unable to check for updates for firefox

[webers4]

I have this ASUS Eee PC series laptop with Mozilla Firefox and when open the web browser and click on the 'help' tab I can see 'Check for Updates' as an option, but it is greyed out and I am unable to click on it. I have:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14
I downloaded firefox 3.5 but not able to get it installed. I also was unable to install Adobe FlashPlayer 10 and I am wondering if it is this particular distribution of Linux. I
got this laptop from target for about 250.00 and I think if I want to upgrade or improve anything I may need to start replacing hardware, but I'm new to Linux and was hoping that someone with more experience might be able to help me with this.

[rokytnji]

I installed Firefox 3 using the EEEPC Wiki in My Asus EEE 900 Xandros 4.

[webers4]

was it easy to do? I read on the firefox website that you need to have certain libraries (I think that's what it said); where and how do I check and see if I have the requirements on my system?

[rokytnji]

was it easy to do?

It was for me. But I read the page I linked you to verrrry carefullllly. Xandros 4 on EEE PC ships with a crippled outdated gtk 1

The steps I followed were the

Using a simple script

Based on this forum post: EeeUser Forum / A simple way to install gtk 2.10 and firefox 3.0.1 probably the best method to upgrade Firefox is using yurenju's install script.

This Method works on 701, 900, 901, 1000 models with the default Xandros Linux (Simple or Advanced mode).

1. Make sure you have a good internet connection

2. Download the script install_firefox.sh, and save to /home/user

3. Close Firefox. Nothing else should be open.

4. Hold <Ctrl> and <Alt> and press the <T> key to open a Terminal / Console, and enter the following command:

sudo bash install_firefox.sh

5. Wait until done

(at this point you will have installed Firefox version 3.0.1; you can continue now to install the very latest version)

6. Again in the Terminal / Console, enter

sudo firefox

7. Once in Firefox, select Help »> Check for Updates…

8. After everything is done. Close Firefox and the terminal window.

Because above steps replace Firefox 2 with Firefox 3.

The Deb packages below that section of wiki leave Firefox 2 untouched. So you will need to make a new Launcher in Icewm Taskbar Or Menu (if you have enabled start button yet) If you haven't enabled start button. My above quote would be the easy way to install it and update Firefox 3.

Just a side note. I know my status here in this forum shows me as a engineer, But look on me more as a friganeer or Walmart Greeter. I am just a self taught Home User with no computer skills. YouTube - You can do it

[webers4]

Thanks for the info. I don't know if have that much confidence in myself.
I think I'm going to see if any body I work with knows anything about Linux so I don't do damage that I can't fix. At least the laptop is usable for most things I need it for. My kids sometimes want to get online and play video games, and that was the purpose for this machine, but they just kick my wife off hers (vista os, updated players, and ie and they're happy.

[Tarthen]

That Check For Updates... is for Mac and Windows, I think. They don't have package managers, like Linux.

Firefox 2 is "fine". It'll work :P. But if you want the latest and greatest, looking on the EeeUser forums may turn up some helpful results. Although, a lot of the more experienced Linuxers have probably installed Fedora or Ubuntu NBR, rather than kept Xandros. But that's fine, Xandros has it's loyal users still!