Firefox 2.0 Bon Echo Alpha and Minefield Nightly Trunk Build

[Kristijntje]

Firefox 2.0 nightly Alpha Builds (Bon Echo, file version says firefox-2.0) and hourly Trunk Builds (Minefield, file version says firefox 3.0 but despite the version number it is Firefox 2 ) are available. 

You can run Bon Echo, Minefield, and Firefox 1.5 on the same machine simultaneously.  Bon Echo may work with some extensions and themes, Minefield doesn't work with any at the moment due to the 3.0 version number.  Be warned, installing either 2.0 version will remove your extensions and themes from version 1.5

nightly Firefox 2.0 alpha version (Bon Echo): http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...ozilla1.8/

hourly Firefox 3.0 trunk version (Minefield, the firefox-3.0 files are Firefox 2):
windows: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...ica-trunk/
linux: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...eus-trunk/
mac: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...tia-trunk/

edit:  I've had fewer problems with the Firefox Alphas than I've had with the IE7 beta

[bargainbloodhound]

It seeeeeeeeems to use less memory than 1.5 which was my biggest complaint with Firefox.

[jezebel]

I'm using Minefield on a Linux desktop.  I'll wait for the beta before I install 2.0 on my Windows laptop.

[mandy]

Mozilla has released Bon Echo Alpha 2.

Bon Echo Alpha 2 Milestone

Please note: We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download this Alpha 2 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only.

Bon Echo Alpha 2 is the second developer milestone on the path to Firefox 2. This milestone is focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 2. Ongoing planning for Firefox 2 can be followed at the Bon Echo Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #bonecho.

Changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

    * Links default to opening in new tabs, not new windows
    * Close buttons now appear on every tab, and the close behaviour is slightly different
    * Inline spell checking in text boxes
    * Automatic restoration of your browsing session if there is a crash
    * Search suggestions now appear in the search box auto-complete for Google and Yahoo!
    * New search plugin manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
    * Improved support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
    * New microsummaries feature for bookmarks
    * New Add-Ons manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes
    * Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
    * New search service that supports Sherlock and OpenSearch engines
    * Support for SVG text using svg:textPath

full announcement and downloads: http://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/ind...milestone/

[mandy]

Bon Echo Alpha 3 Milestone Released

Please note: We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Bon Echo Alpha 3 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only.

Bon Echo Alpha 3 is the third developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 2. Ongoing planning for Firefox 2 can be followed at the Bon Echo Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #bonecho.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

    * Built in Anti-Phishing protection.
    * Search suggestions now appear with search history in the search box for Google and Yahoo!
    * Support for client-side session and persistent storage.

And please continue to test out these other features which are new from previous Bon Echo releases:

    * Changes to tabbed browsing behavior
    * Search plugin manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
    * Better support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
    * New microsummaries feature for bookmarks
    * Inline spell checking in text boxes
    * Automatic restoration of your browsing session if there is a crash
    * New combined and improved Add-Ons manager for extensions and themes
    * Extended search plugin format
    * Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
    * Support for SVG text using svg:textPath

full release announcement: http://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/ind...-released/

download here:
Linux: http://download.mozilla.org/?product=bonecho-alpha3&os=linux&lang=en-US
Windows:  http://download.mozilla.org/?product=bonecho-alpha3&os=win&lang=en-US
Mac: http://download.mozilla.org/?product=bonecho-alpha3&os=osx&lang=en-US

[bargainbloodhound]

* New Add-Ons manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes

Miy copy must be defective because add-ons management in 2.0 doesn't seem like an improvement over version 1.5.

The speeel chekr werkks varry nicly thooo.

[jezebel]

[quote author=jezebel link=topic=3429.msg12603#msg12603 date=1145400187]
I'm using Minefield on a Linux desktop. [/quote]

I switched to Bon Echo.