How To

How to Install Firefox on Raspberry Pi: Step By Step Guide

The Raspberry Pi boards support various Operating Systems along with different web browsers. Recently, Google has shown its support to the Pi devices, and so I created a how-to guide to install chrome on Raspberry Pi. And today, I will provide a quick, step-by-step guide on how to install Firefox on Raspberry Pi.

You may know that the Mozilla does not offer any direct link to download the latest Firefox version for the Raspberry Pi. But you can easily download it on your Pi board with just a few steps.

Things you will need for doing the process:

  1. Raspberry Pi board ( Pi 3 recommended)
  2. Power supply for Pi
  3. Internet connection
  4. Raspberry Pi display
  5. USB WiFi adapter/Ethernet cable (If you don’t use Raspberry Pi 3)
  6. USB keyboard and mouse
  7. Protective case (optional)

How to Install Firefox on Raspberry Pi

As we know that there is no direct Firefox version is available to download for Pi, the Debian project got the Iceweasel which is the rebranded named of Mozilla Firefox for Raspberry Pi.  Let’s see the process to get the Raspberry Pi Firefox on your system now. Make sure to connect all the components with your Raspberry Pi device.

Step-1: Update the system packages

The initial step is to update your system packages to avoid any consequences while installing the Raspberry Pi web browser.

  • Open the command prompt on your Raspberry Pi system
  • Enter the command ‘sudo –I’ and write the password. Then press ‘Enter’ key
  • Now, write the command below:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get update

Step-2: Install Firefox on Raspberry Pi

Here, we will install the latest version of Iceweasel to have the Firefox support.

Again, in the Raspberry Pi terminal enter the following command:

sudo apt-get install Iceweasel

The installation process will start. If you don’t want to use much space on your board and want to keep the download packages to the minimum, then enter the command below:

sudo apt-get install Iceweasel – -no-install-recommends

Step-3: Run Firefox web browser

After the installation process completed, go to the start menu. Click on the ‘Internet’ option and choose Firefox/Iceweasel. You may find it a little bit slower than the other default Raspberry Pi web browsers. But when you use/need a low power Raspberry Pi setup, then this smaller packaged Raspberry Pi Firefox will work great.

Iceweasel

Conclusion

You can also install Thunderbird on Raspberry Pi which is an official email-client from Mozilla to work with the Iceweasel browser. The process is same as you followed here to install Firefox on Raspberry Pi device. The configuration process of Thunderbird is also simple as you just need to follow the instructions on the screen and make the settings as per your requirement.

What do you think about Raspberry Pi Firefox? Do you know any other quick and easy process than mentioned here? Have you any other Pi browser in mind which also works well for various electronics and robotics project? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Jessica Ward

Hey! I am Jessica Ward. I love to write about technology and learn or thinking about latest techno. And my forever ever love technology project is Raspberry Pi. I do and know more or more for Raspberry Pi.

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2 Comments

  1. hi there i did the steps but i am using kano (it is my kid machine) and i could find the folder firefox-esr on /usr/share but how can i put the firefox on dashboard or in the kano applications menu? thank you dearly.

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