Linux Tips • Page 42 of 115 • Getting you up to speed!

How To: Use An Older Version Of A Google Chrome Extension

Today we’ll cover a not-so-serious topic about how to use an older version of a Google Chrome extension. There’s a subset of my readers who may eventually want to know this information. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but someday you may need this information.

Fortunately, that information will be right here in an article about how you go about using an older version of a Chrome extension. This is one of those things you don’t need – until you need it. It’s kinda like how I answer kids who ask if I have any good life advice; “But a plunger before you need a plunger.” It’s pretty solid advice.

The gist of the story is that I live in a very remote area. I also live where weather events are (and this is not in jest) sometimes fatal. If you’re unprepared for the cold, it can kill you. Of course, it’s unseasonably warm right now – but that doesn’t change the point.

So, I take the weather a bit seriously. One of the tools I use for cursory weather examination is a browser extension called “Forecastfox.” The extension relies on AccuWeather and folks have determined that it’s an API change that broke the extension. Also, to make it a bit more interesting, the author of the extension is in Ukraine.

It could be a while before it is fixed and operating properly. Fortunately, and for whatever reason, the previous version was known to still work. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a hit-and-miss, but it’s sometimes possible to get an older version of a Chrome extension. It’s then easy enough to install it, which is what this article is all about.

Use An Older Version Of A Google Chrome Extension:

When you find a Google Chrome extension (and this applies to Chromium, Opera, Brave, Edge, and all the other Chromium-based browsers out there) that doesn’t work anymore, you have some options. You can try a previous version, an older version, to see if that still works as expected.

Unless it’s a security extension, or unless the extension had a security-related flaw, it’s reasonable to try an older version of the extension to see if it works. In my case, I did a bit of research before choosing this route – and I’d advise you to do the same. Make sure the update was just bug fixes and feature additions and that you’re not reverting to an extension with known security issues.

Once you’ve looked around and determined that using an older version of the extension is a good idea, you can get to work on using an older extension version. You’ll want your browser open for this. In this instance, we’ll be using Chrome.

Your first real step is to click the three-dot menu in the upper right. Then, open “More Tools” and click on “Extensions”. In the upper right, enable “Developer mode”. It looks like this:

Enable developer mode in Google Chrome. — Have you ever wondered what this switch was for?

With that enabled, your next step is to find and download an older version of the extension. Be sure to remove the existing version before going any further. Additionally, leave that extension page open because you’re going to need it again.

Now to find an older version of your extension. Start by searching here:

https://www.crx4chrome.com/

That site has a whole lot of extension versions backed up. Odds are very good that you’ll find an older version of your extension there. If you don’t find one, you can try going to the extension’s home page or checking code repositories like GitHub. For example, if it’s on GitHub, just look to the right sidebar to find the releases link and look in there.

Once you have that file (it should be a string of letters and numbers that end in .crx) just drag it to your Google extension page. There’s nothing fancy, just left-click on the .crx file and drag it to Chrome’s open extensions page.

That’s it. It’s that simple.

As you manually loaded the extension you shouldn’t need to worry about it updating automatically. It shouldn’t automatically update until you’ve installed the current version from the store again. So, you’re good to wait for a version or two with your working extension. Then, once you’ve determined the current version works, just remove the extension you manually added and install the version from the store.

See? You’re done!

For Our Firefox-Using Friends:

If you use Firefox add-ons, I did look up how to do the same thing with Firefox. It’s much easier to do this with Firefox. I don’t use Firefox all that often anymore, but I figured I’d learn how to load an older add-on and share that information with you.

If you’re a Firefox user, you’ve got it easier – mostly…

Your first step is to click the three-line menu, where you’ll select “Add-ons and themes”. Open up the add-on’s settings so that you can remove the extension. After you remove the add-on, leave that tab open because you’re going to need it again.

Once you have the add-on removed, find the add-on’s home page on the Mozilla Add-On site. Look on the left and scroll down. You’re looking for “More information” which should have a “See all versions” link. Click on that and download an earlier version. It’d look something like this:

click that link to download older versions of firefox add-ons — It’s not too hard to find. Click it. You’re almost all the way there!

On the next page, scroll down to find the add-on’s older version, the version you believe will still work. It’s a bit uninformative, but just click the older version’s download link on the right and it will download it and ask if you want to install it. Of course, you’ll pick yes to install it.

Now, go back to the tab that you were using to show your add-ons. Find the extension you just added and open up its properties (it’s ‘Manage’ under the three horizontal dot menu). Scroll down to find “Allow automatic updates”. Click on “Off” to disable automatic updates so that it doesn’t automatically update your add-on to the newest version.

When you are reasonably sure that the current version of the add-on will work with your system, you can just enable automatic updates. That should do the trick but will take time as it’ll just update when it next checks. You can simply remove the add-on and add the current one after that, should you be in any sort of hurry.

And, for you Firefox users, that’s it! That’s all you should have to do if you want to use an older version of a Firefox add-on. It’s not too taxing, now is it?

Closure:

Alright, so it’s another long article – and another one that doesn’t require an open terminal. This time around, we’ve talked about how to use an older version of a Google Chrome extension. I also covered how to do so with Firefox. Ordinarily, I’d have considered making these two separate articles, but I figured you could handle another long piece.

Thanks for reading! If you want to help, or if the site has helped you, you can donate, register to help, write an article, or buy inexpensive hosting to start your site. If you scroll down, you can sign up for the newsletter, vote for the article, and comment.

The “Linux” or “GNU/Linux” Debate

Today, just for fun, we’re going to touch on the “Linux” or “GNU/Linux” debate. It sounds like a fun subject to cover and who knows where it will lead us. It also sounds like something the Linux-Tips readers might enjoy hashing out in a forum somewhere. So, for the “Linux” or “GNU/Linux Debate, read on!

This article will have a couple of main points. Let’s start with the first…

See, this seemed like a fine question to ask ChatGPT. This is a subject I figured the AI would do well with – and I think they did. So, a giant portion of this article will have been written by AI and then I’ll follow up with my thoughts on the “Linux” or “GNU/Linux” debate.

Most of my readers will already be familiar with this. They’ll have seen people refer to it (a whole distro, multiple distros, the whole subject matter) as “Linux” and have seen others refer to the various distros as “GNU/Linux”. If not, the AI will do a wonderful job explaining the difference to you. So, we don’t need to cover that in the intro! Let’s let the AI take care of that.

I’ve seen people get into pretty heated arguments over this, more so with the GNU/Linux folks, but we can be civil about it all. There’s no need to get upset and the section about my point of view may help with some of that.

Ready? Well then, let’s discuss…

The “Linux” or “GNU/Linux” Debate:

As mentioned in the introduction, I decided to let the chatGPT take a whack at this. However, I didn’t ask what you might have expected me to ask. Instead, I asked a bit of a loaded and biased question. Here’s the question that I asked chatGPT:

With approximately six hundred words, explain the merits of it calling Linux “GNU/Linux” instead of just calling it “Linux”.

So, right off the bat, you can see the question isn’t ‘which is correct’ or ‘which is more valid’. It’s a question asking the AI to explain the reasons why one might favor calling the whole thing “GNU/Linux”.

And, well, here’s what the AI responded with:

______

Linux, the open-source operating system that powers a significant portion of the world’s computing infrastructure, is often referred to simply as “Linux.” However, there is a growing movement within the open-source community to refer to the system as “GNU/Linux,” in recognition of the crucial role played by the GNU project in the development of the operating system. In this essay, we will explore the merits of calling Linux “GNU/Linux” instead of just calling it “Linux.”

First and foremost, calling Linux “GNU/Linux” acknowledges the contributions of the GNU project to the development of the operating system. The GNU project, which was founded in 1983 by Richard Stallman, set out to create a complete free and open-source software operating system. While the GNU project made significant progress towards this goal, it was not until the Linux kernel was developed in 1991 by Linus Torvalds that a complete operating system was created. However, the Linux kernel alone is not enough to create a functional operating system. It was the combination of the Linux kernel and the GNU system tools and libraries that created the operating system we know as Linux today. By calling it “GNU/Linux,” we recognize the contributions of the GNU project to the development of the operating system.

Secondly, calling Linux “GNU/Linux” highlights the importance of free and open-source software in the development of the operating system. The GNU project was founded on the principle of creating a completely free and open-source software operating system. The Linux kernel is also released under an open-source license, which allows anyone to view, modify and distribute the code. By calling it “GNU/Linux,” we emphasize the importance of free and open-source software in the development of the operating system.

Thirdly, calling Linux “GNU/Linux” helps to distinguish it from other operating systems that use the Linux kernel but are not part of the GNU project. For example, Android, which is widely used on mobile devices, uses the Linux kernel but is not part of the GNU project. By calling it “GNU/Linux,” we can differentiate between the Linux-based operating systems that are part of the GNU project and those that are not.

Fourthly, calling Linux “GNU/Linux” encourages the use of free and open-source software in general. The GNU project and the Linux kernel are both released under open-source licenses, which means that anyone can view, modify and distribute the code. By calling it “GNU/Linux,” we draw attention to the importance of free and open-source software in the development of the operating system and encourage the use of open-source software more broadly.

Finally, calling Linux “GNU/Linux” helps to promote awareness of the history and development of the operating system. The development of Linux and the GNU project is a fascinating story that spans several decades and involves the contributions of thousands of people. By calling it “GNU/Linux,” we acknowledge the history and development of the operating system and promote awareness of the role played by the GNU project in its creation.

In conclusion, there are several merits to calling Linux “GNU/Linux” instead of just calling it “Linux.” Doing so acknowledges the contributions of the GNU project to the development of the operating system, highlights the importance of free and open-source software, distinguishes it from other Linux-based operating systems, encourages the use of free and open-source software more broadly, and promotes awareness of the history and development of the operating system. While it may seem like a minor change, calling Linux “GNU/Linux” can have a significant impact in promoting the values of free and open-source software and recognizing the contributions of the many individuals and organizations that have helped to create the operating system we know and use today.

______

As you can see, the AI answered the question quite well. It does use some loaded language, like “a growing movement”, that’s not supported by any evidence that I’m aware of – it may be growing or it may not be. Otherwise, it does fairly well at explaining the merits of calling it “GNU/Linux” well enough.

If that persuades you to do so, so be it. If it changes nothing, so be it. You can call it just plain Linux if you want – and I do. I do… This brings us to the second segment of this article!

“Linux” or “GNU/Linux” My Personal Views:

From a personal point of view, and being the author of this site, I simply refer to it as “Linux”. It is not that I do not respect or know about the GNU aspect, it’s that I don’t think I need to type it out repeatedly.

Let’s say you were an avid member of a collectible car forum. Let’s also say that, generally speaking, the forum talks about just one make and model car. For the sake of argument, let’s also just say that the car in question is a Volvo 245.

Still with me?

That’s just like when speaking about the 245 you wouldn’t need to keep typing Volvo. You could even use slang words – such as lovingly calling your 245 a ‘Brick’. But, the main point is that you’d not need to keep calling it a Volvo 245 – because everyone expected to read what you wrote is expected to know that you’re talking about a Volvo.

That’s probably a poor analogy, as GNU isn’t the maker of Linux, but you hopefully get the idea – the idea being that specificity is not required when speaking to your peers about a subject with which those peers are already familiar. If I’m speaking to mathematicians, I don’t have to explain Euler’s number, I simply need to refer to it and they’ll understand what I mean.

So, when a new person reads “Linux”, they’re not expected to know that it’s Linux with GNU components – they’re expected to learn that in context. Anyone advanced in the subject is likely to already be aware of the GNU additions and won’t need to be told over and over again.

I know and very much appreciate the contributions made by GNU. I am not lessening their contributions. Nor am I not diminishing their contributions. I just expect you to already know about their contributions or to learn that along the way. I don’t think that’s too much to expect from my readers.

By the way, there are at least a few distros without GNU. A fairly new one would be Chimera Linux – from some searching, whose tools appear to be based on BSD. There’s also HURD, which is an operating system from the GNU folks that contains no Linux. Given their rarity, I’d probably mention them specifically, pointing out that they stray from the norm.

And that’s what it is – it’s the ‘norm’. It’s normal (for me) to just call it Linux. So, that’s what I do. I know there’s a lot of GNU in there. I use GNU tools quite regularly, and I’m grateful for them. When I omit the “GNU”, it’s not intended as a slight. If I omit the “GNU” it doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s in my operating system – it means I don’t need to specify.

So, what do I do when I encounter a ‘militant GNU/Linux verbiage user’ in the wild? I let them say their piece. I consider them a bit pedantic, but they’re correct in calling it “GNU/Linux”. That’s (generally) what is being discussed and GNU has a huge role in this while Linux is ‘merely’ the kernel.

What do you do?

Closure:

This seemed like a fun subject to cover. I knew I’d eventually remark on the “Linux” or “GNU/Linux” debate and this seemed like a fun way to do so. It’s something most folks can offer an opinion on. I don’t let it ruffle my feathers, but I’m very unlikely to change my ways. Odds are really good that I’ll keep using “Linux” and I’ll be specific when I mean just the kernel. So, there’s that, which is nice.

This might be the fourth article in a row that doesn’t require an open terminal. Imagine that… I wouldn’t expect the lull to last all that long. This was meant to be a quick and easy article but has taken me about twice the amount of time I normally allot for article writing.

News: Linux-Tips Has Reached It’s Two Year Anniversary!

The headline says it all, Linux-Tips has reached its two-year anniversary! Let me tell you, it has been a whole lot of work! Oh, man, has it been a lot of work. If you want another meta article, read on to appreciate the news with me!

A bit like Sisyphus, there’s always another article two write – and the boulder never reaches the top of the hill. As I finish one article, I’m already starting to consider what the next article will be.

But, I’ve had some help. Out of the 366 (this will make the total 367 published articles) posts, about 10 will have been from other people. I’m grateful for every single one of those. Man, am I grateful…

I suck at making images, or I’d make a celebratory image to show the joy of reaching this milestone. So, use your imagination and pretend I created such an image – and did a good job at it.

I’m aware that this is the 2nd meta article in a row.

I do not care. Nope. I care exactly none. I have none cares.

See the first article was:

Welcome to Our New Home!

The first article with real content came one day later (instead of the usual two days later) because it seemed like the thing to do at the time. It’s an article I’ve referenced a couple of times, but it never got much attention. I used it as the litmus test when checking to see if the site was being indexed in search engines. So, at least it served some purpose!

How To: Generate Sufficiently Complex Passwords In The Terminal

We’re older than two years, as there was an earlier site. That site still exists, but many articles will automatically redirect to here. That original site was the motivation to start this site. That site was the motivation to write a new article every other day. That site is:

Original Linux-Tips

Celebrating a Two-Year Anniversary!

Before starting this article, I did some checking…

The site’s articles total more than 270,000 words. That’s a whole lot of keyboard pounding! I regret nothing!

If you read 250 words per minute, it’d take more than 18 hours to read the entire site, from the first post to the last post! Good luck with that!

The site has shown millions of pages to hundreds of thousands of people. Only about 180 comments have been written, but that’s not bad for a site of this nature.

I don’t even want to guess how many hours I’ve invested in creating, maintaining, and curating this site. Depending on the article, we’re looking at about an hour as an average – counting research, writing, formatting, and editing. Things then get scheduled for automatic publication, ensuring I have a new article every other day.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The article gets shared and I deal with questions, suggestions, and general feedback. I pay attention to search engine optimization, doing my best to rank well in the search engines (I’ve given up on ranking at Bing). I also then pay attention to the ads, though that’s not all that tough. Most of you have blocked ads and not whitelisted my site. (Hint! Hint!)

Today, the site ranks near the top for a whole lot of search terms. Alas, they’re not the most popular search terms – but it’s nice to see the site in the top position for some words and phrases. It might seem like a small thing, but it’s big to me!

Man, if you only knew…

While the site looks nice and simple, there are a whole lot of changes between this and regular WordPress sites. (WordPress is the software that runs the site, which I use as a CMS more so than a blog.) For example, there are seventy-something plugins. Those all must be maintained.

Further, there are daily backups, a duplicated process with weekly updates being done in triplicate. Fortunately, those are processed more or less automatically, though I do sometimes need to test them to ensure they work. Those have to be monitored.

There’s always something that needs to be done and seldom is there enough time (and motivation). Still, I take a bit of pride in keeping my site secure – and keeping private any information you share with me. Heck, I probably pay even more attention to security because I am responsible for some of your private data.

Wow…

You know, I started this project not knowing where it would lead me. I don’t think I expected to make it two full years without missing a single publication date. I don’t think I expected to make it a full year. I also didn’t expect the results, and those results (including the feedback) are what seems to keep me motivated to keep this project going.

I complain about the cost, but it’s not too expensive. It’d be nice if it paid for its expenses, but that’s fine. I think you can be pretty sure that I’ll find a way to keep the site up and running, regardless of costs. Y’all chewed through a bunch of CDN bandwidth last month, but it looks like it’ll be cheaper this month.

Meh… It’s not too expensive, though this site consumes enough resources to warrant moving it to a VPS. Right now it’s still on shared hosting. I could probably find someone willing to sponsor the site (a hosting company) given that it’s all about Linux. I don’t think I’m going to bother doing so.

All-in-all, I think the majority of articles have done alright. Boy, have I whiffed on a few of them. Fortunately, someone’s always willing to chime in when I’ve made a mistake! (I’m very, very grateful when people do so and I try to make any necessary corrections promptly. I am not perfect, however.)

So…

Yeah…

That’s it… It’s been two ****in’ years! I’m as surprised by this as you are!

Closure:

I think I’ll have a glass of wine or three to celebrate the two-year anniversary. This isn’t the kind of article to bother optimizing for search engines, which is nice. I will kinda proofread it, though lately I’ve been cheating in that department and using Grammarly. That helps and has impacted my writing style – in a good way.

But, perhaps there’s an article in that? Some future articles, perhaps? LOL Maybe I should sign up as an affiliate and then write the article while using affiliate links?!? You never know. Heck, I don’t even know. So, if you did know, you should tell me so that I would know… That sounds reasonable!

Meta: The State Of Linux Tips #16

This is going to be published on a Sunday, so it’s a fine day to do a simple meta article. It’s an article about the state of Linux tips. Basically, it’s a lazy article for me, where I just share some stats with you. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, read on…

There will be another meta article coming up, as we’re soon going to cross the two-year mark. So far, so good… We’ve managed to have an article every other day, which is nice. But, we’ll talk about that in a few articles down the road.

This is just a recap of what last month was like, more than anything else. At least that’s how I’ve done the majority of these things, though I never really know what I’ll write in one of these.

Meta Stuff:

So, the CDN I used raised its prices. I now pay double what I used to pay. You can donate to the right. If people do not donate, the site’s going to stay up and running. I’ll do it without your help if I’ve gotta.

This of course coincided with the site getting the most amount of traffic it has ever had. We used a combined 35 GB of traffic – which isn’t much for many larger sites but is pretty insane for this site. We had more traffic in March than we had in February and more traffic in February than we had in January. (There’s a bit of a pattern there.)

Speaking of patterns, this month appears to be getting slightly less traffic than was seen in March. That’s unusual. The site has experienced fairly consistent growth, but this month appears to be ever so slightly less active. I do not know why and, frankly, don’t feel like trying to figure out why.

There are bound to be some times when we don’t experience growth and the site is still getting a lot of traffic – meaning we’re helping a lot of people. We’re helping thousands and thousands of people every month. That’s a great thing and it far exceeds what I expected when I started this out.

Some Stats:

So, things are a bit different this month. @BrickWizard would appreciate knowing this, I think. These are the most popular pages:

Find Out Which Display-Manager You’re Using
How To: Disable Sleep And Hibernation on Ubuntu Server
How Do I Install Linux (A General Guide)

The most popular browsers:

Chrome 82.5%
Unknown 14.5%
Firefox 2.2%

(Firefox is struggling in the market perhaps?)

The most popular operating systems:

Linux 94.4%
Windows 3.2%
Macintosh 1.5%

Other Stuff:

More than 13,000 people visited.
They visited about 19,000 times.
They mostly visited on Monday and Wednesday.
They mostly visited from 15:00 to 22:00 GMT.
Most traffic came from Google searches.

Closure:

So, there you have it, it’s another meta article that lets you know the state of Linux-Tips. I try to remember to do this every month, but I don’t always manage to do so. They’re not very interesting articles from a search engine perspective, but that’s okay. I might as well share the information as they’re generally well-read articles.

Dealing With Google Chrome Crashes, Freezes And Other Anomalies

Today’s article is about dealing with Google Chrome crashes – and other anomalies. I say ‘other anomalies’ because this helps with many problems. It’s such a common answer for browser-related questions that it’s hard to make this into a succinct article.

See, this is one of my most-voted answers on a support site. But, it’s a valid answer for so many different problems. I’ve long wanted to make this into an article, I just haven’t been able to come up with the words to write that article.

So, if you installed a Google Chromium-based browser (such as Google Chrome, Brave, Opera, Microsoft Edge, or others) then the odds are very good that it came with “Hardware Acceleration” enabled. As a general rule, this doesn’t cause any problems.

However… See, hardware acceleration (that is rendering some content on your hardware instead of doing so in software) isn’t supported and Google has no plans on supporting it. But, for whatever reason, Chrome, Chromium, and all the derivatives ship their Linux version with hardware acceleration enabled.

Having hardware acceleration enabled is, more often than not, nothing to be too concerned about… This article is for when it is a problem. This article is for that subset of users who don’t know to turn it off and don’t realize it’s the problem.

Does your system freeze after leaving your browser open for a while?
Does your browser freeze for no reason?
Does your browser freeze when you play audio or video?
Does your system slow down with just a few tabs open?

The list of symptoms is just too long to make a single headline, even though the fix is simple enough. I’ll show you…

Dealing With Google Chrome Crashes:

So, if you have any of those symptoms listed above, the solution is pretty easy.

I’d go so far as to say that if you’re experiencing problems while you have an instance of Chrome, Chromium, Bing, etc, installed, then the first step I’d take in debugging would be the one that follows.

The answer is simply to disable hardware acceleration.

Open the offending browser and then it’s under Settings > Advanced > System and it looks like this:

solve the google chrome problem easily — Yup. Just un-tick that bugger and reboot. It’s that simple.

Restart your browser so that the changes take effect.

That’s usually what fixes this. That’s it. That’s all you need to do.

This fixes so many weird problems that it’s worth trying if you’re experiencing weirdness while you have a Chromium-based browser running. If it doesn’t resolve your problem, you’ve not spent a bunch of time on this fix. It’s also trivial to reverse if you want that for some reason.

Closure:

There you go, it’s another article. This time, it’s about Google Chrome (or based on Chromium) based browsers – which, in the Linux world, means said browser is likely Chrome and Chromium, according to the stats I see. Also, this article didn’t even require opening a terminal