The officially official Devuan Forum!

You are not logged in.

#1 2019-06-28 14:44:46

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,583  

Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Hello:

Has anyone used/installed this browser?

https://brave-browser.readthedocs.io/en … html#linux

I cannot find it in the Devuan repos and there does not seem to be a *.deb file available either.

Thanks in advance.

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2019-06-28 14:45:07)

Offline

#2 2019-06-28 15:14:03

Panopticon
Member
Registered: 2018-01-27
Posts: 306  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

It is not totally open source software i dont believe, that is why you will not find it on Devuan or Debian.

Last edited by Panopticon (2019-06-28 15:31:22)

Offline

#3 2019-06-28 15:30:22

Panopticon
Member
Registered: 2018-01-27
Posts: 306  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Some interesting info.

https://securityboulevard.com/2019/02/b … -security/

Get paid to surf ?

https://cointelegraph.com/tags/brave-browser

Last edited by Panopticon (2019-06-28 15:30:47)

Offline

#4 2019-06-28 15:41:39

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,583  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Hello:

Panopticon wrote:

Indeed ...

While users generally don’t expect much privacy from browsers like Google Chrome, the Brave browser promised to do better. By whitelisting the domains of some of the biggest data collectors on the internet, they have lost the trust of a large number of users and will need to work hard to get it back.

Panopticon wrote:

For compensation of lost revenue for websites, Brave uses Brave Payments. Users can sell an amount of money to the Brave browser in Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum. The Brave browser’s Bitcoin funding is transferred into its native cryptocurrency called Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which can be distributed to websites visited by the user.

Thank you very much for the heads-up.
This is one browser that I won't be using.

Cheers,

A.

Offline

#5 2019-12-09 17:23:50

golinux
Administrator
Registered: 2016-11-25
Posts: 3,336  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Has anyone given ungoogled chromium a spin?

Offline

#6 2019-12-13 07:17:22

SmokeyGrey
Member
Registered: 2019-04-15
Posts: 25  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

The Brave website states it is fully open source.

We use all-open source, and we welcome help in auditing our source

Brave really feels like it's trying to be the "Privacy Web Browser" for those who don't really know what that means, with a thick layer of gimmicks on top. The whole thing comes off almost as exploitative.

I've not tried Ungoogled Chromium yet, but I do use Iridium https://iridiumbrowser.de/. Unfortunately, Iridium seems to be dead. The last release was in July, and the last github commit was on November 7. Ungoogled Chromium seems like a solid replacement.

Offline

#7 2019-12-13 07:30:51

freemedia2018
Member
Registered: 2019-10-21
Posts: 66  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

no solution for 32 bit.

a lot of people want x86 to just die already for freedom reasons, for years my take on that is to support 32 bit, which works on both older 32 bit hardware and practically every piece of hardware-spying, more-compromised 64 bit x86 hardware.

i use 64 bit hardware of course, but not all of it 64 bit and none of it runs a 64 bit os. the "hard limitations" of 32 bit are a bit exaggerated, there are ways around many of them.

fsmithred used to care about 32 bit (he likely still does, i havent asked) and roy from techrights still uses it as well.

also the idea of using a browser from github is a bit creepy, i consider everything on github controlled by microsoft. that problem is going to get worse before it gets better.


monopolies are able to change free software so it better serves their freedom than ours.

why is that so difficult to prove to many free software advocates, and what is it that stops them from caring?

Offline

#8 2019-12-13 07:43:11

golinux
Administrator
Registered: 2016-11-25
Posts: 3,336  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

freemedia2018 wrote:

fsmithred used to care about 32 bit (he likely still does, i havent asked) and roy from techrights still uses it as well.

Yes he cares: https://get.refracta.org/   I also use 32 bit OS.  It does everything that I need. 

also the idea of using a browser from github is a bit creepy, i consider everything on github controlled by microsoft. that problem is going to get worse before it gets better.

You can vet the code of course.  smile  Sure it's creepy that ms is in charge of github but that's not really fair to judge devs who suffer from inertia and stay put there.

Offline

#9 2019-12-13 07:55:17

freemedia2018
Member
Registered: 2019-10-21
Posts: 66  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

golinux wrote:

Yes he cares: https://get.refracta.org/   I also use 32 bit OS.

that doesnt surprise me, i just didnt feel up to date on the matter. nice to know he still feels that way.

You can vet the code of course.

true, but:

1. sourceforge (under previous owners, i think theyre alright now to be honest) used to add malware and spyware to downloads, so there is a precedent for bad actors

2. microsoft is a pretty uniquely bad actor

3. while i certainly believe that floss is more secure than microsoft products which contains deliberate backdoors already, that hasnt stopped infamous problems like heartbleed and shellshock-- even with code being vetted by the best people we have.

its good to deal with the source of problems, as well as the aftermath/results. a little preventative medicine where it makes the most sense.

also helping sustain their monopoly is going to bite us in the backside sooner or later.

Sure it's creepy that ms is in charge of github but that's not really fair to judge devs who suffer from inertia and stay put there.

saying a bad idea is a bad idea doesnt seem to me like an accusation or anything unfair in this instance. relatively speaking, brave isnt that old a project, either.

you have a "privacy-centric" browser hosted on a platform known to spy on users, by a company known to add backdoors to its own products, which has spent decades systematically trying to destroy free software. what part of this paragraph is untrue, or unfair?


monopolies are able to change free software so it better serves their freedom than ours.

why is that so difficult to prove to many free software advocates, and what is it that stops them from caring?

Offline

#10 2019-12-13 08:06:36

SmokeyGrey
Member
Registered: 2019-04-15
Posts: 25  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

freemedia2018 wrote:

32 bit ( . . . ) works on both older 32 bit hardware and ( . . . ) 64 bit x86 hardware.

I don't see much point in running a 32bit os on 64bit hardware. Then again, most people will never hit the limitations of a 32bit os. Either way, it's worth keeping around simply for hardware support. My old systems still have life in them.

also the idea of using a browser from github is a bit creepy, i consider everything on github controlled by microsoft.

So far I haven't seen any reports of source code tampering, but it's worth keeping an eye out. My bigger concern is that Ungoogled Chromium is a small project with a massive never ending goal. Support is limited, and could disappear at any time. The lack of a website and official binaries could also be a turnoff for some.

Offline

#11 2019-12-13 08:20:29

freemedia2018
Member
Registered: 2019-10-21
Posts: 66  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

i already do a lot of distro remixing, and the 32bit remixes work across more machines than the 64bit ones. i have no delusions about this catching on as a common solution, but it works pretty well for me.

either way, i need a 32bit version for my 32bit hardware. there are some pretty nifty netbooks that arent 64bit and the sheer portability makes them worth using as long as they work. there are also some 32bit servers that arent strictly useless.

Last edited by freemedia2018 (2019-12-13 08:22:00)


monopolies are able to change free software so it better serves their freedom than ours.

why is that so difficult to prove to many free software advocates, and what is it that stops them from caring?

Offline

#12 2019-12-13 13:49:58

GNUser
Member
Registered: 2017-03-16
Posts: 570  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

golinux - I use iridium as my daily driver. It is an "ungoogled chromium". Highly recommended. https://iridiumbrowser.de/

Offline

#13 2019-12-13 13:56:14

GNUser
Member
Registered: 2017-03-16
Posts: 570  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Just one note about iridium: The control file inside the .deb package provided by the developers specifies a version of libfontconfig1 that's higher than what's available in the Devuan ASCII repositories. However, the browser does work just fine with the older version of libfontconfig1 that Devuan ASCII uses. The workaround is to unpack the .deb, delete the specified libfontconfig1 version number, and repack the .deb before installing it. Then it works like a charm.

Last edited by GNUser (2019-12-13 13:59:57)

Offline

#14 2019-12-14 09:37:06

HevyDevy
Member
Registered: 2019-09-06
Posts: 358  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

randomer wrote:

Has anyone tried Hyperbola and their fork of Basilisk, Iceweasel-UXP? https://wiki.hyperbola.info/doku.php?id … redirect=1

I did a few months ago, the non free aspect of it killed my hopes of a working wifi connection though, no free drivers so i was stuck tethered to the phone for network. Good distro though and you can make it really lightweight and resource friendly. Iceweasel was good and worked ok,  addons are not very straight forward and you cant just add them from firefox if memory serves me correct.

Offline

#15 2019-12-14 11:44:39

Head_on_a_Stick
Member
From: London
Registered: 2019-03-24
Posts: 3,125  
Website

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Interesting article about Brave linked on lobste.rs:

https://practicaltypography.com/the-cow … brave.html

Comments: https://lobste.rs/s/tun2os/cowardice_brave

EDIT: if anybody is using Brave I would really appreciate if they could check my website and see if any adverts are plastered over it. TIA.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2019-12-14 11:51:01)


Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

Offline

#16 2019-12-15 06:01:06

HevyDevy
Member
Registered: 2019-09-06
Posts: 358  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

randomer wrote:
HevyDevy wrote:

I did a few months ago, the non free aspect of it killed my hopes of a working wifi connection though, no free drivers so i was stuck tethered to the phone for network. Good distro though and you can make it really lightweight and resource friendly. Iceweasel was good and worked ok,  addons are not very straight forward and you cant just add them from firefox if memory serves me correct.

Well, it is FSF approved for a reason smile The free aspect is kinda the sole purpose.

As for Iceweasel-UXP, I saw they package uBlock in their repos and it seems like they also update it frequently. A bunch of legacy add-ons are available for direct download on their homepage. Pretty cool. I think I will dedicate a thinkpad to this distro.

I didnt word that correctly, what i meant was the free aspect killed my hopes of a working wifi connection as there is no free broadcom drivers for my device im aware of. I did get an old D-Link usb dongle working with free drivers but the thing was so old that the speeds were atrocious.

Offline

#17 2020-06-24 11:44:44

LU344928
Member
Registered: 2020-02-13
Posts: 74  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

EDIT: if anybody is using Brave I would really appreciate if they could check my website and see if any adverts are plastered over it. TIA.

Do you still want that?  I'm not using Brave on Linux but it's installed on my Windows machine.


Devuan Daedalus 5.0  |  MX Linux 23  |  Slackware 15

Offline

#18 2020-06-24 18:31:20

Head_on_a_Stick
Member
From: London
Registered: 2019-03-24
Posts: 3,125  
Website

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

LU344928 wrote:

Do you still want that?

Yes please, just click on the "website" link underneath my avatar to check. Thanks!


Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

Offline

#19 2020-06-25 00:08:17

steve_v
Member
Registered: 2018-01-11
Posts: 387  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

What is with all the noise about this "brave" browser recently anyway? Is it demonstrably better than Firefox/Iceweasel or a degoogled chromium build?
Personally I'd be highly suspicious of a new browser that is advertised as heavily as this one appears to be...

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Interesting article about Brave linked on lobste.rs:
https://practicaltypography.com/the-cow … brave.html

Ed. Yup, that's pretty much what I expected. "Have our ads and tracking instead of theirs". Free cryptocurrency woo and virtue signalling included.
No thanks, I'll stick to my adblockers and javascript defangers.

Last edited by steve_v (2020-06-25 00:14:38)


Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

Offline

#20 2020-06-25 11:45:06

LU344928
Member
Registered: 2020-02-13
Posts: 74  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
LU344928 wrote:

Do you still want that?

Yes please, just click on the "website" link underneath my avatar to check. Thanks!

Nah no ads, none at all.

Version 1.10.97 Chromium: 83.0.4103.116 (Official Build) (64-bit)


Devuan Daedalus 5.0  |  MX Linux 23  |  Slackware 15

Offline

#21 2020-06-25 11:48:34

LU344928
Member
Registered: 2020-02-13
Posts: 74  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

steve_v wrote:

What is with all the noise about this "brave" browser recently anyway? Is it demonstrably better than Firefox/Iceweasel or a degoogled chromium build?
Personally I'd be highly suspicious of a new browser that is advertised as heavily as this one appears to be...

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Interesting article about Brave linked on lobste.rs:
https://practicaltypography.com/the-cow … brave.html

Ed. Yup, that's pretty much what I expected. "Have our ads and tracking instead of theirs". Free cryptocurrency woo and virtue signalling included.
No thanks, I'll stick to my adblockers and javascript defangers.

Perhaps I'm missing something but if you don't opt in to those schemes then it seems to me there's not a lot of difference to Firefox etc.


Devuan Daedalus 5.0  |  MX Linux 23  |  Slackware 15

Offline

#22 2020-06-25 19:13:28

darry1966
Member
Registered: 2017-06-14
Posts: 82  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

Personally think Iron is a better choice.  However choice is good.  If your worried about your freedom and privacy then there is also GNUicecat.

Start chewing those toenails.

Offline

#23 2020-06-26 01:46:44

steve_v
Member
Registered: 2018-01-11
Posts: 387  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

LU344928 wrote:

Perhaps I'm missing something but if you don't opt in to those schemes then it seems to me there's not a lot of difference to Firefox etc.

Indeed. AFAICT it's nothing more exciting than YACB (Yet Another Chromium Build). So why all the yammering about it, like it's the hottest new thing?


Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

Offline

#24 2020-06-26 06:09:07

blackhole
Member
Registered: 2020-03-16
Posts: 108  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

steve_v wrote:
LU344928 wrote:

Perhaps I'm missing something but if you don't opt in to those schemes then it seems to me there's not a lot of difference to Firefox etc.

Indeed. AFAICT it's nothing more exciting than YACB (Yet Another Chromium Build). So why all the yammering about it, like it's the hottest new thing?

Because the primary target is average Joe and they readily suck up marketing and empty promises. Even with Firefox, the target is windows/android/apple. Linux and bsd's are tiny and unimportant . It's  all about consumers rather than users.

Iridium turned to be much the same. Despite all the claims, the safe browsing spyware is on by default.

If you want a "private browser", that's something you have to configure and/Or find for yourself. Relying on snake oil salesmen with an ulterior motive, is unwise.

Last edited by blackhole (2020-06-26 06:10:08)

Offline

#25 2020-06-26 07:29:31

steve_v
Member
Registered: 2018-01-11
Posts: 387  

Re: Alternative browser for Devuan/Debian - Brave

blackhole wrote:

Because the primary target is average Joe and they readily suck up marketing and empty promises.

I kinda hoped most Devuan users were smarter than that. Aren't we here to get away from marketing and empty promises?

If I saw this request over on the *buntu forum I'd understand, but someone caring enough about systemd, KISS/UNIX principles and/or the redhat/corporate encroachment to be running Devuan ought to be well wary of such hype no?

blackhole wrote:

Even with Firefox, the target is windows/android/apple.

I actually have some faith in Firefox and the Mozilla foundation, if only because they're the only independent browser vendor without a glaring conflict of interest... That and Netscape/Mozilla was once the only real option on GNU/Linux.
We're not the priority, sure. But they gave us a usable modern browser back in ~2002, and it's still all that.

Last edited by steve_v (2020-06-26 07:34:23)


Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

Offline

Board footer