Using Firefox AIX

Using Firefox AIX
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About AIX

AIX, which is short for Advanced Interactive eXecutive, is an operating system (OS) for running Linux software-based applications. This IBM product is designed to provide the highest level of performance and reliability of any UNIX operating system. For those users who are looking to use AIX for Mozilla Firefox, they will be needing to first have downloaded the latest supported version of the browser for AIX, then, have downloaded the “installp image,” which is the rpm.rte command line driven package file. Note: RPM is free software, released under the GNU GPL.

Tip: Install related updates or patches that are to be applied to the operating system.

Alternative option: Users can export the location of the supported browser for AIX by using the following command: EXPORT BROWSER=/usr/bin/firefox

Advice: Before getting started with AIX, it may be a good idea for users to look over the AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications README text page (see references) to gather more information.

Uses and System Features

Once the “Mozilla.base.rte” file is successfully installed or the user has used the one export command (shown above) to use AIX with Firefox, it is now time for the user to start using the free AIX Toolboxes for Linux Applications (ATLA).

AIX contains a wide variety of software; for example, there are development tools as well as open source packages that are desirable. In addition, it runs Gnome and KDE (Desktop Environments), GNU base utilities, guile, python, tcl/tk, rep-gtk (Programming Languages), system utilities, graphic applications, and more. For instance, the AIX-rpm contains shared libraries (ncurses, readline, libtiff, libpng, libjpeg, slang, fnlib, db, gtk+, qt) and system shells (bash, tcsh, zsh). AIX also supports a wide variety of hardware platforms and servers too.

As pointed out by Jaqui Lynch, a technical editor for IBM Systems Magazine, “[AIX] features a management tool (SMIT) that let you use menus to configure and control the system, a logical volume manager (LVM), a dynamic kernel, journalized file system (JFS) and a central configuration database called the Object Data Manager (ODM).” [1]

Benefits and Future

The uses and importance of AIX today and for the future lies with the AIX Toolbox’s affinity with Linux systems. In other words, users can create shared objects and libraries using installp–the rpm.rte file, which contains the auto-detecting shared library requirements.

Java Benefit: Those Mozilla Firefox users with AIX can have an Open Java Interface to AIX Java through the AIX Java Plug-in.

With v5, AIX enabled micropartitions, virtual networking and I/O and simultaneous multithreading (SMT). Version 6.1 featured role-based access control (RBAC), workload partitions and enhanced security. And, with the 7.1 release, it features even more enhancements. (As mentioned by IBM, the recognized benefits and features of Version 7.1 are: Virtualization, Security, Near-continuous Availability, and Manageability). Note: To use the Mozilla (installp install format) for v7, which has no fee, it requires registration at IBM.

Presently, IBM has integrated AIX into a single 32-bit/64-bit multiplatform UNIX platform. It goes to show AIX is committed to long-term UNIX innovations. With all its noted capabilities, it has proved to be an excellent choice for building an IT infrastructure as it provides the scalability and flexibility people are in need of for the future. Morever, it has the tools and services to improve reliability, availability, performance and security.

Image credit: IBM AIX

Source and Reference Section

[1] Building a Legacy - UNIX, AIX improve significantly in 25 years. IBM Systems Magazine. https://ibmsystemsmag.blogs.com/aixextra/2011/02/building-a-legacy.html