It's about time. I hate having to use another browser so I can use a few web apps that need to connect to serial devices.
Aren't there native applications being able to do that?
Why install a native app when a website can do it? It's very common to use a website to flash ESPHome for example.
Well you have more control over it and not dependent on the server. Also it should be more private I guess. I'm not judging, just asking if there was no native app that you felt forced to use a worse browser.
not dependent on the server
It doesn't have to be - a developer could also provide a HTML file that the user can download and open locally.
And to be honest, if someone had to build a user-friendly cross-platform GUI app for connecting to some sort of serial device, they'd probably just end up using web technologies (Electron or Tauri) anyways. May as well avoid the extra overhead of Electron.
I encountered such programs in the past. It's basically simple HTML with JavaScript, to run with my "favorite" browser and not being packaged as an Electron app. But that is very rare. Still better than dependent on the server, which solves a huge issue (which was my point). But the other point isn't solved, if the person is "forced" to use a browser he or she does not like.
Not for what I need. Some of them have an electron program, but that's just chrome bundled with a web app.
This has been a serious pain point for people who have wanted to use web apps to flash many things, including keyboards and phones. Nice to see Mozilla is finally observing the competition on something that's not AI.
I only have Chrome to flash my Flipper Zero, ESP32's and my Mestastic stuff. Being able to use Firefox would be nice.
Great news for ESPhome - it is such a hassle to try and use the cli (especially on windows) as opposed to just using the interface in home assistant
I think this means that meshtastic and meshcore flashers will be usable in Firefox now.
Huh maybe they'll finally add WebUSB
As a not particularly techy end-user. What does this mean
There are a lot of devices (esp32, phones, serial devices, etc ) that can have software installed (flashed) over this protocol. Before this our only choice was a chromium based browser.
But can't phones already run firefox anyway?
This is a bit of speculation on my part, but I think the recent leadership changes, especially Eric Rescorla (ekr) leaving as Mozilla CTO probably lead to this. I think ekr was responsible for many of the security vetoes that held APIs like this back. Maybe they had good reason for it at the time, but Chrome has now demonstrated that Web Serial has been safe for years.
So although I appreciate Firefox has always been security conscious, I think they sometimes landed a little too strict on some decisions. I'd be happy if this attitude change allows some more innovation in Firefox that is not just "AI all the things".
I do not want this.
You can completely disable the API in Chrome... I assume Firefox will allow this too.
Why?
All my serial devices need careful handling and will happily destroy themselves or start a fire if given the wrong instructions — my 3D printer, my laser engraver, my inverter/solar/battery monitor-programmer.
None of them are remotely prepared or hardened in any way to protect from malicious or careless commands.
I don’t generally trust websites and I do not want any website to discover those devices and interact with them.
Maybe it will depend on the specifics of their UI/UX implementation, but I don't think you'll end up in a scenario where you're surprised that a website suddenly has access to your serial ports. I expect the UI will be fail-safe, very visible, and that you'll be able to disable it entirely if you wish, so that you never even see a prompt.
Why you can disable the API completely?
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