[Lvlug] Using the Pennsylvania Online Business Registration Interview (OBRI) from Debian 5.0

[Randy Kramer]

I'm trying to use the Pennsylvania Online Business Registration 
Interview (OBRI) from Debian 5.0.

See:
https://www.paopenforbusinessobri.state.pa.us/PAO4BInterview/Interview.aspx

I have Opera 9.64, IceWeasel 3.0.6, and Konqueror 3.5.9 (on KDE 3.5.10) 
installed.  None of those work.  (I'm not even trying to make konqueror 
work, I like it, it's my default browser, but it has problems with a 
lot of the more complex pages.)

The OBRI requires: "128-bit encryption, java script must be enabled, and 
you must use, at minimum, Internet Explorer 5.5 sp2 or Netscape 
Communicator 7.0."

I have javascript enabled in both Opera and IceWeasel, and I have lots 
of varieties of 128-bit encryption enabled in each of them (but one 
variety so far not enabled in Opera).

I've been experimenting with changing the browser identification string, 
but I don't really know the format required--in IceWeasel, I've tried 
things like:

   * "Firefox/3.0.6"
   * "Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2"
   * "MSIE/5.5sp2"

In Opera, all I can do is choose things like "Identify as Internet 
Explorer" or "... Firefox" under site preferences.

(Update: I've now also downloaded and installed Opera 9.27 (because, 
iiuc, the newer versions of Opera (newer than 9.50?) have disabled some 
of the less secure encryption protocols), and Opera 
10.00.4402.gcc4.qt3, and tried them with all 128-bit encryption 
protocols enabled and identified as and masked as Internet Explorer and 
Firefox.)

I've googled to try to find things like:
   * the proper format for a browser identification string
   * where to change the string (found that for both browsers)
   * to see if anyone has used OBRI with either IceWeasel or 
Opera --although I haven't checked every hit, I've browsed through the 
google listing and found nothing to help 
   * various other stuff that I found

I've sent a request for assistance to the web site.

I've considered downloading and installing firefox in place of 
IceWeasel--initially that didn't work, I guess I have to make another 
repository "available", or maybe download it directly from Mozilla.

I'm going to continue to look into this, but I wonder if anyone here has 
been successful accessing the OBRI with IceWeasel, Opera, or FireFox 
and has any hints to offer.

Thanks!
Randy Kramer
-- 
I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I created a video 
instead.--with apologies to Cicero, et.al.