Browsers on Linux Stephen Fluin
What is a browser?
Browsers Connect you to documents and applications remotely Use standardized (kind of) interface specifications Act as a platform for future applications
Browsers Are Everywhere Smartphones (Android, etc) Desktops Laptops Applications
Browsers contain Advanced rendering engines Complex document parsers Complete programming environment Layered plugin-architectures Tons of legacy support Full media players
A Short History of Browsers
Who are the major players? Internet Explorer Firefox Chrome Opera Also Safari Lynx w3m everybody else
Linux Firefox Chromium (Chrome) Opera Internet Explorer Konqueror Epiphany
What is the difference?
Differences Speed Functionality Style Compatibility
Speed Source: Jacob Gure, Six Revisions
Functionality Extensions and Plugins vs. Built-In Developer Tools Navigation Synchronization Process Isolation Crash Recovery Direct Rendering Protection and Safety
Style Customization o Themes o General UI Philosophy
Compatibility Not 100% for anything on Linux o Netflix o Active-X Firefox is Best
Compatibility Workarounds Firefox/Opera - User Agent Switcher Disable Javascript
Chrome vs. Chromium Proprietary and Closed Source vs. BSD Open Source License Extra tracking vs. Full Control Be careful with defaults
Trying Them Out (On Ubuntu 9.10 or 10.04)
Firefox - ~12M Ubuntu Default (3.5.8) o sudo apt-get install firefox Latest Stable (3.6) o sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable Bleeding Edge (Minefield) (3.7) o sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa
Chrome/ Chromium - ~13M Chrome Chromium sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/ppa I haven't found sources for Chromium on Windows. In the past week or so, chromium-browser has been added to the Lucid Lynx packages.
Opera mb Official
The Future Faster Browsers More Support and Standards Direct Rendering The Death of Flash
HTML5 Easier to develop More innovations More interactivity GEO-IP Video
Native support for audio and video Huge Battle - H264, Ogg/Theora, MP4, ?
Canvas and SVG Drawing like Flash Gaming and visualizations 1990s technology
Python Browser -A little bit of fun #!/usr/bin/env python import sys from PyQt4.QtCore import * from PyQt4.QtGui import * from PyQt4.QtWebKit import * app = QApplication(sys.argv) web = QWebView() web.load(QUrl(" web.show() sys.exit(app.exec_())