JustZisGuy's blog

I just got in the Firefox Fatheads I ordered from the Mozilla store. This is one HUGE set of wall stickers! I mean really flipping *HUGE*. And it is actually larger than I thought it would be. (Notice the Firefox CD I included in the shot for size reference)

These are sooo cool.

For those that don't know, Fatheads are large wall stickers, usually of sports players, race cars, and such.  They are printed on durable vinyl and are fade resistant. They use a special low-tack adhesive that will not damage walls and will not pull off paint, unless the paint is already peeling, and can also be used on wallpaper (But are they not intended for rough textured walls). Fatheads can be removed and re-used. (I'd keep the backing around for moving/removing to keep dirt off of the adhesive).

I count 7 separate Firefox stickers on this sheet.  They can all be pulled off and applied separately. 

If you looked at the price on the Mozilla store you might be suffering from a bit of sticker shock (get it, sticker?)  But apparently these kinds of things can easily sell for more than $100. But for something of this size at such high resolution and quality it is well worth it, especially if you plan to put it up where many people can see it.

The only thing I forgot was to ask our secretary if it would be OK to put this kind of thing up on the wall at the office....

OK, so floppy disks are obsolete. These days USB flash drives can be used even on 95, NT 4, and DOS, but there is nothing quite like having software physically at your fingertips. To that end I printed up some 3.5" floppy disk labels and created a setup self extractor using Winzip to span the install file across the disks.

It took only 5 1.44 meg floppy disks! Compared to some software that I have had to install from dozens of floppy disks, Firefox is downright tiny. I probably could have gotten it down to 4 disks if I had formatted them using DMF (1.6 megs).

Awesome,  but what if I encounter a PC/AT with only a 5.25" 1.2 meg drive?

Well, for some sick reason I actually have a 5.25" 1.2 meg drive in my machine so I used the same self extracting setup on these disks. These disks now actually have Firefox on them!

Could I get any more sick?

Sadly my 8" drive is busted. But I did once have it hooked to a PC. (To a PC it looks and works just like a 5.25" 1.2 meg floppy drive). Weighs more than 1000 USB flash drives I think. The system the drive was from ran Microsoft XENIX! So I felt a label that looked like it was written with a typewriter was more appropriate.

And for my next trick, perhaps I should try paper tape.

Hey, I was just noticing that Mozilla updated their international store and that they have a few different items!

http://intlstore.mozilla.org/index.php?cPath=3

They have a different track jacket, they have the Firefox sticker sets, and they have a Firefox umbrella!

I want me one of those umbrellas! Too bad I'm not international.

AOL or whoever runs Netscape.com these days released a "Netscape 9" browser based on Firefox 2. 

Did anyone besides me even notice? Is the Netscape brand name even meaningful to anyone these days?

I did kick it around a bit. Pretty good really, but after all it is Firefox just with a new theme an a few small things added.

It looks like they threw out most of what they did for Netscape 8 - it no longer has that built in IE-Tab like thing that required IE to display some sites. It is also now available again for Windows, Mac, and even Linux.

Anyone using it?  

In my previous blog entry I talked about the huge Firefox Fatheads wall sticker set I got from the Mozilla store. 

I got permission to put it up, and here it is:

As the the wary Microsoft drone walks down the hall they become aware of something lurking.... someone cues the music from "Jaws".

Behold Firefox! 

cues the music to "2001 a space odyssey"

Finally a close up.

Anyway, like I said previously, this is one flipping large wall sticker!

A few tips: Don't forget to wipe off the wall with a damp cloth (do not use soap - this is also in the instructions) I was very surprised how dusty the walls were. Placing it on a dust free wall helps ensure the sticker can be reused many times.

Check the wall for any bumps and flatten them if possible. Things like thumbtack holes can create a bump in the sticker if placed over one.

Because the Firefox sticker is round it is easy to get crooked. Before removing it from the square backing, line up where you want it and make small pencil marks on the wall at a few locations (like the protruding tips of the fur or flames) Use these to line up the sticker after you remove it. Using this method I managed to get it right the first time.

My co-workers think I'm a "riot"

So how much of a Firefox fanatic are YOU?

OK, this is waaaaay over due, but here they are: A boot screen and shutdown screens for Windows 9x/ME. 

The boot graphic looks really nice and the bar at the bottom cycles through red, orange, and yellow out from the center of the screen.

(resized thumbnail images)

Download the Bitmap files to put on your computer here: http://toastytech.com/good/FFBoot.zip

More info here:

http://toastytech.com/good/ffboot.html 

Firefox 2.0 actually runs nicely under 98 and ME (and even more or less runs under 95 with a slight tweak). It is kind of too bad that Firefox 3 isn't planned to run under 98/ME as it uses APIs only available in 2000/XP/Vista. Of course you have to draw the line somewhere so you don't wind up having to re-invent the wheel. Just think how many wheels you would have to re-invent for Firefox for MS-DOS for example! But then again I'm sure Microsoft would call Firefox itself a re-invented wheel as Windows kinda already has a web browser.

Still, if anybody were to "port" FF 3 back to 9x/ME even sans a few features, I would be grateful.

Firefox Everywhere!