The Fastest Linux Distributions For Web Browsing - Firefox + Chrome Benchmarks On Eight Distros

[andyprough]

I had scrolling issues with Firefox on Manjaro XFCE until I created an xorg.conf and enabled vsync with my RX 580. In that instance it was just an XFCE issue because Plasma didn't have Firefox scrolling issues on the same install regardless of an xorg.conf.

I see, I've been sticking with Mate for awhile now, and KDE before that. Am I right that XFCE development is sort of stalled? I think that was the last DE where I had significant Firefox problems, but it's been quite a few years since I tried XFCE. I used to run an FSF-approved Arch spin called Parabola, but everything seemed to work fine with that.

[skeevy420]

Firefox working quite beautifully on Debian and openSUSE for me right now. Haven't had scrolling problems for probably 7-8 years. Just running default Firefox on both. Debian is ESR version. Have you tried ESR? Seems quite good.

I had scrolling issues with Firefox on Manjaro XFCE until I created an xorg.conf and enabled vsync with my RX 580. In that instance it was just an XFCE issue because Plasma didn't have Firefox scrolling issues on the same install regardless of an xorg.conf.

[andyprough]

After having used Chrome for ~8 years, I thought now would be a good time to switch back to Firefox. However, Firefox on Linux scrolls terribly (Arch Linux). I get there are fixes for smooth scrolling, but why in 2019 doesn't Firefox on Linux have good defaults that don't require tweaking.

Firefox working quite beautifully on Debian and openSUSE for me right now. Haven't had scrolling problems for probably 7-8 years. Just running default Firefox on both. Debian is ESR version. Have you tried ESR? Seems quite good.

[starshipeleven]

Which, of course, triggers btrfs's second -still unfixed- flaw. The balance command will cause corruption.

Sorry what?

[Compartmentalisation]

Classic Linux community. Even when unrelated, someone will still complain about something they don't use and likely don't develop for.

Anyway, the difference between Debian Buster and Ubuntu seems interesting. Because Buster and Ubuntu 18.10 shouldn't be that different, right? Just slightly more recent.

SyXbiT I am not sure what the greatest difficulty for Firefox is wrt Linux. Maybe they forgot about it, or maybe there is too much politics needed to get things like hardware acceleration for Linux enabled by default. And no way to get hardware accelerated video decoding either..

[SyXbiT]

After having used Chrome for ~8 years, I thought now would be a good time to switch back to Firefox. However, Firefox on Linux scrolls terribly (Arch Linux). I get there are fixes for smooth scrolling, but why in 2019 doesn't Firefox on Linux have good defaults that don't require tweaking.

[andyprough]

Which, of course, triggers btrfs's second -still unfixed- flaw. The balance command will cause corruption.

EDIT: Besides, I always felt like it should balance automatically. It should be incorporated straight into the filesystem driver. Period.

Anytime you move millions of data blocks around, the snapshots that previously pointed at those blocks run the risk of corruption. A good backup strategy (not just snapshots) would be in order prior to playing around with btrfs balance.

EDIT: And I don't think you would want btrfs balance running automatically. Or at least I wouldn't. I'd want to be running very close control over the system if I decided to balance.

[duby229]

Well, if you are going to use btrfs, it's usually desirable that you know HOW to use btrfs. I mean, avoiding that problem is pretty much something you would learn about on your first install. And it's not a flaw - it's got to do with how you allocate space and set up snapshots and so forth. btrfs will be more than happy to make and keep endless snapshots taking up all your space if that's what you tell it to do.

Which, of course, triggers btrfs's second -still unfixed- flaw. The balance command will cause corruption.

EDIT: Besides, I always felt like it should balance automatically. It should be incorporated straight into the filesystem driver. Period.

[andyprough]

That is, just until you start wondering why you're getting out of free space errors when you can plainly see hundreds of gigs being unused...... And that's it's first and still unfixed flaw....

Well, if you are going to use btrfs, it's usually desirable that you know HOW to use btrfs. I mean, avoiding that problem is pretty much something you would learn about on your first install. And it's not a flaw - it's got to do with how you allocate space and set up snapshots and so forth. btrfs will be more than happy to make and keep endless snapshots taking up all your space if that's what you tell it to do.

[duby229]

Depends on how important snapshots and other btrfs features are to your customers. SUSE has been promoting btrfs for years now with a fair degree of success.

That is, just until you start wondering why you're getting out of free space errors when you can plainly see hundreds of gigs being unused...... And that's it's first and still unfixed flaw....