Firefox is endangered – please consider checking out my post about Google Chrome
As Google Chrome is really fast and less of a memory hogg. Maybe it’s the browser Ubuntu Eee? I’m thinking about the Ubuntu Eee 8.10 release.
What do you think?
Popularity: 38% [?]
September 3rd, 2008 | EasyPeasy
I think I’ve figured out the crashing problem too, it occurred when I lost connection to the internet while using Chromium, and kept crashing till I restarted to get my connection back. Still no flash drivers that I know how to install either, so no Youtube, but FF is good enough for that.
Comment by Anonymous — December 13, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
Stuart Grant, thanks for the report :)
Comment by Jon Ramvi — November 30, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Currently typing from Crossover Chromium from Codeweavers, I’ve tried it on both Mac OS X and Ubuntu-Eee, and while it is not really a viable option on the mac, it runs great on Ubuntu-eee. The only glitches are when I close the laptop and open it, it chrashes the wine layer, rather than Chrome itself, and text does not render properly, some characters will be higher or lower than others. When chrome comes to Linux/Mac I will undoubted try it.
Comment by Stuart Grant — November 29, 2008 @ 2:57 am
Aldrin Cantos, encuraging your blog readers to donate is a great contribution – thank you :)
Comment by Jon Ramvi — September 23, 2008 @ 10:24 am
this is a great idea. Please make it happen. I know I don’t contribute a thing to your projects but I love your project.
I can put your donate button on my blog, but i can’t guarantee how many would go into it and drop some amounts for you. But I’d love to help and so far this is the only way i can think.
Comment by Aldrin Cantos — September 23, 2008 @ 4:00 am
Plug-ins is definitely needed. If there is no ad-blocker available for example, I won’t use a browser. Even e7 has it these days with IE7pro….
Comment by Magnus — September 10, 2008 @ 9:29 pm
Greg McQueen, I don’t think you’re average as you’re not only reading my blog, you’re also commenting. Way above the average user! Can you compile our next kernel? <– trying to be funny…
Xenon, I don’t like Konqueror – and it’s qt- / kde-based. The same goes for Opera.
Ad pijnenburg, maybe GC is faster on the Eee. It’s a big maybe…
Howtodude, great article – and thanks!
Comment by Jon Ramvi — September 10, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
It might not be a great idea. First of all, Firefox runs well. I’m under “standard” Ubuntu EEE 8.04 with Netbook Remix ON, and, of course, no Compiz. Using System Monitor to check RAM consumption, Ubuntu tells me Firefox only eats up about 50mb RAM more (it goes from 275mb to 325mb).
Secondly, if you consider Google’s implementation of Picasa — runs under Wine and seems totally lost in Linux environment — Chrome may not be as good as it is under Windows (unless they make it run natively).
Personally, I like Firefox because it is very flexible and I can easily sync my bookmarks between my WinXP/Linux desktop and my EEE PC.
Comment by Breno Peck — September 8, 2008 @ 7:59 pm
Meh
It works great under Windows XP… Linux version is forthcoming (someday)… Runs under wine with no plugin-process-separation, and slowly with no SSL support…
I love the multi-process design, and some of the UI..
BUT NO ADBLOCK LOL!!
Showstopper
If they don’t make some kind of extension system it will not be my long-term browser… plus Weave and stuff for many-computer setups…
Firefox is slow, but not as slow as it once was…
Adblock, bookmarks manager, live bookmarks, fullscreen mode… FF FTW
I think that Google Chrome is great, and it’s greatest achievement will probably be making mozilla compete harder and borrow good ideas; (hopefully the multi-process model.)
TTFN
Comment by Gaspard — September 8, 2008 @ 6:19 am
I think some of the paranoia mentioned about google at times is being a bit silly, you would think no-one had used a browser or google search before with the reaction. Plus Google do make some very high quality products – picassa for example – so hopefully chrome will establish itself in a similar fashion.
Trying it on my desktop my very first thought was, this could be great for the eee. The simple clean interface is exactly what you want on a small screen. I’d need to actually use it on the eee though, before having a firm opinion on whether it should be the default browser, but it certainly looks like a good candidate on initial impressions.
Comment by Gareth — September 7, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
Go ahead, i’ll remove it right away after the installation and install firefox. I don’t like Google spying on my browsing.
Comment by Han van Gelderen — September 7, 2008 @ 8:29 am
Chrome on an EEE pc? Why not give it a try? The proof of the pudding is eating: I published a howto on http://www.howtodude.net/howto/view.article.php/498 , so have fun :-)
Google Chrome was designed to deliver a browser for running web applications (Google docs, Gmail, etc).
Only time will tell how good it compares against firefox and other browsers. I haven’t seen any user end features that aren’t available in other browsers, but am interested to see where Chrome goes and how it performs.
I would prefer that firefox is the default web browser for the moment, especially as Chrome is only available for that other OS.
Comment by JRocket — September 6, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
Firefox rules ! And I’m also a lawyer specialized in personal data protection and I say NO to that browser. Google already scans your emails with gmail, I don’t want it to know everything on my internet life. Privacy is a treasure: don’t waste it.
Comment by bent75ben — September 6, 2008 @ 8:04 am
Go for it if possible! The EULA issue has been fixed at once. The browser is terrific. I’ve only had a couple of minor problems (not being able to save tiddlywiki files is the main one). No reason Firefox can’t co-exist. I’m now running them side by side on two monitors but the eee it would be nice to have applications on the desktop, like gmail.
Comment by Eats Wombats — September 5, 2008 @ 2:10 am
Judging from the blogosphere the Chrome EULA is just unacceptable. This whole thing is a privacy killer.. don’t want it.
Comment by Stefan — September 4, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
Call me paranoid, but I am a little bit concerned about google tracking your every move. So my vote is to stick to Firefox; the best browser yet.
Comment by coys1000 — September 4, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
What’s wrong with Firefox? I recently installed ubuntu&firefox on my 900: super!
On the other hand:
Whats so good in GC?
Comment by Ad pijnenburg — September 4, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
Imo, chrome would at least need to have Live bookmarks (like in FF and safari) on the toolbar, to even be considered.
I mean. Christ. It doesn’t even have built in rss.. (It wants you to use google reader)
Well, google. The whole point about rss is to read news headlines without having to enter some website. So google… Fail!
Comment by Thomas — September 4, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Google has removed by public pressure the totalitarian 11th article of Chrome EULA, so now I’ve installed and tried in on my desktop PC. But I agree also that Chrome must be an option and main browser for Ubuntu-EEE must be Firefox. On my EEE 701 Firefox works like a charm. And Firefox 3 it’s outstanding.
Oh … I am a total “noobie” to Linux. And I am an “average” user. Xandros on my Eee 1000 sucked, even in advanced mode.
I don’t think folks are right about “average” users settling for easy options. We want to define our own computing experience, too. That’s why I spent a week searching forums to figure out how to get Ubuntu eee working on my machine.
Comment by Greg McQueen — September 4, 2008 @ 9:24 am
Firefox is sloooooooow on my Eee 1000. It constantly greys out, and takes ages to load even simple web pages.
I have switched to Epiphany. It’s simple, fast, and is basically a stripped version of Firefox. I’ve been using it for the last 4 days, and it has greyed out twice, but only for a moment. Firefox greys several times during a surfing session and on average it lasts 20 to 30 seconds.
I’d definitely be interested in checking out a ported version of Chrome.
Comment by Greg McQueen — September 4, 2008 @ 9:10 am
While I think Google Chrome is bound to be good (there are issues today), this might be a bit premature discussion. I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Linux (or Mac for that matter) version of the browser, as I believe we won’t see it until late this year, if all.
It is definitely a choice, though, since Chrome comes with Flash from the start, and with Gears, but it is still a bit early to say.
Comment by tdhedengren — September 4, 2008 @ 8:33 am
I’ve never been a fan off OS to pull a specific browser over my head and say “use this!”. My history with Firefox started from getting frustrated of IE6 and i tried Firefox and I’m staying with it because I found great things in it, with out being forced to use it.
I would go download Firefox as the first thing, if it isn’t included, and remove Google Chrome – especially because of there EULA!
Comment by Søren Malling — September 4, 2008 @ 8:09 am
Nothing wrong with planning ahead…LoL!
Comment by Midnite Mac — September 4, 2008 @ 12:53 am
test, that’s how we roll – thinking way ahead :)
Comment by Jon Ramvi — September 4, 2008 @ 12:52 am
Google Chrome isn’t even available for Linux yet and you’re thinking of including it? Sounds scary!
Comment by test — September 4, 2008 @ 12:44 am
you can always release it for testing in a future Ubuntu-Eee 8.10 (RC) ?
Comment by Midnite Mac — September 4, 2008 @ 12:36 am
I wouldn’t opt for chrome yet. It is still in beta, more likely alpha phase. Leave firefox in and allow chrome as optional choice, as Henry said.
Also, I would not agree that average Joe does not use addons. On the other hand, average Joe would not even consider installing ubuntu-eee on his Asus, he would leave it with stock Xandros or XP installed.
So, my 2cents: leave FF main browser.
Comment by lyb — September 4, 2008 @ 12:36 am
Henry, I see what you’re saying.
Average Joe however don’t install addons, so we should compare an empty Firefox with Chrome.
You and other advanced users who use addons can just install firefox.
Or maybe am I wrong? :/
Comment by Jon Ramvi — September 3, 2008 @ 11:49 pm
Feel free to package it up as an optional package. But I wouldn’t set it as my default by a long shot.
The addons for Firefox are currently much to valuable at the moment. Particularly the various bookmark syncing ones, adblock, flashblock, etc. Make surfing the net on my eeepc so much more bearable on the tiny screen.
I have given Chrome a shot and I like the minimal interface and I do agree that it will likely one day be a good contender but I think its too early to be considering it as a good substitute for Firefox.
Give it a year or so to see what Google does with it.
Comment by Henry — September 3, 2008 @ 11:33 pm
Thanks for the heads up! We won’t ship with a browser without Flash support
Comment by Jon Ramvi — December 15, 2008 @ 1:23 am