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Blocklist-Update.sh

Blocklist-Update.sh is a script that I wrote to manage blocklists from bluetack etc to be used in conjunction with Transmission torrent downloader in Linux/MacOS. The script can be taylored to work with Qbittorrent as well, but the placement of the blocklists means you'd have to redirect the blocklist to go somewhere locally manageable as Transmission uses its own blocklist directory in .config. I believe there are about 10 lists there now. It works well for my needs. It can be ran weekly using crontab in standard user profile.  To download:  blocklist-update.sh To download the others:  Github
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EPIPHANY (GNOME WEB)


Epiphany was an open source browser started for the gnome project. It utilizes the gnome desktop heavily and works best within the gnome environment. That’s not to say it doesn’t work outside of gnome, as it does run relatively well on xfce and others. Epiphany was gnome’s answer for alternative and lightweight browser solution and it was added to Raspbian in 2014 and was given the term as being Raspberry Pi’s very own browser. Before it was added to Raspbian, the ARM operating system didn’t really have acceptable choices in terms of web browsers. Most web browsers were either lacking or were too sluggish and bloated to serve the said ARM devices. Raspberry Pi previously used Midori by default, but Midori is often unpredictable now as it has not been updated in almost two or three years now. Epiphany was elected to change all of that.

Epiphany was touted as bringing a host of features that Midori and other browsers didn’t really offer. It was equally based on Webkit as was Midori, but it was being updated, it offered Hardware accelerated video decoding, improved Javascript support, faster scrolling, better interactivity during page loading, also ARMv6-optimized blitting functions.

But somehow, every other article I read about Epiphany(Gnome Web) was met with dissatisfaction in something that the browser did or did not do. Many people hit the Raspbian and other linux forums with questions and many times there was no one quick fix and many left with more questions. I’m assuming this was mostly during the Beta and testing phases, however, when I was first introduced to Epiphany, I was less than impressed with it, but it was an exceptional idea and so I stuck with it for a while. Epiphany has grown so much since. It now includes more adblocking capabilities, better scrolling, multiprocess functionality and a firefox based syncing feature. It once used Gecko, so it isn’t a huge surprise that they would choose to use Firefox’s syncing functionality over Chrome’s. Epiphany also offers a Full Screen Mode. Epiphany can also create web apps in seconds. Web apps are one of the highlights of the browser, they offer a smaller window to access certain mobile or small sites which one accesses every day.

Gnome Web indeed offers a beautiful view of the web, it offers bookmarks, yet they are out of the way of the user, the bookmarks and address bar are both accessed along the same toolbar at the top, the browser was built with a minimalist idea behind it, to stay out of the user’s way. Nevertheless, the browser really does integrate well with the desktop. The browser really is light in comparison with the other bigger browsers. Epiphany is in a class all its own, but it was never supposed to completely replace Firefox. It was never meant to directly compete with it at all. In the beginning what it lacked in HTML5 support, it did make up for in asthetics. Even now, there is a need for a browser such as this, it allows the user full control, but in a completely minimal way, there aren’t a whole boat load of options as there is with Vivaldi, even Qupzilla has more options, but as it stands, Epiphany does more with less.

Gnome Web’s roadmap page on the Gnome Web wiki is showing now that they are currently working on a lot of neat, nifty features ahead like; Blocking dangerous websites using a safe-browsing API, porting the adblocker to the content blockers API, adding a reading list improving on an already existing Httpseverywhere library implementation, more.

The Front Page:

 The future of the web browser looks ever so bright, I wonder if anyone could see themselves switching from Firefox and Chrome now that Gnome Web is useable and also features syncing?

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