What can I say? I can be a complete idiot when I’m distracted. For the full story, listen to this clip [.mp3] [.ogg] from episode 88 of the Linux Outlaws podcast. As a side note, Linux Outlaws is a great podcast – it’s funny, informative, and opinionated (and if you’re new to Linux, episode 92 is a fantastic way to find out what all the fuss is about).
{ 0 comments }
I recently switched to Arch Linux and ran into a vexing problem – Bank of America’s SafePass authentication applet refused to load. The flash-based widget simply demanded that I update to the latest version of Flash, even though I was (of course) already using the latest version; the situation remained unchanged when I switched to GNU Gnash and Adobe’s beta Flash plugin.
It turns out that the solution is much simpler. For whatever reason, Arch Linux’s Firefox 3 packages still identify themselves to websites using the code name Gran Paradiso. Since the BoA site doesn’t recognize Gran Paradiso as a supported browser, it refuses to proceed any further. The solution is simple: type “about:config” into Firefox’s address bar, filter for “user”, and change the “general.useragent.extra.firefox” string to “Firefox/” (leaving the version number intact). Works like a charm!
Edit: Apparently Firefox packages in most Linux distros ship without the branding, so they continue to identify themselves with cryptic code names long after they’re released; installing a branding package (probably something like firefox-branding) fixes this problem more elegantly.
{ 1 comment }