Showing posts with label browser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label browser. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Vivaldi Browser Technical Preview 3 Adds Native Window Decorations For Linux, More

Vivaldi, a new Chromium/Blink based web browser aimed at power users, has reached Technical Preview 3, receiving numerous improvements such as data import from all major browser, on-demand image and plugin controls, optional native window decorations for Linux and more.

Vivaldi Browser Linux

Vivaldi (which is built using open source technologies, but is not open source software) is a web browser developed by Vivaldi Technologies, whose chief executive and founder is John von Tetzchner, former Opera CEO and co-founder.

The app is available as a technical preview for now (so it's not considered stable yet and some features are missing) and includes various features which for power users, such as tab stacks, mouse gestures, a note-taking feature, Quick Commands to easily search through settings, history, open tabs and bookmarks and more.

Changes in Vivaldi Technical Preview 3:
  • added optional Native window support for better integration with Linux;
  • added Tab stack and tab selection tiling in vertical, horizontal and grid organization;
  • improved Notes feature both visually and functionally. Now you can add more attachments and screenshots (in my test, adding screenshots doesn't work on Linux);
  • added support for more mouse gestures, including link gestures;
  • added more keyboard shortcuts and improved keyboard shortcut editing;
  • added Unread tab indicator to both tabs and tab stacks;
  • added data import from all major browsers;
  • added on-demand image and plugin controls so that you can load only what you need;
  • added Background tab progress indicator;
  • improved both Fast Forward and Rewind functionality;
  • significantly improved Spatial navigation;
  • added more options to the download dialog. It now has both “Save” and “Save As” in addition to “Open”;
  • improved Page actions;
  • added a new option to the bookmarks bar, so that you can have a very compact bookmarks bar with icons only;
  • added full screen reminder option;
  • increased the number of supported languages to 40;
  • various performance optimizations and bug fixes.

Vivaldi Browser Linux

Since it's pretty difficult to move the Vivaldi browser window without native Linux window decorations, I highly recommend enabling this new option (Tools > Settings > Appearance > "Use Native Window"). Enabling it should also fix the missing app window shadows under GNOME (Shell).

This should be the last technical preview release and the next major milestone will be Beta. There are still some key features that need to be implemented, like a built-in email client, sync and extensions support and hopefully at least some of these will make it in the first beta.


Download Vivaldi


Download Vivaldi (available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux: 32bit/64bit deb and rpm)

Note that by installing any Vivaldi version (tech preview, snapshot, etc.), the package automatically adds the Vivaldi stable repository (at least in Ubuntu/Debian) and if you install multiple Vivaldi versions, it may result in duplicate repositories - this can be fixed by deleting the extra vivaldi-*.list repository file from /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

If you encounter bugs, report them HERE.
Read more »

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Vivaldi Is A New Chromium-Based Web Browser For Power Users

Vivaldi is a new web browser based on Chromium / Blink, especially created for users who "have problems fitting all their open tabs on one screen". The browser is developed by Vivaldi Technologies, whose chief executive and founder is John von Tetzchner, former Opera CEO and co-founder.

Vivaldi web browser Ubuntu

Vivaldi (which is built using open source technologies, but is not open source software) is currently available as a technical preview, for Linux - 64bit deb and rpm only for now, Windows and Mac and the current build is intended to show the direction of the product, so it's not complete for now.

"It is not perfect, far from it. Some of the key features we integrate are yet to be implemented, optimization needs to be done. But we hope that you get a glimpse of our product and what you can expect from us".

The new web browser, which is aimed at power users, includes tab stacks, Opera-like Speed Dial which supports multiple folders, as well as a note-taking feature which allows including a screenshot of the current page. Furthermore, Vivaldi features a tool called Quick Commands, that can be used to search through settings, history, open tabs, bookmarks and more with a single keyboard shortcut.

Vivaldi is also pretty customizable - for instance you can disable tab stacking, change the tab cycling order and place the tab bar at the top, left or right side or bottom and even disable it completely and rely on keyboard navigation only.

Here are a few Vivaldi screenshots:

Vivaldi web browser Ubuntu
Quick Commands

Vivaldi web browser Ubuntu
Vivaldi settings

Vivaldi web browser Ubuntu
Tab stacks

Vivaldi web browser Ubuntu
Speed Dial

Vivaldi web browser Ubuntu
Notes

While the browser is pretty limited for now, it should include quite a few extra features in the future, like a built-in email client, notes/bookmarks/history/session sync, spatial navigation and of course, extensions support. Also, "a mobile phone and a table version are in the pipeline", said John von Tetzchner in a Reuters interview.

In my quick test, I must say that I was pretty impressed by Vivaldi or, to be more specific, by its built-in tab management features (why did Opera remove tab stacking again?). So I can't wait for its first stable release.

I should also mention that I tested Vivaldi in Ubuntu 14.10 (64bit) and the only issue I encountered was that context menus were not positioned correctly (the menus were sometimes displayed not only in the wrong location, but even on the wrong monitor).


Download Vivaldi web browser


Note that for now, you'll have to update Vivaldi manually however, the deb includes some code which indicates that in the future, you'll be able to update Vivaldi via its own Debian/Ubuntu repository.

Download Vivaldi (available for Linux - 64bit deb and rpm, Windows and Mac)

Arch Linux users can install Vivaldi via AUR.

Update: if you encounter issues, report them HERE.

Have you tried the new Vivaldi web browser? What do you think?

Read more »

Friday, October 23, 2015

Opera Finally Sees New Linux Update With Opera 24 Developer Stream

Opera 24 Linux

Opera web browser hasn't been updated for Linux since version 12.16 (about a year ago) - until today, when the Opera desktop team announced that they released Opera 24 for Linux on the Developer stream:

"Many of us at Opera use Linux as our primary platform. It’s great to be able to try out the newest developments of Opera on Linux once again".

"Adding Linux to our browser line fulfills an important part of Opera’s vision to shape an open, connected world. We want everyone to have fast and safe access to the web. Adding Linux opens up that possibility to more machines running the open-source operating system".

Opera 24 Linux

For those who haven't kept an eye on the Opera development, it's worth mentioning that the web browser now uses the Blink engine. With this Linux development release, you'll be able to experience features like:
  • Discover (shows news and other articles in various categories, somewhat like Stumbleupon);
  • Stash (Stash captures a searchable list of your exploration of the internet. If you find yourself wanting to save a page for reading later, Stash can help. Stash records the location, meta data, and a screenshot of the page, then places these into a list entry that can be searched by keyword and/or scanned by screenshot);
  • the latest extensions and themes;
  • vastly improved Speed Dial and Opera Turbo.

It's also worth mentioning that an article posted about a week ago on the Opera Desktop blog mentions that Pepper Flash is coming to Opera 24. In my test, Opera is already using Pepper Flash from the Chrome installation directory:

Opera 24 Linux Pepper Flash

In Ubuntu, you can install Pepper Flash by installing Google Chrome or:


Download Opera 24 for Linux (Ubuntu 64bit)


Note that this is a development release so you may encounter issues! In my test (Ubuntu 14.04 64bit with Unity), I've found a few annoyances - for instance, Opera 24 for Linux doesn't use native window decorations, even though it looks like it does: the theme is always Ambiance, no matter what GTK/window theme you set and the buttons are on the right under Unity. Also, it's pretty difficult to resize the window. I've only been using it for about half an hour, so there might be other issues too.

The latest Opera 24 for Linux is tested on Ubuntu (64bit only) with Unity and GNOME Shell and while it may work on other platforms, that's not guaranteed for now.


Arch Linux users can install Opera 24 Developer via AUR.

Thanks to muhasturk for the tip!
Read more »

Monday, October 19, 2015

PPA Updates: Tor Browser Bundle 3.5, Sublime Text 3 Beta Build 3059

Quick update for Ubuntu / Linux Mint users: our PPAs were updated today with the latest Tor Browser Bundle 3.5 and Sublime Text 3 beta build 3059.


Tor Browser Bundle 3.5


Tor Browser Bundle 3.5 Ubuntu

For those not familiar with Tor Browser Bundle, this is a web browser based on Firefox ESR (Firefox with extended support), configured to protect users' privacy and anonymity by using Tor which comes bundled with it. The bundle also includes some Firefox extensions, like: TorButton, TorLauncher, NoScript and HTTPS-Everywhere.

For more information, see our initial article: Tor Browser Bundle Ubuntu PPA.

Tor Browser Bundle 3.5 is a major release and comes with the latest Firefox 24.2 ESR (the previous stable Tor Browser Bundle version was using Firefox 17 ESR), updated extensions and Tor as well as other changes and bug fixes.

With this release, a configuration window is displayed the first time your run Tor Browser Bundle, which allows you to select how to connect to the Tor network:

Tor Browser Bundle 3.5 Ubuntu

Also, in the previous releases, launching Tor Browser would also launch Vidalia, resulting in an extra window that you'd had to close to quit Tor Browser Bundle. That's no longer the case with the latest Tor Browser Bundle 3.5 because Vidalia has been replaced with a new Tor Launcher Firefox Addon.

 Changes in Tor Browser Bundle 3.5 (compared to the previous stable release):
  • Update Firefox to 24.2.0esr;
  • Update Tor to 0.2.4.19;
  • Update Torbutton to 1.6.5.2;
  • Update NoScript to 2.6.8.7;
  • Update HTTPS-Everywhere to 3.4.4tbb (special TBB tag) - Tag includes a patch to handle enabling/disabling Mixed Content Blocking;
  • Remove Vidalia; Use the new TorLauncher Firefox Addon instead;
  • Disable health report service;
  • Disable prompting about health report and Mozilla Sync;
  • Disable HTTPS-Everywhere first-run tooltips;
  • Disable Mixed Content Blocker pending backport of Mozilla Bug 878890;
  • Support running Tor Launcher from InstantBird;
  • Support browser directory location API changes in Firefox 24;
  • Clear FF24 Private Browsing Mode data during New Identity;
  • Update cache isolation for FF24 API changes;
  • Properly clear crypto tokens during New Identity on FF24;
  • Support changes to Private Browsing Mode and plugin APIs in FF24;
  • Linux: use LD_LIBRARY_PATH (fixes launch issues on old Linux distros);
  • Linux: fix architecture check to work from outside TBB's directory;
  • Linux: remove libz and firefox-bin, and strip unstripped binaries;
  • Linux: disable Firefox updater during compile time;
  • Support multiple Tor socks ports for about:tor status check;
  • Fix: Tor Launcher hang on TBB exit;
  • Fix: Adblock Plus interferes w/Tor Launcher dialog;
  • Fix: make flash objects really be click-to-play if flash is enabled;
  • Fix: remove polipo and privoxy from the banned ports list;
  • Fix a potential memory leak in the Image Cache isolation;
  • Fix a potential crash if OS theme information is ever absent.
  • More.

The complete changelog for Tor Browse Bundle can be found HERE.

To install Tor Browser Bundle in Ubuntu / Linux Mint, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:failsdownloadsteam/tor-browser
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tor-browser
Important reminder: any TorBrowser changes you make (bookmarks, addons you install, etc.) are deleted on upgrade due to the way TorBrowser works, but this will change with a future update. Also, because there are separate packages on Tor Browser Bundle's website for the supported languages, the package in our PPA can only support one language (English).



Sublime Text 3 beta build 3059


Sublime Text 3 Ubuntu

Sublime Text is a popular text editor somewhat similar to TextMate, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.

After almost 6 months, there's finally a new Sublime Text 3 beta build available: 3059. The latest beta build can be evaluated for an unlimited period of time and it includes the following changes:
  • Added tab scrolling, controlled by the enable_tab_scrolling setting;
  • Added image preview when opening images;
  • Encoding and line endings can be displayed in the status bar with the show_encoding and show_line_endings settings;
  • Added settings caret_extra_top, caret_extra_bottom and caret_extra_width to control the caret size;
  • Added index_exclude_patterns setting to control which files get indexed;
  • Automatically closing windows when the last tab is dragged out;
  • Changed tab close behavior: the neighboring tab is now always selected;
  • When the last file is closed, a new transient file is created automatically;
  • Ctrl+Tab ordering is stored in the session;
  • Added minimap_scroll_to_clicked_text setting;
  • Improved error messages when unable to save files;
  • Auto complete now works as expected in macros;
  • Minor improvements to Python syntax highlighting;
  • Vintage: A block caret is now used;
  • Vintage: Improved behavior of visual line mode with word wrapped lines;
  • Find in Files will no longer block when FIFOs are encountered;
  • Linux: Added menu hiding;
  • Linux: Fixed incorrect handling of double clicks in the Find panel;
  • Linux: Fixed incorrect underscore display in some menus;
  • API: Window.open_file now accepts an optional group parameter;
  • API: Plugins may now call Settings.clear_on_change() within a callback from Settings.add_on_change();
  • API: Calling Settings.add_on_change() from within a settings change callback won't cause the added callback to be run;

Ubuntu / Linux Mint users who want automated updates for the latest Sublime Text 3 beta builds can install the application by using the failsdownloads Sublime Text 3 PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:failsdownloadsteam/sublime-text-3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sublime-text-installer

For more information, see our initial article: Sublime Text 3 Ubuntu PPA. If you want to use Sublime Text 2 instead of 3 (which uses Python 2), there's a PPA for it too.

Remember, you can see the latest failsdownloads PPA updates @ http://ppa.failsdownloads.blogspot.com/
Read more »

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Vivaldi Browser Devs Add 32bit Linux Builds [Quick Update]

Vivaldi is a new Chromium/Blink based web browser aimed at power users. I won't get into details here, since we already covered Vivaldi a few weeks ago, so check out our previous article for more information.

Vivaldi Browser Ubuntu

[Quick update] The Vivaldi Dev team announced a new Vivaldi snapshot today and with it, they've decided to provide 32bit Linux binaries (deb and rpm) for download.

The official Vivaldi website offers the latest Tech Preview so it doesn't include 32bit Linux downloads. To download the latest Vivaldi snapshot which includes 32bit deb and rpm binaries, visit THIS Vivaldi Blog article.

Note that by installing any Vivaldi version (tech preview, snapshot, etc.), the package automatically adds the Vivaldi stable repository (at least in Ubuntu/Debian) and if you install multiple Vivaldi versions, it may result in duplicate repositories - this can be fixed by deleting the extra vivaldi-*.list repository file from /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

Vivaldi is not stable yet and you'll find missing features and bugs. Report any issues you may encounter HERE.
Read more »

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Opera Developer 30 Adds 32bit Linux Builds

Quick update: the Opera developers have started providing 32bit Linux binaries with the latest Opera developer 30.

Opera Developer Linux 32bit

Opera stopped updating its Linux browser for about a year, until June 2014 when Opera 24 was released on the Developer stream, followed by the stable Opera 26 release. But all those builds were for 64bit - until today, when the developers have started providing a 32bit Linux version of Opera developer 30.

While officially there are only deb packages available for download, you can use Opera on any Linux distro by following THESE instructions (see the featured comment).


Tip: for how to get Flash and H.264 to work in Opera, see THIS article.

Read more »

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Tor Browser Bundle Ubuntu PPA

Tor Browser Bundle is a web browser based on Firefox ESR (Firefox with extended support), configured to protect users' privacy and anonymity by using Tor and Vidalia, tools that come bundled with it. The bundle also includes 4 Firefox extensions: TorButton, TorLauncher, NoScript and HTTPS-Everywhere.

Tor Browser Bundle Ubuntu

When launching TorBrowser, it automatically starts the bundled Tor, anonymizing the origin of your traffic and encrypting everything inside the Tor network. Because the traffic between the Tor network and its final destination is not encrypted, Tor Browser ships with HTTPS-Everywhere, an extension produced as a collaboration between The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.

Once you close TorBrowser, the list of visited websites and the cookies are deleted.

Tor Browser Bundle is easy to run on Ubuntu / Linux, but to make it integrate with the menu / Dash and for easier updates (since you must manually download and install newer versions), I've created an Ubuntu PPA so you can easily install and stay up to date with the latest Tor Browser Bundle.

The Ubuntu package uses the tor-browser-en AUR script, based on work by Alessio Sergi, Benjamin Drung and Max Roder (many thanks!). That's because Tor Browser Bundle runs from a single folder where it creates temporary files, etc., and with the script I mentioned, Tor Browser is automatically installed (or updated) to your home folder the first time you launch it.

But that's not something you need to worry about, as everything is done in the background so all you have to do is add the PPA, install Tor Browser Bundle and start the browser from the menu / dash, like with any other application.


Important notes: 
  • because there are separate packages for the supported languages, the Ubuntu PPA packages only support English;
  • any TorBrowser changes you make (bookmarks, addons you install, etc.) are deleted on upgrade, unfortunately there's no way around this due to the way TorBrowser works.


Install Tor Browser Bundle in Ubuntu or Linux Mint via PPA


To add the failsdownloads Tor Browser Bundle PPA and install the application in Ubuntu / Linux Mint and derivatives, use the following commands in a terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:failsdownloadsteam/tor-browser
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tor-browser


Removing Tor Browser Bundle


Removing Tor Browser Bundle requires, besides removing the installed package, to also remove the ~/.tor-browser-en folder - that's where the package is installed after you run it from the menu / Dash for the first time. So if you want to remove Tor Browser Bundle, close it and use the following commands:
sudo apt-get remove tor-browser
rm -r ~/.tor-browser-en
Read more »

Opera 26 Released, First Stable Linux Release In More Than A Year

Opera 26 (based on Chromium 39) was released today for Windows, Mac and Linux. This is the first stable Opera version available for Linux since Opera 12.16, which was released almost a year and a half ago.

Opera browser Linux

For Linux, the Opera 26 download page only offers Ubuntu 64bit deb binaries. According to the Opera for Linux FAQ, that's because:

"To provide the best experience, we focused our initial efforts on what we believe to be the most commonly-used desktop distribution, Ubuntu."

The FAQ adds that the license permits re-packaging Opera for use on other distributions, so Opera can be packaged or even included in a software repository for other Linux distributions.

For those of you who haven't kept an eye on the Opera development, it's important to mention that the web browser now uses the Blink engine (since version 15 on Windows), a fork of the WebCore component of WebKit that's also used in Chrome, and it includes quite a few changes and new features, like:
  • Discover (shows news and other articles in various categories, somewhat like Stumbleupon);
  • graphical bookmarks with sharing support;
  • improved Speed Dial with Coast-style tiles instead of screenshots (this is optional and you can still use the old Speed Dial);
  • integrated PDF viewer;
  • supports Pepper Flash (but it doesn't come bundled with Opera);
  • tab previews on mouse over (not enabled by default);
  • support for H.264 and MP3 (on Linux, this requires FFmpeg 2.3+);
  • HiDPI support;
  • improved Opera Turbo;
  • more.

Here are a few Opera 26 (stable) for Linux screenshots:

Opera browser Linux
Graphical bookmarks

Opera browser Linux
Bookmark sharing

Opera browser Linux
Opera Discover

Opera browser Linux
Opera integrated PDF viewer

Opera browser Linux
Tab previews

Compared to Opera 25, Opera 26 brings browser data import, print preview and bookmark sharing along with various under the hood changes.


Download Opera 26 stable for Linux


(64bit deb only)

Notes:
  • when installing the Opera 26 deb, you'll be asked if you want to enable the Opera repository, useful for receiving automatic Opera updates;
  • if you had the previous stable Opera installed (12.16), you won't receive an update - that's because the old package was called "opera" while the new package is "opera-stable" however, if you have the Opera repository enabled, simply install "opera-stable".

For Arch Linux, you can install Opera stable via AUR.

Update: for how to get Flash and H.264 to work in Opera under Ubuntu 14.04, 14.10 or 15.04 / Linux Mint 17 or 17.1 and derivatives, see THIS article.
Read more »