Database Users

Firefox Extensions/Add-ons?

Hey All,
Looking at the Atrix as are lots of us. I'm wondering if anybody would hazard a guess about whether or not we'll be able to install any of our favorite Firefox extensions?
Is that capability dependent on the extensions being written to be compatibility with ARM processors or do they "follow" the browser so if it runs they run?
Firefox is not as nice as Chrome would have been, but Firefox w/o my favorite extensions would be downright unbearable. This for me might be a deal breaker, I could just see myself completely frustrated by having none of my favorite web browsing tweaks.
Thoughts?

The add-ons use APIs for Firefox.. I'd be surprised if they didn't work.
Of course something like IETab wouldn't work because it needs internet explorer to function, but add-ins written for firefox should work if AT&T hasn't blocked them somehow.
Due to the fact that the use of firefox on the device requires the tethering plan, I won't be getting one afterall

Yeah, the tethering plan is bs as far as I'm concerned. AT&T is really milking this one. I'm a hopeless geek, and I'll probably get it even with the tethering plan though.
I'm hopeful that once it's out the webtop environment can be "rooted" or tweaked to some degree and give us some cool functionality or even better performance.
We'll see...hope you're right about the extensions.

a042349 said:
Yeah, the tethering plan is bs as far as I'm concerned. AT&T is really milking this one. I'm a hopeless geek, and I'll probably get it even with the tethering plan though.
I'm hopeful that once it's out the webtop environment can be "rooted" or tweaked to some degree and give us some cool functionality or even better performance.
We'll see...hope you're right about the extensions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hell, I'm hoping that eventually we can replace the whole environment with ChromeOS, or at least install the rest of the Debian packages, so we have a full OS instead of the partial one.

Netflix what if

If I may ask what if we get sliver light on the evo... will netflix on browser work
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

theoretically yes but the effort required to port a closed source project without the permission of microsoft would be way over our heads and would be better off waiting for official netflix app
probably the best way to do something like that would be to re-write an open alternative to silverlight (but then they'd probably update silverlight to phase it out)
besides only thing i know that even requires silverlight is netflix thus it doesn't come with much of a benefit to all that many people

Netflix was awesome while it worked. Please hurry back!

Good idea, but I dont see it very easy to do.

We need this asap
Sent from my Evo, ho!

Moonlight in Mono is Linux version of Silverlight. It should have been or very close to be ported to ARM/Android.
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mytich said:
Moonlight in Mono is Linux version of Silverlight. It should have been or very close to be ported to ARM/Android.
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It doesn't have support for DRM.

mrpuffin said:
theoretically yes but the effort required to port a closed source project without the permission of microsoft would be way over our heads and would be better off waiting for official netflix app
probably the best way to do something like that would be to re-write an open alternative to silverlight (but then they'd probably update silverlight to phase it out)
besides only thing i know that even requires silverlight is netflix thus it doesn't come with much of a benefit to all that many people
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moonlight is silverlight on linux. It was developed by Novell with the assistance and endorsement of Microsoft. And Novell has already ported it to Android as MonoDroid (its still immature though).
What is needed to make Netflix work is the DRM that silverlight uses. Thats not part of the silverlight spec. Its part of the playready spec and that is not available to the open source community.
Now keep in mind that this is only for the web viewer. The ipad/iphone app doesn't use playready nor silverlight. Basically, silverlight or its DRM isn't necessary for netflix instant watch on mobile devices as demonstrated by the recent Evo incident. There are other methods that can be used (and have been used on iOS apps).

I got to watch one episode of That 70s show and then it crapped out on me.c
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MultiDev said:
Moonlight is silverlight on linux. It was developed by Novell with the assistance and endorsement of Microsoft. And Novell has already ported it to Android as MonoDroid (its still immature though).
What is needed to make Netflix work is the DRM that silverlight uses. Thats not part of the silverlight spec. Its part of the playready spec and that is not available to the open source community.
Now keep in mind that this is only for the web viewer. The ipad/iphone app doesn't use playready nor silverlight. Basically, silverlight or its DRM isn't necessary for netflix instant watch on mobile devices as demonstrated by the recent Evo incident. There are other methods that can be used (and have been used on iOS apps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mono is supposed to work fine with netflix.
imo, the best and most stable way of doing it is somehow setting up a inbetween server that runs silverlight/mono and allows the phone to connect through some sort of protocol to your server, and allows you to stream the movies. Like remote desktop/vnc but more friendly ui + sound.

Netflix is full of ****
Sent from my Evo, ho!

JUST2SUAVE said:
Netflix is full of ****
Sent from my Evo, ho!
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Agreed. I hate that we finally were able to stream Netflix on our EVOs and then it was immediately patched.
I'd rather know that Netflix will never be compatible with the EVO for hardware/DRM reasons, than to have it ACTUALLY WORKING and then taken away.
If it can be done, it should be done.
(Not in all cases, but this one for damn sure!)

Last-Chance said:
Mono is supposed to work fine with netflix.
imo, the best and most stable way of doing it is somehow setting up a inbetween server that runs silverlight/mono and allows the phone to connect through some sort of protocol to your server, and allows you to stream the movies. Like remote desktop/vnc but more friendly ui + sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can personally say that Mono does not work with netflix instant watch. Playready DRM is not available for Linux. Remember, its not Silverlight support that Linux lacks, its the playready DRM.
As for your suggestion, that has been done. Its called PlayOn. Its not free, but it works with Netflix and Hulu and a bunch if other streaming sites.

Java support on android devices?

This is a silly question, and may apply more generally, but does anyone know if there's a browser on the N10 or any android device can support javascript/flash? I know that Android is supposed to support it and that it is mainly composed of java but some websites are just not working for me.
Example: Blackboard (that website used by professors most universities)
My HTC EVO 4g LTE supports the HTML but not so much the Javascript. I'm really wanting to view PDFs and slides (I haven't checked if blackboard uses flash aswell).
Sorry I'm not too savvy on the the programming side of things, but thanks in advance!

Hmm, I don't think there's a plugin or anything on the Android-side of things, but there is an ARM-version of the Java plugin for Linux. I had it working on my Nexus 7 + Ubuntu a little while back.

Well JavaScript is supported on all android browsers I think
It definitely works on chrome
There is no Java support though since Java and JavaScript are not the same
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Just trying to get a way to get some websites working and get the most out of the device. I'd like my N10 to replace my laptop completely maybe if someone can get native ubuntu I could dual boot.
Sent from my EVOLTE

Maybe someone can shed some light on this?

After reading and watching multiple demonstrations of the Ubuntu phone os. I just can't seem to find features that I can't already do on my android. The notifications drawer is pretty neat in that you can pull it down at different places, but other than that, it just seems like a lightly modded android.
Sent from a galaxy far far away.

luc.highwalker said:
After reading and watching multiple demonstrations of the Ubuntu phone os. I just can't seem to find features that I can't already do on my android. The notifications drawer is pretty neat in that you can pull it down at different places, but other than that, it just seems like a lightly modded android.
Sent from a galaxy far far away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think for most users, they may not find value in this yet (until more apps are available and/or cheaper phones come out), but for those familiar with linux it will make a lot of sense.
I have been a linux developer for 3 years now (as a full time job) and I am just imagining all the cool stuff I can do with this device (at home and at work).
For one thing, you will likely be able to develop (native) apps on the phone itself instead of having to have a separate computer to do it. It might even be possible to develop Android apps!
It's basically a PC in your pocket so the apps will not be as limited as Android and iOS apps. There is still software out there that is not available on Android and iOS because those systems are designed for phones and tablets and don't fully support a desktop style interface. The appeal to an Ubuntu phone is that it can function as both, and you can develop software that will be interchangeable as both.

Thanks for your reply.
I'm not a developer (yet) so I can't say much on the subject. But I do know that you can develop apps directly on an Android device. There's even a Linux terminal Window.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what people can make out of the phone. till then, I'll just stick to my beloved android
Sent from a galaxy far far away.

If you love linux, this *could* be a game changer if it's done right. As BukaKing mentioned, the ability to run native apps on the OS is a huge plus, as you would then be able to make the most of the hardware presented rather than utilising a java engine.
Customisation I am assuming will also be a huge factor - Ubuntu Desktop can be so heavily customised, to function exactly how you want it to, so I am *assuming* that Ubuntu for Phones will be similar. So, just because the OS behaves a particular way on those video's circulating, does not necessarily mean that is how it is destined to remain. Once it's out there in the wild, I would even assume people unhappy with the lack of soft buttons may find them re-appear, as gnome/unity has the ability to create custom panels.
The oportunities I think this OS presents to smartphones is amazing, but in the end it comes down to 2 things for me. Will it be completely open source? If yes, then there could be a bunch of forks/derivitives explode around the webs where teams have customised the OS the way they want it. Developing for it would be far easier, so i'd expect if popularity gets high enough, apps will appear from everywhere. And, implimentation - will it be as easy for a non-linux user to pick up and use, as it will be for a linux user? Hopefully, that answer is yes too.

According to Shuttleworth, it will be 100% opensource! I can't wait till the code is released and we can all play with this. Since it will be using an android kernel and drivers I'm hoping it won't be to hard to compile from source for my phone.

onlychevys said:
According to Shuttleworth, it will be 100% opensource! I can't wait till the code is released and we can all play with this. Since it will be using an android kernel and drivers I'm hoping it won't be to hard to compile from source for my phone.
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Click to collapse
Helllooo! This what i was waiting for....Open source! so that ports can be made for devices that cant be officially supported by ubuntu. For those who keep saying ubuntu cant on GT-$5660 just STFU! No offense but Samsung said ICS or JB cant fully run properly on gio! and look it runs almost perfectly! So a bit of tweaking ubuntu for my device and we can run this!
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batman38102 said:
Helllooo! This what i was waiting for....Open source! so that ports can be made for devices that cant be officially supported by ubuntu. For those who keep saying ubuntu cant on GT-$5660 just STFU! No offense but Samsung said ICS or JB cant fully run properly on gio! and look it runs almost perfectly! So a bit of tweaking ubuntu for my device and we can run this!
Sent from my GT-S5660 using xda premium
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:banghead: :banghead: No.. It won't work on the S5660... Ubuntu phone is not android... Have you ever wrote a program? Compiled software? The binary is compiled using the arm hard float v7 instructions, you will need to recompile the kernel, the OS and every damn app.. the native apps are made with C++ not java ... You may be able to get a running build on a arm v6 like the S5660 but you can't install 3rd party apps from the store or proprietary apps unless the developer thought about that and supports it .. Likely not, they will be natively for arm v7 hf only...
If canonical would have chosen soft float instead of hard float then it would have worked, but it will be freaking slow and laggy..
Getting JB on that device is something else, it and android apps are running of a virtual machine .. That is the good thing about managed code and virtual machines and the reason sun Microsystems invented java in the first place ...
QML and c++ is not running off a virtual machine.. Its 100% native ...
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I'm wondering if native C++ Apps will not only be more efficient than Java on Android but if Ubuntu can take more advantage of multi-core systems than Android does. At least I have heared that Android isn't that optimized for multi-core phones.

jscurtu said:
:banghead: :banghead: No.. It won't work on the S5660... Ubuntu phone is not android... Have you ever wrote a program? Compiled software? The binary is compiled using the arm hard float v7 instructions, you will need to recompile the kernel, the OS and every damn app..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does it have to be him that has to do that, some one else could do it and provide an image.
the native apps are made with C++ not java ...
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Click to collapse
Yeah, who ever heard of making native apps in java!
The Ubuntu Phone OS equivalent to java will be HTML5.
You may be able to get a running build on a arm v6 like the S5660 but you can't install 3rd party apps from the store or proprietary apps unless the developer thought about that and supports it .. Likely not, they will be natively for arm v7 hf only...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You go from saying "No.. it won't work" to saying "You may be able to get a running build", nice!
And what proprietary apps are there right now? The only apps that I have seen are either HTML5 or the one native app (the gallery app) that Canonical made which will be open source and can be rebuilt for any device.
Also this same problem exists for Android native app (android has a lot of them), the developers have to build binaries for the different Android devices. So you can port Android to an x86 device but you will not be able to run a lot of games unless they include binaries that support it. Games built with Unity 3D are native apps, games built on Adobe Flash/Air are native apps. Native apps *can be* more efficient in performance, memory and battery than Java apps. Also C++ in the case of mobile devices is more cross platform than Java, since it can be used on both iOS and Android, and the libraries in Android Java are not available on other platforms with Java.
QML itself is not technically native, it depends on how it is used. QML is a mix of objects/widgets and javascript (similar to HTML5), but native C++ code can access QML objects/widgets through Qt.
But that said, if Canonical doesn't officially support a device I would steer clear of updates. I just spent the weekend trying to update my HP Envy from Ubuntu 10.10 to 12.10 and I had a ton of problems, and while it works now, my USB is disabled for some reason (even though internal USB devices work). This isn't the first time this has happened to me with Ubuntu updates.
I wouldn't worry about it for the Galaxy Nexus since it is an officially supported device, but for devices that are ported too by some one else, I would avoid updates coming from Canonical.

Valve is testing Steam games for Ubuntu so we could be playing some real games on our phones soon.
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getrdy said:
Valve is testing Steam games for Ubuntu so we could be playing some real games on our phones soon.
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ARM != x86 .....

blackout23 said:
ARM != x86 .....
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What about those x86 based phones?
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Lesicnik1 said:
What about those x86 based phones?
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The smartphone GPU drivers and chips probably don't support OpenGL 3.0 like Steam games require.
Smartphones never had full blown OpenGL only OpenGLES (Embedded System).
Desktop PCs are still waaay more powerful than any smartphone. Any cheap Celeron CPU for 40 bucks will obliterate your Intel Atom powered smartphone.

Why there may never be an Android 5

We may never get Android 5.0
Hi guys just sharing an opinion piece I wrote about the future of Android.
My current theory is that eventually Android could be replaced by Chrome OS, or merged and it could happen as soon as the next major update (5.0)
My article and reasons are here and I just wanted to get some input from you guys: my fellow Android Enthusiasts,

I have one word for you: grammar
there and their, you really should know the difference

I can't believe there is a Firefox OS coming. I mean, sigh... I was a big supporter of firefox for a long time, but finally got sick of the bloat. And I might add I can't stand chrome browser, desktop or mobile. Chrome on the XZ was the worst mobile browser I've ever used.

It's a nice opinion, but do you develop applications yourself?
Here's my opinion, as consumer, an Engineer and an App developer;
Mobile phones aren't about browsing, frankly, I could care less about web on my phone. Putting everything on the web would be a night mare. Further, no scripting language is going to run as fast as native code, yes most Android apps are written in Java, but are then compiled into DBC (Dalvik Byte Code), yes, this runs on a VM (Dalvik-VM), but it's a highly optimised one. Next, we have the NDK, developers can currently write native applications compiled directly into machine code and ran natively on the hardware, again, this can not be replicated in web scripting languages, nor will the speed be matched.
Further, integrating web technologies would rely on an abstraction layer that allowed the web languages to talk to the hardware, guess what, this won't be written in web technologies, and will be written in native.
Mobiles are powerful pocket computers, but they can't be expected to have internet access all the time. Yes, web apps can be stored locally, but shifting completely to the cloud doesn't work everywhere.
Finally, my thought on Chrome OS, I would never use it personally, it's a late entry into a dying breed of desktop computing, worse yet, it's aimed almost entirely at the casual desktop user. Web browsing, desktop publishing, it's the netbook of the 20-teens(2013+).
Firefox lost my interest as my number one browser when they said screw the companies that need test cycles in order to deploy our latest browsers by switching to rapid release cycles of poor quality updates, that came and went faster than any company get put it through their test process. Firefox OS for phone has no interest from me. Ubuntu OS also isn't quite the "full OS" they claimed it to be, in fact, the dev preview wasn't even Ubuntu and was a hypervisor on top of Cyanogenmod (Android).
Shifting to cloud based services is inevitable, but to have entirely web based OSs such as the ChromeOS is ridiculous currently.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, feel free to disagree, but structure and debate please.

I cringed at the title.

alias_neo said:
It's a nice opinion, but do you develop applications yourself?
Here's my opinion, as consumer, an Engineer and an App developer;
Mobile phones aren't about browsing, frankly, I could care less about web on my phone. Putting everything on the web would be a night mare. Further, no scripting language is going to run as fast as native code, yes most Android apps are written in Java, but are then compiled into DBC (Dalvik Byte Code), yes, this runs on a VM (Dalvik-VM), but it's a highly optimised one. Next, we have the NDK, developers can currently write native applications compiled directly into machine code and ran natively on the hardware, again, this can not be replicated in web scripting languages, nor will the speed be matched.
Further, integrating web technologies would rely on an abstraction layer that allowed the web languages to talk to the hardware, guess what, this won't be written in web technologies, and will be written in native.
Mobiles are powerful pocket computers, but they can't be expected to have internet access all the time. Yes, web apps can be stored locally, but shifting completely to the cloud doesn't work everywhere.
Finally, my thought on Chrome OS, I would never use it personally, it's a late entry into a dying breed of desktop computing, worse yet, it's aimed almost entirely at the casual desktop user. Web browsing, desktop publishing, it's the netbook of the 20-teens(2013+).
Firefox lost my interest as my number one browser when they said screw the companies that need test cycles in order to deploy our latest browsers by switching to rapid release cycles of poor quality updates, that came and went faster than any company get put it through their test process. Firefox OS for phone has no interest from me. Ubuntu OS also isn't quite the "full OS" they claimed it to be, in fact, the dev preview wasn't even Ubuntu and was a hypervisor on top of Cyanogenmod (Android).
Shifting to cloud based services is inevitable, but to have entirely web based OSs such as the ChromeOS is ridiculous currently.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, feel free to disagree, but structure and debate please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree :good:

hebbe said:
agree :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nosebleed
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alias_neo said:
It's a nice opinion, but do you develop applications yourself?
Here's my opinion, as consumer, an Engineer and an App developer;
Mobile phones aren't about browsing, frankly, I could care less about web on my phone. Putting everything on the web would be a night mare. Further, no scripting language is going to run as fast as native code, yes most Android apps are written in Java, but are then compiled into DBC (Dalvik Byte Code), yes, this runs on a VM (Dalvik-VM), but it's a highly optimised one. Next, we have the NDK, developers can currently write native applications compiled directly into machine code and ran natively on the hardware, again, this can not be replicated in web scripting languages, nor will the speed be matched.
Further, integrating web technologies would rely on an abstraction layer that allowed the web languages to talk to the hardware, guess what, this won't be written in web technologies, and will be written in native.
Mobiles are powerful pocket computers, but they can't be expected to have internet access all the time. Yes, web apps can be stored locally, but shifting completely to the cloud doesn't work everywhere.
Finally, my thought on Chrome OS, I would never use it personally, it's a late entry into a dying breed of desktop computing, worse yet, it's aimed almost entirely at the casual desktop user. Web browsing, desktop publishing, it's the netbook of the 20-teens(2013+).
Firefox lost my interest as my number one browser when they said screw the companies that need test cycles in order to deploy our latest browsers by switching to rapid release cycles of poor quality updates, that came and went faster than any company get put it through their test process. Firefox OS for phone has no interest from me. Ubuntu OS also isn't quite the "full OS" they claimed it to be, in fact, the dev preview wasn't even Ubuntu and was a hypervisor on top of Cyanogenmod (Android).
Shifting to cloud based services is inevitable, but to have entirely web based OSs such as the ChromeOS is ridiculous currently.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, feel free to disagree, but structure and debate please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good points. I mean why would they kill something which is already working well. Think what happened to Windows 8, it turned out to be
sort of like Vista. Companies need to innovate, but usually it doesn't go as what they desire, but understanding the perception of the user
is not a straight forward task.

Rchard said:
Very good points. I mean why would they kill something which is already working well. Think what happened to Windows 8, it turned out to be
sort of like Vista. Companies need to innovate, but usually it doesn't go as what they desire, but understanding the perception of the user
is not a straight forward task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android is too mature to be killed, it would be like google want to commit suicide... And if i remember well there is a few more corp is involved in android like htc, samsung, sony, huawei , and a few others, and spooks as well , we probably don't know. Android is a perfect spying platform and more then half of the devices on internet constantly. Who would kill that info net??

IOS will die before android, until then it will continue to thrive just like Window OS on your laptop or desktop.
too bad for Apple, they never stay in the lead.

My pov as an marketer,
You cant pull something out of the market when its doing so well at this time or later. Maybe when android becomes crap then yes.
Currently android OS is dominating the global market share. Do you really think they would stop jewing money when they can still jew more? Thats completely suicidal. Android came a long way since it was launched and surpassing iOS or came to being recognized by everyone around the globe.
You know we're in 2013 and everything in business is about money money money, Android OS is definitely one of their major income.
Android will die, but not so soon. maybe a few more years till consumers are tired of it, or when something better takes over the market. How google will keep updating android is unknown, whether android 5.0 will come or not remains unknown, but one thing im sure of is that android wont die that early.

LitoNi said:
My pov as an marketer,
You cant pull something out of the market when its doing so well at this time or later. Maybe when android becomes crap then yes.
Currently android OS is dominating the global market share. Do you really think they would stop jewing money when they can still jew more? Thats completely suicidal. Android came a long way since it was launched and surpassing iOS or came to being recognized by everyone around the globe.
You know we're in 2013 and everything in business is about money money money, Android OS is definitely one of their major income.
Android will die, but not so soon. maybe a few more years till consumers are tired of it, or when something better takes over the market. How google will keep updating android is unknown, whether android 5.0 will come or not remains unknown, but one thing im sure of is that android wont die that early.
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Click to collapse
Jewing?? Really?
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Gez77 said:
nosebleed
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what does that mean

are you boring?

sahinz said:
are you boring?
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Click to collapse
thanks