Linux Mint Forums

If I understood it right, you just have to change it on "Edit"->"Preferences"->"Homepage"

By the way, Mint Google homepage turns different results comparing with a same search on http://www.google.com...Why this happens?

Ah ok. I get it now. I don't have a clue and I have thought about that too. Sorry.

If you go into Synaptic Package Manager and install Firefox3 Beta4, you not only will upgrade your browser, but it also comes with the regular Google search.

Now my question for Clem and the Mint team. How do I change it back to Mint Google in Firefox3? I want to support the team, and only use the regular Google search when absolutely necessary. Can I add the Mint Google search back in?

Hi Lantesh,


I think you'll find what your looking for here: http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=142#comments


cheers,

Deadguy

deadguy thanks for the link. I took some info from there and came up with a solution that will help anyone add GoogleMint back to Firefox3 Beta4 if you installed it through Synaptic. Here is what I posted on the blog:

For those of you who have installed the Firefox3 Beta4 through Synaptic Package Manager. Here is how to add googlemint to Firefox3. You will find the Mint version of google.xml located in /usr/share/firefox/searchplugins. Rename (as root in terminal) the file to googlemint.xml. Next open it in gedit (as root again) and change the name that is displayed to google mint. Now copy the file (as root) to usr/lib/firefox-addons/searchplugins. You will now have both versions in Firefox3.

I know how you feel; I tried deleting Google and re-installing it as a fresh add-on and it wouldn't take. Certain sites I visit aren't "approved" by LinuxMint so I might have to drop the whole OS and go back to BSD.

I'm not sure what you mean aren't "approved" by linux mint, could you elaborate a little please? I'm pretty sure Mint doesn't filter any content.

Hi there,

The blog post is unfortunately the best place to find info on this at the moment. We're planning to add this to the Elyssa User Guide as well though.

I'll just add a note about Google Images, there is a search engine for Google Images in the list, so instead of clicking on "images" in the google results (which is not there obviously), you can just change the search plugin and press enter. I know it's annoying but it's mostly because you're used to do it a different way. This plugin is our main source of income and it makes the difference between working on Mint as a past time and working on Mint as a second job (hopefully even full time in the future). You can appreciate how much new features and improvements are put in each of our releases, and there's no secret.. it takes time and efforts, and at this stage it takes more than past time.

Now, having said that. It's YOUR desktop, so the best we can do is to show you why we did that, and also how to revert to the default Google search plugin if you decide to use it instead. It's all there in the blog post, and as I said it will be made extremely clear in the User Guide as well.

Clem.

I really hope you guys get paid everytime we search things, cause I search for things that I know the address to and go to all the time just to generate more searches.

Not to take away anything from LM, I left FF as is and installed Opera Beta. Google is normal there!....Opera is pretty fast web browser so I go back and forth. So havent decided who is web browser king
Also I dont watch alot of streaming videos but I did test Opera out on youtube and didnt seem to have any problems. FF crashed after a few mins.

darco

Opera is pretty good, but it just looks ugly in GNOME. I like how FF3 is integrated with GTK. Looks much better than previous releases...

Isn't there any way that you could add map, images, videos and the more common search features to the custom page because otherwise I wouldn't mind it so much. The thing is I use google map often because I just moved to the area. I often look for movie trailers and do that on google, so you could see where this would be an annoyance. That being said I don't want to take away from any kind of assistance I can give Linux Mint.


~Shawn

This is f****** anyoing adware. I love mint but not when you break my system, WITHOUT telling me, and WITHOUT telling me how to fix it.

In Opera, if I search for something with an unknown keyword, I'm taken to the linux mint google search. This breaks all of my workflow. The linux mint google search is horrible, with none of the extra google searches I need access to all the time, and for instance the google calculator does NOT work.

Now, if it was like my home page that I could simply change away from, fine. But getting the s*** both in Opera and in Firefox, and with even a search on forum don't yield simple and specific instructions... I say s*** because it's extremely intrusive, breaks the most important thing in my daily work (search), and I can't remove it. No problem that you need money, and it's obviously a great revenue for you - and fine with most ppl. But dude.. I just can't wrap my mind around the ugly intrusivness of this thing! How can you not communicate clearly how to remove it from firefox and opera and whatever??

A search of forums gave references to a blog which gave references to a firefox plugin, however this doesn't solve my Opera problems. Not even a search on the wiki pages gives any link to this..

Please.. this is definitely something I'll leave Mint behind for if I have to, but I would hate that so I hope someone can give a solution here on how to remove it. And man... it's just so incredibly rude done... since you don't provide an easy way out.

T

EDITED to remove offensive language April 11,2010 Aging Technogeek Forum Moderator.

Ummmm unless I'm mistaken you are using their system, so they haven't broke anything of yours.
I can see your frustration with the modified search options available to you, I wasn't aware they made changes to opera, I thought they just made the change for firefox.
If you really want the basic opera or firefox, can't you just uninstall the mint package and download the normal package from opera or mozilla and install it that way?

Alternatively you can install the version from Ubuntu: apt remove opera; apt clean; apt install opera/hardy (This will give you version 9.27 though). Or you can download the unmodified version of Opera 9.5 from Opera.com (this solution is probably the best one as you won't be affected by future updates of Opera coming from Mint that way).

Clem.

Also i think that you can add any search to Opera so you can just go to "www.google.com" and right click in the search bar and select create search. This will add a new search to the Opera seach list which you can make the default search.

Yes, I can add any search to Opera, and did so with google, such that when I type "g something" it searches default google for 'something'. However, mint google was still set as the default somehow, so that if I for instance type 'gi something' in address bar, but have not defined 'gi' as a keyword shortcut, I was taken to mint google search.

Clem, I really can't appreciate that you even when answering a direct question here on the forum, refuse to say how the Opera installation is changed. Do you seriously want to hide this information from the public?

To all: I found the solution (re-installing is NOT a solution, then I would have to do all my customizations to Opera all over again). You need to open the search.ini file manually, and change the first search in there, which is set to mint google search by default. Simply change the URL to something like 'http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s ... gle+Search' and you're good to go. You should find search.ini in the ~/.opera folder.

Again, what really upset me here is that information is deliberately withheld, even when asked for.

And to whoever it was: of course I refer to it as breaking my system, or whatever I actually said. Or do you claim that my linux mint installation is owned by linuxmint.com and I only lease it for free and can use it in limited ways according to some agreement? Linuxmint.com == Blizzard? I hope not.

Anyways, solved.

By your definition, a ordinary install of Firefox or Opera will break your system, they use a custom search as well. And if you check the blog it is clearly stated how to remove this plugin from Firefox, and as clem stated, this will be included in the User guide.

The search is included for to create revenue for the Mint team. Basically, they include that plugin so that you can download the ISO, which they provided for you for free. I think you rush to a conclusion, and blow this out of proportion. It is not breaking your system, it is a damn search plugin. Firefox and Opera does the exact same thing, only with a different search page. Firefox even have a custom google page as a default start page. Is this "breaking your system" as well? After all, this generate revenue for Firefox so they can continue to develop Firefox. Exact same with Opera as well.

No one is forcing you to use Linux Mint, it is delivered as is. If you don't like it, don't use it, easy as that. Distrowatch probably has a few suggestions for you.

information is deliberately withheld, even when asked for

If it makes you happy to think of yourself as a victim there's little hope (and interest) for me to change your opinion. However, I said it and I'll say it again, I believe in choice and transparency, I give straight answers and I justify all the decisions I make. I could have told you to go in search.ini (I was thinking of the system-wide one more than the user's home copy actually) but the reason I suggested to install Opera directly from opera.com was so that you wouldn't be affected by future package upgrades coming from us.

Anyway, problem solved as you said. I'm almost sorry I took the time to reply to your post.

Clem.

"toblakai" as i said once before, you need to make your new search which you created become the default search.

Tools>Preferences
Choose the Search tab and then select the relevant search that you need.
Choose Edit and then select Details in there you can Check options to

Use as default search engine
Use as speed dial search engine

Hope this helps.