Go2Linux | Linux Operating System

There are a lot of ways to optimize Firefox, but one of the best way to improve Firefox speed, is by making Firefox to use RAM to save cache files.

This way the speed of already downloaded pages is going to be increased.

Of course like in almost anything you do there is always a downside, and in this case that is true too.

All the cache files are saved in RAM, so when you turn the computer off, all those files are erased. Then, each time you turn it on, you need to populate it from the biggining.

There are pages you always check, maybe digg, reddit, linuxtoday, or this blog :).

If using the disk, some CSS, and other files, will already be there, thus increasing download speed (at least apparently).

But if using RAM, as soon as it is populated again, you will see a much better performance.

Well, enough talking, let's go to optimize Firefox.

In your Linux, you may have a RAM partition already, check with:

df

If you have an output like this:

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev                     10240       196     10044   2% /dev
/dev/disk/by-uuid/1069fde9-8696-49a8-bbec-b8f35458f4d9
                      60682684  48850932   8749296  85% /
none                   1026832     12548   1014284   2% /dev/shm

Pay attention to /dev/shm, it means you already has a RAM partition.

If not, you can create it with:

sudo mkdir /mnt/ramdisk

and

sudo mount -t tmpfs -o size=512m tmpfs /mnt/ramdisk/

Change size to fit a quarter of you RAM or less.

Now let's work on Firefox

in a new window or tab enter.

about:config

Then search for this string.

browser.cache.disk.parent_directory

Once found, enter this string:

/dev/shm

If it is not there create it, with: right-click and and selecting new->string

And then enter the same string as above

Restart Firefox, and you are done, you now have an optimized Firefox.

Be sure to change /dev/shm to /mnt/ramdisk if you had to create your RAMDisk, instead of using the already created.