Pre-Alpha Chrome browser for Linux available

[brentaal]

Pre-Alpha Chrome browser for Linux available

Last week I found an Ubuntu package repository for the Chromium browser, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. I didn’t get excited until I saw this post, which shows that the packages do contain a working web browser!

Chromium for Linux is pre-alpha software, but farther along in development than I expected. The GTK-based Linux interface looks and works just like Windows interface. The browser rendered sites I tested it with just fine, and I haven’t been able to crash the it yet. Lots of features, such as bookmarks, the options window, and even the about window, are simply are not implemented yet.

The big missing feature currently is the tab bar. You can open a new tab just fine, but the tab bar is missing so there’s no way to switch between tabs. Like the Windows version, Chromium for Linux runs each tab in its own process. Tab crash detection seems to not be implemented yet as killing a tab process causes the page to just stop responding.

Chromium, even in this early state, feels much faster than Firefox. I compared the 280Slides presentation editor running in Firefox 3 and Chromium, and the difference was like night and day. Chromium scores very well in the SunSpider Javascript benchmark: 4.7 times faster than Firefox 3, and 2.9 times faster than Firefox 3.1 Beta 3.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 1914.6ms +/- 6.2%

Firefox 3 3082.8ms +/- 0.2%

Midori 0.1.4 1111.4ms +/- 1.2%

Chromium 657.4ms +/- 2.6%

The Ubuntu Chromium Daily Builds PPA makes installing Chromium in Ubuntu very easy to do. However, these packages are pre-alpha and completely untested, they may not work for you at all. Follow the directions on the PPA page to add the software repository. Install Chromium from the package chromium-browser (click the link to install), or by running the command below in your terminal:

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

The repository should be updated daily with the latest Chromium code. I’ll definitely be following Chromium for Linux’s development from now on.

Tombuntu

Launchpad

[MrA]

Chrome Linux (and Mac) have been referred to by the devs as 5-second browsers. Don't use them unless you plan on restarting your browser every other web page.

[MidnightDevil]

Definitely good news! I've been waiting for Chrome to run under linux for a while now. Too bad it's still pre-alpha and doesn't worth installing it just yet. I'll be waiting for a more stable release :)

[WarStorm]

Great news! - Switched to Linux recently - this is the only thing i miss from windows!

[Knife Party]

Can't wait until chrome goes mainstream on Linux :)

[brentaal]

Update

Tabs are working in the latest build =)

[Growled Member]

I plan to wait until it's a little bit further along but I do plan on trying it. It's a good browser in Windows.

[tiagosilva29]

Update

Tabs are working in the latest build =)

Is the process still freezing?

[MrA]

Update

Tabs are working in the latest build =)

Woot! Hopefully I'll have a viable alternative to Firefox at work soon.

[brentaal]

Bump.

Quoted from Ubuntuforums.org, will try it out myself in a few minutes.

Chromium now has working CLICKABLE tabs, new tab button, bookmarks bar, speed dial, ctrl+f dialogue, better font rendering, icognito browsing mode and i find it's by far the most stable build yet.

Ubuntu Forums

[danhooper]

I can't use Chrome on Linux anymore. Haven't got a clue why but every time I use it my screen freezes up for like 5 minutes and I have to restart. Firefox is the way to go IMO have never had a problem with it once.

Dan