Re: firefox > Preferences > When Firefox starts.
On Sun 21 Apr 2019 at 07:11:36 (-0700), peter@easthope.ca wrote:
> From: Cindy Sue Causey <butterflybytes@gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2019 12:41:45 -0400
> > * Is that the only live tab for each new session, ...
>
> Sorry to say, I don't understand the question. I don't understand "live tab".
> Firefox should just open the static local page. Shouldn't take more than a
> second or two even when the system is bogged.
AIUI, the "correct" behaviour when starting FF is a Home Page (your
choice), a blank page (mine), or the situation that pertained when you
last closed down (perhaps Cindy's choice). This last might involve
?hundreds of Tabs judging by Cindy's posts in the past.
> > * Can you tell if this has something to do with Firefox crashing, ...
>
> Will consider that, thanks. It would imply two bugs. The first causing
> firefox to crash. Failure to open the specified page at startup would
> be a 2nd bug.
I run two instances of FF, one as me (for banking etc) and one as
another user (for browsing). I just checked out clean shutdowns
and restarts with my own instance of FF and it's all OK.
As for my browsing, I always crash it at close down, either by
terminating X (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace) or by sudo /root/shutdown.
The effect of either is the same: FF started with "firefox" produces
a single Tab saying "Sorry. We're having trouble getting your pages
back" as you reported. Pressing Return (or clicking the button)
restores (inactively) all the Tabs that were present in the last
session: just what I want. (I don't want to have to dig them all out
of the browser History.)
> > * Can you try opening it via a terminal over your next few browsing
> > session startups ...
>
> I need to make a habit of starting it from a terminal until this is solved.
> Otherwise will miss the incident too often.
Not running a DE, I always start it from a little xterm that's there
for just that purpose and for receiving any error messages. The jessie
version of FF spewed errors constantly, but stretch is much quieter.
I have a load of bash functions for suchlike, eg:
$ my-aptitude-doc-on-flashfirefox
$ my-deblis-on-flashfirefox
$ my-forecast-on-flashfirefox
$ my-hotmail-on-flashfirefox
$ my-python-doc-on-flashfirefox
$ my-radar-on-flashfirefox
$ my-weather-on-flashfirefox
and the effect of these is to produce two Tabs, the one requested here
and the one with "Sorry. …". (Any of the bash functions will take a
URL argument that overrides the default address.
> > ... STILL be "alive" after a full reboot.
>
> To my knowledge the only thing running on an unpowered PC is the clock.
> Some exotic machines might be able to run the BIOS or a Forth
> PROM from the backup battery or cell. I don't know about that.
>
> On most machines, no process survives a cold reboot. If that appeared
> to happen, the process number must have been saved in a non-volatile store
> and applied to a new process after the reboot. Seems perverse.
It's possible to set up the system so that it restarts all the
sessions automatically when you reboot. I think one calls it a
"kiosk" system, and I remember someone on this list wanting to
set one up. The process numbers aren't saved. If they are, it's
likely a suspend/hibernation has been misdiagnosed.
> Firefox now has too much automation and it's causing trouble. We
> need a way to disable some of this paraphernalia. Or a simpler browser.
It's a compromise. The more paraphernalia you cut out, the more pages
that will not work. Does the behaviour reported in your OP cause you
*great* concern? There is a button with a little house on it if you
specially want your Home Page (available at any time).
As you can read here, I'm perfectly happy with the behaviour described.¹
> Can the automatic search capability of the URL bar be disabled?
> Other ideas?
Sure: Edit→Preferences→Search→Provide search suggestions.
This *might* only stop locally generated suggestions. To stop, say,
Google from suggesting as well, you might have to set an option
on Google's search page. ("Other search engines are available.")
You might find other options in Edit→Preferences that can give
you a "simpler" browsing experience.
¹ I tried Opera on a slow laptop as it's reported to be faster.
It was, in normal use. However, when you started it the next day,
it would try and restore all the active Tabs as soon as you
started it, which was a disaster. I'd sit there waiting for the
weather forecast to appear while, say, 20 Tabs from yesterday
were clogging it up.
OTOH, FF only restores each Tab when you actually switch to it,
so my-forecast-on-flashfirefox gives me what I want immediately.
Cheers,
David.
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