dev/sdX

It's not a "secure" erase but then neither is hdparm's

EDIT: and your sources were fine, I just got confused and misread your kernel version. Sorry.

~$ cat /etc/os_release
cat: /etc/os_release: No such file or directory

~$ apt policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii-updates/non-free amd64 Packages
     release v=2.0.0,o=Devuan,a=oldstable-updates,n=ascii-updates,l=Devuan,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii-updates/main amd64 Packages
     release v=2.0.0,o=Devuan,a=oldstable-updates,n=ascii-updates,l=Devuan,c=main,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii-security/contrib amd64 Packages
     release v=2.0,o=Devuan,a=oldstable-security,n=ascii-security,l=Devuan-Security,c=contrib,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii-security/non-free amd64 Packages
     release v=2.0,o=Devuan,a=oldstable-security,n=ascii-security,l=Devuan-Security,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii-security/main amd64 Packages
     release v=2.0,o=Devuan,a=oldstable-security,n=ascii-security,l=Devuan-Security,c=main,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii/contrib amd64 Packages
     release v=2.1,o=Devuan,a=oldstable,n=ascii,l=Devuan,c=contrib,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii/non-free amd64 Packages
     release v=2.1,o=Devuan,a=oldstable,n=ascii,l=Devuan,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
 500 [url]http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged[/url] ascii/main amd64 Packages
     release v=2.1,o=Devuan,a=oldstable,n=ascii,l=Devuan,c=main,b=amd64
     origin us.deb.devuan.org
Pinned packages:

"apt policy" showed a bunch of v=2.0 and v=2.1 lines

Please post the exact, full output from my requested commands. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. Safe mode does not fix the problem.

I installed from a 2.0 ISO, so I must be running ASCII. "apt policy" showed a bunch of v=2.0 and v=2.1 lines. Cinnamon is 3.2.7-4, as per Synaptic.

Thanks for the reply. I did not know anyone had ported the metacity formats. I read many months ago in the Linux Mint forum that metacity would no longer be supported in Cinnamon. I had tried mate-themes (I assumed cinnamon-themes would be installed), but everything was gray (TraditionalOk had blue borders in the old metacity, but after metacity suport was dropped, they were gray). I will try that in my new system.

Thanks for the reply. In a few days, I will build a new system on a spare SSD using a 3.0 ISO. I'll use your themes and see what my old eyes think about it.

You might also consider installing cinnamon-themes and mate-themes.

What the resizing etc is concerned, I think its related to a change in FF 78ESR.

rolfie

Firefox has resize problems

Do you still experience these problems if you start Firefox in "safe" mode?

Those are the beowulf versions.  Are you using ASCII or beowulf?

cat /etc/os_release
apt policy

I'm running Devuan 2.0 Cinnamon because the latest Cinnamon does not support most themes anymore (I'm not young, so dark themes hurt my eyes).

Hi, I'm not that young either. And I like light themes and detest dark themes too.
However I've been able to run light/pastel themes no problem even with Devuan 3 (and Firefox-esr 78.3.0, currently at 120%)

  OS: Devuan GNU/Linux 3 (beowulf) x86_64Resolution: 1920x1200,  Screen 24", 16x10
  DE: Cinnamon 3.8.8
  WM: Mutter (Muffin)
  WM Theme: Blue-mint (TraditionalGreen)
  Theme: TraditionalGreen [GTK2/3]
  Icons: menta [GTK2/3]
  Contols: TraditionalGreen
  Mouse: DMZ-White
  Desktop Blue-mint