Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Cannot open all sites in Firefox on Sabayon (Ubuntu) Linux

AKA the case of the missing access to the internet under Sabayon and Ubuntu Linux.

One of the first problems, if not THE first problem Sabayon Linux newbies will encounter is some weird problem accessing the internet, be it the Wobbly Wide Web (gotta LOVE that Beryl) or just trying to update packages using Kuroo.

The first thing you should do with a fresh OS install, OBVIOUSLY, is update it. But of course, with Sabayon and (I presume) other Ubuntu based distros, you may not be able to update your packages because of problems with IPv6 service running.

First of all, the Gnome browser is nice, but it doesn't always work with many of today's AJAX/whatever sites (like Gmail, sometimes) so you might want to get Firefox up and running.

The immediate fix for Firefox is to disable IPv6 by enabling network.dns.disableIPv6 A double-negative. In code, no less. Beautiful!

1.Type "about:config" in the address field.
2.Type "ipv6" in the "filter: field" that replaced the address field.
3 There should be only one entry remaining in the listing. If there is more than one, look for "network.dns.disableIPv6". The value of this entry should be "false". Double-click it. The value should now read "true".
4. Restart Firefox.

Enjoy the results until the internet collapses under the weight of its IPv4 success.

The above steps will apparently also speed up browsing with Firefox. Until, as I already pointed out is coming, the death of the internet.

Meanwhile, if you want to do anything else useful on your Linux installation that requires the internet, you'll probably want to disable IPv6 system-wide because it tends to prevent or slow down Los Intartubez.

This is a slightly more involved process and much depends on the flava o'nix yall's runnin' so for Sabayon users, have a look on Ye Olde Google

All y'all users of them othra Linices can check this out, yo.

No comments: