Firefox OS for Raspberry Pi

16th of August 2012 by liz

Oleg Romashin has got a long way already with a port of the open-platform OS to the Raspberry Pi. Firefox OS is scheduled to release some time in 2013; we’re excited to see it’ll be an option for the Raspberry Pi, and it’s fascinating watching work like this progress. In the video below you’ll see Gecko runtime doing its thing, along with some WebGL animations at 60fps.

Oleg’s a Principal Engineer at Nokia. He’s made a download of the work-in-progress port to Raspberry Pi available (this is a direct download link to the tarball; there isn’t currently any other content on his site) if you want to join in the fun.

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47 comments

James on
August 16, 2012 at 9:57 am said:

Sweet!

Comment ↓
Stuart on
August 16, 2012 at 11:18 am said:

I might be missing something, but it just looks like Linux running the Firefox browser full screen? Or is there something more to the Firefox OS?

Comment ↓
- more on
  August 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm said:
  
  it is still “the work-in-progress port”, but more info for Firefox OS (Boot 2 Gecko) u can find there:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS
  http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/b2g/
  
  Comment ↓
Frans Schreuder on
August 16, 2012 at 12:06 pm said:

Wow, something I want to try too! Any instructions on how to install the tar.gz?

Comment ↓
- Pieter van der Eems on
  August 16, 2012 at 2:13 pm said:
  
  Disclaimer: I’ve downloaded the tar.gz file but haven’t got my raspberrypi handy so haven’t tried any of this yet
  
  Install raspbian (or any other distro that you like).
  Download the tar.gz file
  extract it (tar -xzf )
  cd b2g
  ./b2g
  
  Just guessing here
  
  Comment ↓
  - raha00007 on
    August 19, 2012 at 10:18 am said:
    
    I dont really believe that but I will try
    
    Comment ↓
Elliot on
August 16, 2012 at 12:51 pm said:

This could be a real monstrosity if it’s as buggy as the browser.

Comment ↓
- liz on
  August 16, 2012 at 1:18 pm said:
  
  The browser only got that way after years of parallel development by a bajillion different people; back in the old days, when you only ran a couple of extensions and when the software was still quite young, it was very different. I miss the old days.
  
  Comment ↓
- u have right but on
  August 16, 2012 at 1:21 pm said:
  
  there is no bug free software, some mobile companies/telecoms want to sell phones with Firefox OS in 2013 so if they decided to do it i assumed that they got more info about this OS and it is quite good (more or less buggy like other mobile OSes) to sell phones with it
  
  RPi is new product, it is nice that more people wants to port their software on it, all software will have bugs, and first RPi users are somekind bug hunters, i hope that in the future more of us could fix those bugs ourselves – Philip from earlier post could be one of them
  
  Comment ↓
- Pieter van der Eems on
  August 16, 2012 at 2:18 pm said:
  
  I’ve been using Firefox on Linux (ubuntu/fedora) and on android a lot lately and in my experience it crashes less then either chrome or (on android) the default android browser.
  
  The only thing that will let it crash on my machines is the firebug addon in combination with some specific javascript frameworks like fermata.
  
  I actualy prefer it nowadays on both my main PC’s (linux) and phone.
  
  Comment ↓
Georgeeee on
August 16, 2012 at 1:24 pm said:

How can i install the tar.gz?

Comment ↓
Kamil on
August 16, 2012 at 2:52 pm said:

Attempting load of libEGL.so
Failed to create EGL config!
Segmentation fault

Comment ↓
- raha0007 on
  August 19, 2012 at 11:40 am said:
  
  Same on the old debian image
  
  Comment ↓
Me on
August 16, 2012 at 3:04 pm said:

Sharing it as torrent.
Please keep seeding to keep it alive.

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7537535

Greets.

Comment ↓
Sander on
August 16, 2012 at 4:31 pm said:

Liz, it’s fascinating indeed!

Comment ↓
Sander on
August 16, 2012 at 4:33 pm said:

I get error below, although the file does exist. Running on Raspbian armhf.

Tips?

pi@raspberrypi ~/kul/b2g $ ./b2g
XPCOMGlueLoad error for file /home/pi/kul/b2g/libxpcom.so:
/home/pi/kul/b2g/libxpcom.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Couldn’t load XPCOM.
pi@raspberrypi ~/kul/b2g $

pi@raspberrypi ~/kul/b2g $ file /home/pi/kul/b2g/libxpcom.so
/home/pi/kul/b2g/libxpcom.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, ARM, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, BuildID[sha1]=0xb91ddee75d90d37d6b3c8d7dd762b3bdd2dab3b5, not stripped
pi@raspberrypi ~/kul/b2g $

Comment ↓
- some info on
  August 16, 2012 at 6:32 pm said:
  
  for testers, from info on liliputing:
  “If you want to take Firefox OS for a spin on a Raspberry Pi, you can download the latest build with “rasp_pi” in the name from Romashin’s website. Just note that this build is based on Debian Squeezy Linux without an X11 Window system.”
  http://liliputing.com/2012/08/early-build-of-firefox-os-ported-to-the-raspberry-pi.html
  
  try to use Debian Squeezy or Puppy (based on Squeezy)
  i myself waiting for my RPi, currently using quemu (maybe will try to install this port on my virtual machine) so can’t help now, but i’ve sent email to Oleg, maybe he (i hope) post some info here
  
  or at least we will find some info via google when more people will try to check this port on RPi
  
  Comment ↓
- Edy on
  August 16, 2012 at 7:03 pm said:
  
  I’m getting the same error
  
  Comment ↓
endera on
August 16, 2012 at 8:51 pm said:

How can i install the tar.gz?

Comment ↓
- Sander on
  August 17, 2012 at 11:56 am said:
  
  See Howto here: http://eva-quirinius.blogspot.nl/2012/08/installing-firefoxos-on-raspi.html
  
  Comment ↓
  - raha0007 on
    August 19, 2012 at 11:43 am said:
    
    It doesnt work with this guide and the old debian squeeze image from april, I tried it on another SD card.
    I get this:
    pi@raspberrypi:~$ ls
    b2g b2g-17.0a1.en-US.linux-gnueabi-arm_rasp_pi_linuxgl.tar.gz Desktop
    pi@raspberrypi:~$ cd b2g
    pi@raspberrypi:~/b2g$ ldd b2g
    libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x4034e000)
    libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x400a2000)
    libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x400d2000)
    libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x401cb000)
    libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0×40087000)
    libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x4036e000)
    /lib/ld-linux.so.3 (0×40052000)
    pi@raspberrypi:~/b2g$ ./b2g -profile profile
    LinuxGL:/build/mozdev/xulrunner/mozilla-central/widget/linuxgl/Framebuffer.cpp:GetSize :155: Error opening framebuffer device
    Use usedv mouse: fd:16
    Honk:/build/mozdev/xulrunner/mozilla-central/widget/linuxgl/nsWindow.cpp:InitPlatform :168: eglW:0x465b5900, sz[0,0], win:0x465b5900
    
    Opened socket on 9999
    Attempting load of libEGL.so
    Failed to create EGL config!
    Segmentation fault
    pi@raspberrypi:~/b2g$
    
    Comment ↓
Neel on
August 16, 2012 at 9:20 pm said:

Hi guys does this mean that flash would work with this Firefox browser

Comment ↓
- no Flash on
  August 17, 2012 at 9:18 am said:
  
  no Flash i’m afraid (it is Adobe stuff, iOS doesen’t have and Android will be abandoned soon), i’m not the developer but FirefoxOS is not the browser (it have some similarity with ChromeOS i think) it only uses Gecko layout engine (the heart of Firefox browser and forks) to show everything on the screen (GUI) using open Internet standards like: HTML5, Javascript and CSS – developers are doing nice apps and games with those three technologies, u can try some there:
  http://www.netmagazine.com/features/top-20-html5-games
  http://dougx.net/plunder/plunder.html
  
  Comment ↓
EdwinJ85 on
August 16, 2012 at 10:25 pm said:

Wow, the UTAH teapot! I haven’t seen that in a while.

Comment ↓
- tbar on
  August 17, 2012 at 6:41 am said:
  
  Yeah! Brings back memories
  
  Comment ↓
Sander on
August 17, 2012 at 7:47 am said:

OK, about the “Couldn’t load XPCOM.” error message:

I only get that error on the Raspbian image, not on the older asbradbury image. So … possibly the b2g is not suited for Raspbian?

Alas I only have very remotely ssh-only access to the asbradbury image, so I have not yet gotten a beautiful b2g graphical output.

TBC

Comment ↓
- Sander on
  August 17, 2012 at 7:50 am said:
  
  FWIW: / PS:
  
  “ldd b2g” on the older asb image leads to useful output, whereas on the Raspbian I get
  
  pi@raspberrypi ~/kul/b2g $ ldd b2g
  not a dynamic executable
  pi@raspberrypi ~/kul/b2g $
  
  … so … is that a proof of my earlier hypothesis?
  
  Comment ↓
- Sander on
  August 17, 2012 at 8:37 am said:
  
  PS2:
  
  On asb’s Wheezy image, I can sort-of start b2g: it gives a light blue window, only partly visible (a large part is off screen, ignoring my overscan settings), and the visible part says “Try Again”. So probably some error message. Image is here: http://s7.postimage.org/6wjr3z8qj/IMG_20120817_093008.jpg
  
  b2g does not react to my mouse.
  
  Furthermore: you cannot use b2g via a “ssh -X” session; b2g’s output will always appear on the physical screen.
  
  Comment ↓
  - Philipp on
    August 17, 2012 at 1:28 pm said:
    
    “Furthermore: you cannot use b2g via a “ssh -X” session; b2g’s output will always appear on the physical screen.”
    
    That’s intended. This build does not use an X Server, but renders into EGL framebuffers directly.
    
    Regarding your mouse: try
    export MOZ_MOUSE_DEV=/dev/input/xzy
    before starting Firefox OS (you can “cat /dev/input/xzy” and move the mouse; if you get some output, it’s the right device)
    
    Comment ↓
    - Sander on
      August 17, 2012 at 1:57 pm said:
      
      Thank you. First I need to fix the off screen of FirefoxOS. Damn CRT …
      
      Comment ↓
      - Philipp on
        August 17, 2012 at 2:04 pm said:
        
        it actually draws from (0,0) to whatever fbset returns as vxres and vyres. What returns fbset on your system?
- Sander on
  August 17, 2012 at 8:56 am said:
  
  OK, I have a lift off! See http://s9.postimage.org/z2pdbyfkf/IMG_20120817_095009.jpg
  
  Still off screen, but that must be caused by my old CRT.
  
  The trick was the also download, unpack and use the ‘profile’ provided by Oleg.
  
  Comment ↓
  - hope that help too on
    August 17, 2012 at 9:05 am said:
    
    Oleg have posted some info how to run his port on his youtube channel:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f_Y7HoTFLQ&feature=plcp
    
    maybe new versions of port will be distributed as SD card image, it is one man project so far so we have to be patient, i wish to have skills to help in porting but i can’t ;(
    
    i hope that in 2013 we will be able to run FirefoxOS on RPi, i’ve bought some SD cards and waiting for all OSes which appears on RPi, plenty is not plague
    
    Comment ↓
great on
August 17, 2012 at 8:14 am said:

I was using Firefox, but then I switched to Chrome, and then to Firefox again. I thought you should know.

Comment ↓
Sander on
August 17, 2012 at 9:10 am said:

I’ve written a Howto on http://eva-quirinius.blogspot.nl/2012/08/installing-firefoxos-on-raspi.html

Comment ↓
ender on
August 17, 2012 at 12:46 pm said:

*.img ???

Comment ↓
- ender on
  August 17, 2012 at 1:18 pm said:
  
  can you make .iso image .?
  
  Comment ↓
- Philipp on
  August 17, 2012 at 7:11 pm said:
  
  While a lot of work remains to be done, I’m confident that we can provide some SD card images rather soon. For now, I have posted some pictures at https://www.philipp-wagner.com/blog/2012/08/firefox-os-boot2gecko-for-raspberry-pi/ (stay tuned for updates on the images)
  
  Comment ↓
  - Sander on
    August 18, 2012 at 6:24 am said:
    
    Hi Philipp,
    
    You have an old CRT too, just like me. Which parameters should I tune to get the screen “on screen”, instead of partly off-screen like I have it now? See http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o3cf6Pg1XZo/UC37hf9dY4I/AAAAAAAAHYI/S22eAHSOEK8/s1600/IMG_20120817_095009-789393.jpg
    
    Comment ↓
    - Sander on
      August 18, 2012 at 6:28 am said:
      
      PS: here’s the fbset you requested:
      
      pi@raspi-wheezy-armel ~ $ fbset
      
      mode “566×422″
      geometry 566 422 566 422 16
      timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      rgba 5/11,6/5,5/0,0/16
      endmode
      
      pi@raspi-wheezy-armel ~ $
      
      Comment ↓
      - Philipp on
        August 19, 2012 at 4:33 pm said:
        
        The problem is that the screen resolution is currently hardcoded to be 800×600, and since your screen is smaller it’s cut off (and the framebuffer size is wrong, but that’s another story). I’ll look into that, there is not much else you can do right now.
      - Sander on
        August 19, 2012 at 7:34 pm said:
        
        @ Philipp:
        
        OK, that’s clear. But AFAIK you run b2g on a CRT too … how is that possible? Different version without hard-coding?
      - Philipp on
        August 20, 2012 at 3:57 pm said:
        
        @Sander: exactly, I adjusted the frame buffer size manually and fixed the screen size in b2g
  - prabu on
    December 18, 2012 at 11:48 am said:
    
    @philipp: exactly, I adjusted the frame buffer size manually and fixed the screen size in b2g
    
    Where do you fix the screensize in the mozilla source code (ie,which file) ?
    
    Comment ↓
reiuyi on
August 17, 2012 at 1:21 pm said:

Firefox on a machine with 256mb ram?

Blasphemy!

Comment ↓
roger on
August 21, 2012 at 2:09 pm said:

does it work with any usb hardware like video capture or even an itu t v 44+IPR=921600 v92 modem?

Comment ↓
Vitalicus on
December 13, 2012 at 4:53 pm said:

Please anybody !!!
A .iso for write from windows.I don’t have a linux installed

Comment ↓

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