Ubuntu Feisty with Firefox

This tips explains how to set up Tor in Feisty based on my own experience (with Gnome interface). Tor is a program that allows one to surf through a local proxy with a routed IP address (so the webpage you surf does not have a record of your own IP address). I got it work in Firefox2, so this tutorial will mainly be for Firefox users (if you use Firefox 1.5 or under, you need to install Privoxy in addition to the two steps below).

Installing Tor in Ubuntu Feisty

We will be using apt-get command to install Tor. However, the Tor copy in Ubuntu universe didn’t work for me. I had to use the one from noreply.org. To do so, do in the terminal

$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

After the file is opened, add these two lines to the end of the sources.list file:

deb http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor feisty main
deb-src http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor feisty main

Save the file and exit gedit.

In the terminal, type:

$ sudo apt-get update

Read to see if apt-get tells you that you are missing a Pubkey for noreply.org. If so, you need to use gpg command to add the key to apt-get. In the terminal, do:

$ sudo gpg –keyserver subkeys.pgp.net — recv 94C09C7F

$ sudo gpg –fingerprint 94C09C7F

After you got the key, do:

$ sudo gpg –export 94C09C7F | sudo apt-key add -

Now you can do install through apt-get:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install tor

You should see a message showing that tor is starting.

SETTING UP FIREFOX

The easiest way to use Tor with Firefox is to use an extension/addon to manage the Tor proxy. Neither Torbutton nor Switch proxies recommended in other tutorials worked for me. However, I find that it is really easy to work with FoxyProxy. To install the addon, open your Firefox browser and go here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2464

Follow the link to install the FoxyProxy addon.

Upon Firefox restarts, the addon will ask you some configuration questions and automatically make Tor work for you.

Now through the FoxyProxy option, you can specify which website to be visited with Tor proxy.

CHECKING IF ITS WORK

To see if your Tor is working, first visit this site without using FoxyProxy:
https://torcheck.xenobite.eu/.Note the IP address on the site.

Then, open FoxyProxy option, add this site as a whitelist in FoxyProxy (by editing the property of the Tor proxy in FoxyProxy), and then visit the site again:

https://torcheck.xenobite.eu/

The test may show a message saying that you are not using Tor, but you can ignore it. Look at the IP address being shown and see if it is different from your previous visit. If so, you are routing your address successfully.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 9:01 am and is filed under Firefox, Linux. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Related posts

• No related posts.