I use chrome for general purpose browsing on Windows. I mean seriously I don’t see it as a complete browser at least for someone like me who can’t live without extensions. As a result of which my favorite is still Firefox. However, I cannot ignore the utility of this browser. We are going to see how to install this browser on Ubuntu so that you can install and play around with it yourself.

Home page

http://code.google.com/p/chromium/

Description

Chromium is the open-source project behind Google Chrome. We invite you to join us in our effort to help build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all Internet users to experience the web, and to create a powerful platform for developing a new generation of web applications.

Installation

Following is a step by step process to install Google’s Chrome browser (Alpha) on your Ubuntu machine:

1. First you’ll have to add, Google Chrome PPA to your software sources list. To do so go here and select your version of Ubuntu. Once you have selected your version you’ll see the PPAs as follows:

2. To add these to your software sources list, open software sources by going to System > Administration > Software Sources

In the following window click Third-Party Sources and add the following lines one by one clicking the Add.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

3. The next step in the process is to add the PPA keys for security. To do this open gedit and copy paste the following text and save it on your desktop with some name:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: SKS 1.0.10

mI0ESaSPtAEEAK1nJtoDZ0ewpOOf0ET6Vp28LqO9mB4ubWjzXyRSbiha5pCvnnSIU1K+7Gzb
t3r0iUV9eKLUmf8pqfF/9kwsoqFqFSCjp+XjUzXsEChcGBWvyfGdTX8ClFfwNxSVLvGSqmdX
gZhs0F8tQB0lPWHGy3VvEt7wG/VHqpcOYpdNYRqxABEBAAG0IExhdW5jaHBhZCBQUEEgZm9y
IGNocm9taXVtLWRhaWx5iLYEEwECACAFAkmkj7QCGwMGCwkIBwMCBBUCCAMEFgIDAQIeAQIX
gAAKCRBam/O7Tl4XtV/2BACs/RTpEWB/NUlluJmp1e6iFoyyfbT+HOD3hg35aQMzbdcmijsA
iY9MvIfZ0YKWyqNUdGpDj5n0bUNO0IcvKBBkOn5o4CiBsMp4DJHdrgJU4S00nAJK00E8I/yA
v+x4C9uOacW3yrzSHs7Hv/vG6Z1Jh+1JrabK13hdhwOL8+aY6Q==
=3GDx
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Now, we have to import this PPA key. To do so, go to the Authentication Tab in Software sources window and click import key file. Now import the file that you just saved.

4. Reload the repository list by clicking Reload.

5. Now all you have to do is to click the following link to install chrome on your Ubuntu machine.

chromium-browser
chromium-browser-dbg
chromium-testsuite
chromium-testsuite-dbg
python-tlslite

6. Once you have installed the packages to start using chrome go to Applications > Internet > Chromium Web Browser

Following is how it looks:

I have tried a good number of browser both for personal usage and for testing and I continue to use Google Chrome not because it is from Google but because as skinny a browser as it can get and that can be both cool and not cool. Cool because you
have a browser which is meant to do what the sole purpose of a browser is and that’s browsing. But if you are a power user or a bit of a developer then it’s not really a browser you would want to try as it comes naked with no extensibility.

I wanted to share with you a complete cheat sheet of Google Chrome’s shortcut as they might come handy and can enhance and enrich your browsing experience. Not that I use all of them but I do use some of them very regularly.

Google Chrome Shortcuts

About Pages

I hope this guide on Chrome shortcut will be helpful.

I know this information has been floating around on a lot of blogs. And I got it from some blog myself. However, I believe that the knowledge should be disseminated in every way possible and hence I am blogging about it for the benefit of my readers.

The post is my first post on the much hyped Google Chrome browser launched a couple of days back. Personally I feel it’s a useful piece of software and would have a lot of improvements going forward. If people are already calling it Firefox killer then I am sorry but that’s the most hilarious argument/assumption I have come across. There’s no comparison between Firefox and Chrome (some new kid on the block), even if it comes from the cradle of Google. This post is about the various about: pages available with Chrome as of today.

about:stats

This gives a detailed information on what the browser related stats are and are of no use to novice browser user.

Google Chrome About Stats

about:dns

Give some information related to the DNS and DNS prefetching.

Google Chrome About DNS

about:histograms

Google Chrome About Histograms

about:network

Google Chrome About Network

about:memory

Google Chrome About Memory

about:cache

Google Chrome About Cache

about:version

Google Chrome About Version

about plugins

Google Chrome About Plugin

about:internets

Shows tubes running on your machine. Doesn’t show on my Vista Machine (I guess coz the screensaver pipes is missing in Vista)

Let me know if you come across any new about page in Chrome.

If you are starting to guess that this post is about some Firefox extension that does something cool, then you’ve hit the nail on the head. What makes a good firefox extension is nothing to do from one person’s point of view because someone or other will like the extension developed as it caters to her/his needs. However, when it comes to pimping your firefox for looks I am sure everyone has that need and would thoroughly enjoy flirting with the looks of their favorite browser.

Until, now Firefox was using the concept of themes which I thought I thought was pretty neat. But I always wondered, if I could just change the themes on the fly and don’t have to restart my browser all the time. Seems like someone was listening. Firefox now has an extension that does exactly this. Don’t believe me, take a look for yourself. All you’ll need is persona, a firefox extension that changes the theme on the fly. Let’s see what’s the philosophy behind buying this concept.

Personas for Firefox is a extension that adds lightweight theming to your browser. It’s an experiment in personalizing.

Personas builds upon the ideas that:

themes today are too hard to find, install and use

graphic designers should be able to style the browser without having to code

browsers can be more than just desktop software, they can include online components

people just want their computer to be a little more fun and personal

Hmm, seems pretty intriguing and the whole argument seems to be pretty strong to be questioned for a defense. And actually the extension seems to be fun and I am sure you’ll enjoy it. The best part is all changes to the browser chrome are applied instantly, with no need to restart.

Take a look at some the personas below:

GroovyBlue

GroovyHearts

Firefox Flicks

I am sure you are going to fall in love with this extension.