Install and upgrade
I finally got around to getting the latest version of xchat and installing it. Xchat 2.4.4 fixes a problem with the version that comes with Mandrake 10.1: Dragging and dropping a file into a query (message) window once again results in a DCC send offer to the other party. Earlier versions of xchat could do that, but the feature went missing for a while.
I also downloaded and installed Firefox. To my surprise, the install worked (though I did not try to install it as root). There is more than a little indication that Firefox and Mandrake 10.1 don't get along without some extra work, so the surprise was that things seemed to work. It still has that weird Netscape feel to it, for me. Why are preferences under Edit rather than somewhere more sensible? And why aren't all the preferences in one place? Some are under Edit, some are under Tools. And some you have to know what about:menu-title incantation to get to or you simply will never find them.
A bit of exploring (and some suggestions via IRC from masem) and I added a number of things to my install of Firefox. Javascript is now finely controlled, Flash is generally suppressed unless I want it active, image control is somewhat Opera-like, and referrer controls... well, I'm not sure that's working right or not.
So far, Firefox feels rather kludgey to me. It's better than IE (but then what isn't?) and doesn't seem to be as lumbering as full-blown Mozilla or quite as.. lacking?.. as Galeon or Konquerer. But I find, so far, that Opera has a more solid feel to it. I suppose part of it is that I've been using Opera for years and expect things to be in certain places, and Firefox has them elsewhere, if it has them. The expandability with the various extensions can be taken two ways. One way is that it's a nice basic system and can be customized with only what one desires. The other is that the thing is barely there and needs extensive add-ons to bring it up to being more than a toy. The first may be the intent, but the second is how it feels so far.
I also, so help me, downloaded and installed Flash. I got that working with Opera and Firefox. With Opera, I could check a menu and see it was there and then go find an example to run. With Firefox I had to wander across a Flash-based advert while hunting for a plug-in menu to discover it had really installed - and then find the extension for suppressing Flash.
Music: Lazin' in the Shade of the Information Superhighway - The Foreman