'They create a dedicated desktop icon for your favorite web-based
application ��� a simplified browser that opens to that single URL. Yet
while Linux usually offers the same functionality as other operating
systems, "Peppermint OS's Ice and its successor Kumo are the only free
software versions of Site-Specific Browsers available on Linux,"
according to Linux magazine.
"Fortunately for those who want this functionality, Peppermint OS is a
Debian derivative, and both can be installed on Debian and most other
derivatives."
Since SSBs first appeared in 2005, they have been available on both
Windows and macOS. On Linux, however, the availability has come and
gone. On Linux, Firefox once had an SSB mode, but it was discontinued
in 2020 on the grounds that it had multiple bugs that were
time-consuming to fix and there was "little to no perceived user
benefit to the feature." Similarly, Chromium once had a basic SSB menu
item, Create Application Shortcut, which no longer appears in recent
versions. As for GNOME Web's (Epiphany's) Install Site as Web
Application, while it still appears in the menu, it is no longer
functional. Today, Linux users who want to try SSBs have no choices
except Ice or Kumo.
Neither Ice or Kumo appears in any repository except Peppermint OS's.
But because Peppermint OS installs packages from Debian 12
("bookworm"), either can be installed to Debian or a derivative... To
install successfully, at least one of Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, or
Vivaldi also must be installed... Because both Ice and Kumo are
written in Python, they can be run on any desktop.
The article concludes that Site-Specific Browsers might make more
sense "on a network or in a business where their isolation provides
another layer of security. Or perhaps the time for SSBs is past and
there's a reason browsers have tried to implement them, and then
discarded them."'
-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/12/30/0527205
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ
Mobile +64 22 190 2375
https://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
_______________________________________________
wlug mailing list -- wlug@list.waikato.ac.nz | To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave@list.waikato.ac.nz
Unsubscribe: https://list.waikato.ac.nz/postorius/lists/wlug.list.waikato.ac.nz