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+--- Thread: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? (/showthread.php?tid=12438)
Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - SanjevR - 12-07-2020
I am an extreme novice when it comes to Linux computers in fact up until I bought this Pinebook Pro I've never actually a Linux computer in my life. I remember reading that the hardware of the ARM 64 device doesn't allow certain capabilities which is why its not possible (at present) to use TOR browser and other common programs that you can find on the MAC and Windows computers and perhaps other Linux
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - KC9UDX - 12-07-2020
I've used TOR on arm Linux on the past. At least five years ago, anyway.
ARM isn't crippled compared to x86/x64. It's just less popular. x86 really is a lousy design.
The only things you won't be able to run without emulation are closed-source, especially most commercial softwares. But really, a lot of that stuff runs on Linux now too.
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - SanjevR - 12-07-2020
(12-07-2020, 04:05 PM)KC9UDX Wrote: I've used TOR on arm Linux on the past. At least five years ago, anyway.
ARM isn't crippled compared to x86/x64. It's just less popular. x86 really is a lousy design.
The only things you won't be able to run without emulation are closed-source, especially most commercial softwares. But really, a lot of that stuff runs on Linux now too.
I can't seem to find TOR browser in the Package Manager. It's vexing.
I am a big newbie to all this so I don't know what x86 or x64 means. Could you explain what those two terms mean?
Below is the information about my Pinebook Pro and the OS and stuff its running at the moment.
Manjaro-ARM
Software
KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.76.0
Qt Version: 5.15.1
Kernel Version: 5.7.19-1-MANJARO-ARM
OS Type: 64-bit
Hardware
Processors: 6 x
Memory: 3.7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mali T860
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - KC9UDX - 12-07-2020
x86 is the 8086 family of 8/16/32 bit microprocessors that Intel makes, which are the heart of "Windows" computers, and Apple computers in recent years. x64 is the 64 bit variant. ARM (Acorn Risc Machine) is a popular alternative. When people say "ARM can't do ..." they are usually comparing to x86/x64. It's mostly a false comparison. Just because ARM doesn't do something currently, it's not because it can't. It's usually because no one bothers to write the software to do it, because the vast majority of people are running Windows, and Windows (as people know it) doesn't run on ARM (yet).
I don't use Manjaro (I do not like it), but DuckDuckGo says this is how you do it:
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-tor-browser-on-manjaro-18-linux
(I use NetBSD on my Pinebook Pro, which is more obscure than Linux, but it looks like TOR is more easily available for that.)
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - nas - 12-08-2020
You can download tor browser from here - it works on the pinephone so should work on pinebook too.
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - SanjevR - 12-08-2020
(12-08-2020, 06:03 AM)nas Wrote: You can download tor browser from here - it works on the pinephone so should work on pinebook too.
Do I have to download using the Konsole and some commands because if so I have no idea how to do that.
When I click on the download link it download into firefox I think click it and something called "Ark" opens it. I think tried extracting it to my desktop but it just created a folder with a bunch of code in it, there is not program icon.
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - KC9UDX - 12-08-2020
Welcome to Linux
You get to compile it. Before package managers, this is how you got everything. I'm pretty sure the link I have you tells you how to do this.
RE: Why can't Pinebook Pro have TOR browser and other programs? - nas - 12-08-2020
(12-08-2020, 02:01 PM)SanjevR Wrote: I think tried extracting it to my desktop but it just created a folder with a bunch of code in it, there is not program icon.
If you can see a file called start-tor-browser.desktop in the extracted folder then I suspect double-clicking it should give you an option to execute the program. Otherwise, you would open a terminal in the same folder (maybe right-click and select konsole) and then type the below to launch the browser.
Code:
./start-tor-browser.desktop