When Google released its Chrome web browser for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X users were left out in the rain, without the ability to enjoy all the goodness that is Chrome. Thanks to the relentless porting efforts of the Chromium team, we now have daily builds of the Chrome/Chromium web browser, and I decided to take a look where the Linux version stands.
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Member since:
2007-12-16
...or is it just that your Compiz lacks configuration to identify Chrome as something that needs to be rendered a shadow?
Arch had only a 32-bit version so I tried it and it was ok. Really like it adapting to the GTK-theme (although I'm using KDE). It even supports my mouse's extra buttons. Beats Konqueror if anything.
Edited 2009-08-13 19:54 UTC
Member since:2005-11-14
It's the same in KWin: no shadow. Other windows that draw their own special borders, like Audacious, have the same problem. I'm not too bothered myself.
A bigger problem is that it seems to think I want to move the window when I click the title bar to focus it, and I have to click again to drop the Window.
Member since:2007-03-26
A bigger problem is that it seems to think I want to move the window when I click the title bar to focus it, and I have to click again to drop the Window.
Odd to read these comments as the shaddows work for me with Compiz on KDE4
Member since:2006-06-22
Member since:
2006-07-26
Member since:2005-10-05
would this link be of interest to you then?
http://nemethe.blogspot.com/2009/01/installing-google-chrome-behind...
Member since:
2008-12-13
I decided just now to try it too, after a while, only to be greeted with this article:)
I don't like Chrome that much but the Linux version is indeed becoming surprisingly snappy.
A welcome addition showing up in Chromium is that elements of the new tab page can be hidden. Although the order of the thumbnails of most visited pages should settle after a while using the browser, I find the 'Speed Dial' approach better in that the thumbnails can be freely reorganized and they don't move away by themselves, supporting spatial memory. So an empty new tab is more comforting in Chrome.
I wonder how the extension system will stand against Firefox's and how much it will invalidate the irony of the 'Chrome' name. I suppose it will be more of a constrained, walled garden like theme support, but still a fresh breath after the static nature of 1.x and 2.x, and a better fit for its philosophy.
Got to say it is a nice, lean & mean browser.
EDIT: Oops, I'm just seeing that thumbnails became movable and can be sticked in place. Hmm, very slick.
Edited 2009-08-13 21:25 UTC
Member since:
2006-05-25
Member since:2007-05-05
Member since:2006-05-25
Member since:2007-02-17
Arora was the default browser for Kubuntu Karmic Alpha 3.
Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 4 has just appeared on Distrowatch, but not Kubuntu as yet. When it does I will download the .iso and let people know if Arora is still the default browser.
It is a reasonable choice. Konqueror is gettting left behind by stubbornly clinging to KHTML, although Konqueror does still have an adblock-style mechanism that Arora (or Chrome for that matter) still lacks.
Member since:2005-07-24
Member since:2007-12-16
Apparently, KHTML is an integral part of KDE and cannot be removed without substantially damaging the user experience. "
Out of sight, out of KDE, eh? Changing Konqueror to use WebKit instead of KHTML doesn't mean every other KDE app should drop KHTML too. Konqueror != KHTML.
Member since:2005-07-06
Wooooosh. Really? So they can't keep KHTML for binary compatibility for applications that use it, add WebKit API support later (real desktops make sure they have sane APIs for their developers, you see?) and allow applications to move to it without substantially, materially and totally damaging the 'user experience'? Wow. I had no idea.
Member since:2009-07-27
You can download Kubuntu alpha 4 here:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-4/
Member since:2007-02-17
I've got the link, thanks.
http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=05624
Distrowatch updated their page on the Alpha 4 release a few minutes after I had posted.
Member since:
2007-11-06
Member since:2006-07-12
Don't know about EL5, but for fedora it is enough to create a new repo with following content:
[chromium]
name=Chromium Test Packages
baseurl=http://spot.fedorapeople.org/chromium/F$releasever/
enabled=1
then, "yum install chromium" (or using your favorite package manager)
May be it will work in EL , too.
Edited 2009-08-16 09:14 UTC
Member since:
2006-06-05
Member since:2005-08-29
I have the opposite issue. I've come to rely on certain firefox addons so much that using chrome is annoying. Usually, people only mention adblock and noscript, but there are actually a ton of really, really useful addons. greasemonkey alone is invaluable (for me). Right, now I've got about 15 firefox addons installed and probably 5 that I really would not want to do without.
Until chrome can replace that functionality, it's simply not worth switching. I guess I also don't understand the main benefit (speed) because web browsing is really not slow at all for me. I have a fast computer and the only delays I ever see are due to networking, not javascript or rendering.
Member since:2007-02-17
Apart from Adblock, I use BBcode and download helper.
BBcode is a boon for making HTML or BB (like OSNews) rich text posts.
Then there are all the search engine options. There is a nice set of Firefox searches for the Arch Linux wikis and forums, for example.
Firefox 3.5 is not that far behind Chrome in terms of speed, but with little extensions like these available for Firefox it beats any other browser for usability IMO by quite a long way.
Member since:2005-07-11
Looks like Greasemonkey is coming to Chrome, at least;
http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/user-scripts
Member since:2005-09-17
MAC standing for…?
(see "I have a MAC" at [The 10 Most Annoying Things in Internet Comments](http://www.osnews.com/story/21944/The_10_Most_Annoying_Things_in_In...))
(^_-*)/
Member since:
2007-03-06
I've been using Chromium a lot lately.
While I miss some of the FF extensions, Chromium feels a lot snappier.
It's nice that they added a "use system title bar and borders" option, because tabs on the title bar just didn't feel right.
BTW I don't remember having to symlink anything to get the flash plugin to work :/
Member since:
2009-08-10
This version of Chrome seems more stable than previous version that I have recently tried. It is noticeably quicker at starting up than Firefox, and web pages seem to render slightly faster. What is nice, is that first new tab is utilised to show your favourite web pages as thumbnails instead of just a blank page.
I was almost tempted to change my default browser to Chrome, but until there is an adblock extension (amongst other extensions) for this browser I will continue to stick with firefox.
I did notice as well that the scrolling of pages doesn't seem as smooth as firefox, but this could be down to my intel drivers as it has caused a problem with firefox in the past (e.g. switching between UXA or EXA).
Another small gripe is not having a menu bar on the interface, as I find the menu bar to be useful and consistent with other applications. I realise it is now fashionable for browsers to not have a menu bar, but IMHO Chrome would look better with one - call me old fashion 
Anyway, I am really glad there is another browser on the scene as this will hopefully give rise to even more competition and hopefully push firefox along at a faster pace than we have witnessed with the 3.5 release.
Edited 2009-08-14 07:37 UTC
Member since:
2005-09-08
I've been using it on and off on Kubuntu Jaunty since they started providing beta builds. I didn't have to do the symlinking, just --enable-plugins and it worked.
Sometimes it craps out and a tab can crash, forcing you to hit Reload. Flash eats CPU like a mad man as always, but that's not Chrome's fault. I do miss printing since I just got a new printer, but they're working on bringing that to the Linux version.
Just wish there was a simple KDE-esque WebKit browser I could use instead. Arora provokes some bugs in the Oxygen style and has issues with e.g. GMail currently, and Rekonq is not mature enough.
But Chrome is good when I sometimes get sick of Firefox' sluggishness (yes I'm using latest 3.5.x, it's still sluggish).
EDIT: That I don't have to use the symlinking thing might be because I'm using the beta channel and not the dev channel like Thom.
Edited 2009-08-14 07:44 UTC
