Trying Ubuntu as MainOS - Questions

[Beyond Godlike]

Hey I bough this Lenovo Laptop for a ridiculous price. And i decided since its not my gaming hardware, id try ubuntu.

1.) Chrome is V24 atm, but Chromium cannot update itself, is the Ubuntu software manager always going to lag behind?

2.) Browsers dont take the backspace key to go back, minor issue, but is there a fix?

I love ubuntu's disk encryption option on setup and so on, but the update issue rather bothers me. Is there a way to speed up those updates, maybe a different update channel, or another distro thats comparable to ubuntu?

Thx!

[Haggis Veteran]

ok to fix the backspace in firefox follow this

Luckily this is a very simple tweak, and you don?t even have to reboot Firefox.

Type about:config into the address bar, and then filter by the following key:

browser.backspace_action

Double-click on the item in the list and change the value to 0.

The change should be immediate ? you can hit the backspace key to go right back to whatever you were doing (probably reading this)

This tip should work on any platform? I?m not sure if all versions of Linux have the same annoyance, but at least Ubuntu does.

also how did you install chromium did you build it or add the repo?

have a look at this :)

http://askubuntu.com/questions/89058/how-to-install-the-latest-stable-version-of-chromium

[Beyond Godlike]

ok to fix the backspace in firefox follow this

Luckily this is a very simple tweak, and you don?t even have to reboot Firefox.

Type about:config into the address bar, and then filter by the following key:

browser.backspace_action

Double-click on the item in the list and change the value to 0.

The change should be immediate ? you can hit the backspace key to go right back to whatever you were doing (probably reading this)

This tip should work on any platform? I?m not sure if all versions of Linux have the same annoyance, but at least Ubuntu does.

Hey. thx! Is there also a way for chromium?

[Syanide]

Ubuntu doesn't distribute Chrome via the software center, so if you want latest Chrome, just go to google.com/chrome, download the deb file, install it. It will add the repository channels so it'll be automatically updated (via system updater / software center) from then on. Firefox is always updated to the latest version.

[LaP]

Hey I bough this Lenovo Laptop for a ridiculous price. And i decided since its not my gaming hardware, id try ubuntu.

1.) Chrome is V24 atm, but Chromium cannot update itself, is the Ubuntu software manager always going to lag behind?

2.) Browsers dont take the backspace key to go back, minor issue, but is there a fix?

I love ubuntu's disk encryption option on setup and so on, but the update issue rather bothers me. Is there a way to speed up those updates, maybe a different update channel, or another distro thats comparable to ubuntu?

Thx!

As far as i remember when i ran Linux installing a new browser for Linux was as easy as pressing next -> next -> next (anyway in the case of Firefox it was). If the ubuntu software manager lag behind you can install the browser of your choice by yourself probably.

[Haggis Veteran]

the OP is using Chromium not chrome

OP i have never used chromium so not sure if you can use chrome extensions on it but there is an extensions to make backspace work how you want it to

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I use Chromium and all my extensions and scripts work fine.

It also gets updated when it gets updated. Though I am in like 23 right now, always thought it was further ahead then Chrome, guess the linux version is different.

[Syanide]

the OP is using Chromium not chrome

OP i have never used chromium so not sure if you can use chrome extensions on it but there is an extensions to make backspace work how you want it to

So? That's most likely due to Chrome not being in the Software Center.

Anywho, Chromium can use all the same extensions. There used to be a stable Chromium PPA that delivered updates on par with official Chrome releases, but it hasn't been updated in a while either. So OP, if using Chromium is not a must, just download Chrome.

[Syanide]

I use Chromium and all my extensions and scripts work fine.

It also gets updated when it gets updated. Though I am in like 23 right now, always thought it was further ahead then Chrome, guess the linux version is different.

Chromium gets synced right before the Ubuntu release, and doesn't really get updated before the next Ubuntu release. The other thing is that Chromium only really has a "dev" channel. That's why the v23 you have was way ahead of Chrome back in October, but it hasn't been updated since and the stable Chrome has caught up with it.

There was an initiative by some people to to mantain Chromium PPAs that would reflect the official Chrome releases, so there was a "stable," "beta" and a "dev" Chromium PPA that got updated much more often, and basically enabled FOSS nerds to have a pure FOSS Chromium with the same version number and features as the Chrome version. Unfortunately, they seem to have stopped maintaining those, as I just checked, and the version of the stable Chromium is 18.

OP: Pay no attention to any of this as it's just confusing, and just go download Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome?platform=linux

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

Well I stopped using Chrome because I was having issues with the flash, and smoothness with websites.

People said Chromium is better supported. Seems like neither is as supported as the Windows/Mac side.

[n_K]

ok to fix the backspace in firefox follow this

You have got to be joking me... Every other distro I've tried in the past few years has had this fixed by default but ubuntu doesn't? Christ, that's poor.

[ViperAFK]

Hey I bough this Lenovo Laptop for a ridiculous price. And i decided since its not my gaming hardware, id try ubuntu.

1.) Chrome is V24 atm, but Chromium cannot update itself, is the Ubuntu software manager always going to lag behind?

2.) Browsers dont take the backspace key to go back, minor issue, but is there a fix?

I love ubuntu's disk encryption option on setup and so on, but the update issue rather bothers me. Is there a way to speed up those updates, maybe a different update channel, or another distro thats comparable to ubuntu?

Thx!

I recommend using google chrome straight from google instead of chromium from ubuntu's repos. Just go to google chrome's download page like you would do in windows, and download the .deb package and double click it. After it installs it automatically adds the official google chrome repository so it always stays up to date. Chrome also has several features missing from chromium (integrated pdf reader, html5 codecs)

[LaP]

You have got to be joking me... Every other distro I've tried in the past few years has had this fixed by default but ubuntu doesn't? Christ, that's poor.

Well actually the backspace shortcut to go back is a very very bad design choice. I wish ALL browsers would stop doing this.

I can't count the number of time in IE i lost text in a textarea because of that stupid kb shortcut.

[Growled Member]

Ubuntu doesn't distribute Chrome via the software center, so if you want latest Chrome, just go to google.com/chrome, download the deb file, install it. It will add the repository channels so it'll be automatically updated (via system updater / software center) from then on. Firefox is always updated to the latest version.

Exactly what I do. Easy as pie.