Introduction
Most web designers have a common problem: A website looks different on every browser.
Therefore they are often forced to install many different browsers. Sometimes they also need to install a second operating system, because some browsers are not available for their used operating system.
What the MultiBrowser Appliance can do
The MultiBrowser Appliance is a virtual appliance for VMware, which allows you to use many different browsers. These browsers include:
- Microsoft® Internet Explorer (emulated with WINE)
Versions 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 - Mozilla Firefox (including the Web Developer toolbar)
Version 1.5.0.3 - Opera
Version 8.54 - Konqueror
Version 3.5.0 - Lynx
Version 2.8.5 - ELinks
Version 0.10.4
Please visit the Update Site for instructions on how to get updates for the appliance.
How this appliance was built
This appliance was built with VMware Workstation 4.5.3 using Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 as the operating system. The Debian kernel made problems under VMware, so I compiled a Kernel 2.4.32 myself.
I installed a XFree86 4.3.0 X Server and a backport of KDE 3.5.0 on it.
The applications for this appliance were wrote with KDevelop 3.3.1.
Requirements for this virtual appliance
- VMware Workstation 4.x or later, VMware Server or VMware Player
- At least 750 MB free disk space
- At least 64 MB RAM free, which can be used for the virtual appliance (I recommend using 128 MB)
How to work with the MultiBrowser Appliance
After you have started the appliance, an assistant will be run, which helps you to set up the X Server settings and the network.
After that you can choose a browser from a list.
To access your website, there are four possibilities:
- Via Internet. Just type the address into the Location bar of the used web browser.
- Via VMware's Shared Folder feature. The address is file:///mnt/hgfs on Linux browsers and C:\hgfs on Internet Explorer.
- Via a web server in the local network. Just type the IP Address of the web server into the Location bar of the used web browser.
- Via virtual network (does not work with Internet Explorer). Type smb://<Computer name or IP Address of the host computer>/<Path to the network share with the HTML files> into the Location bar.
Root access
If you need root access in the virtual appliance (usually not necessary), type su on a console and enter appliance as the password.
Used components
This appliance uses the Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 Operating System including many packages.
It also uses self-written tools licensed under the GPL. The sources of these tools can be downloaded here.
Portions of the Internet Explorer scripts were derived from WineTools by Frank Hendriksen, Joachim von Thadden and Sven Paschukat and IEs 4 Linux by Sergio Luis Lopes Junior.
Some files of this project are hosted by