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I was wondering what web browsers exist for Ubuntu; I don't want to use wine. I just want the ones written for Ubuntu.

I've never liked the Ubuntu Software Center because it never has all of the programs that I might want to install and therefore it's not perfect.

I just want a list of all the browsers for Ubuntu and their advantages.

Example:

Firefox: open source, and is pre-installed.

Please give me only one browser per answer or this will be confusing.

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  • 9
    This would make a nice community wiki.
    – Alan
    May 21, 2011 at 21:39
  • Also it would be good to know what you defined "good at streaming video" as. Do you mean; has implemented flash player in a stable way which contributes to a good user experience and performance when streaming videos? Or do you mean in terms of html5 video streaming? May 22, 2011 at 0:29
  • I'm assuming that by saying you don't want Google chrome, you also don't want Chromium? There is some difference between the two, and depending on the reason you don't want Google Chrome, Chromium might work for you. I'm not trying to defensive of Google Chrome, but why do you want an alternative to it?
    – Azendale
    May 22, 2011 at 0:49
  • @ancide When I use google chrome or firefox the videos are slow and laggy. So I can't watch them in fullscreen, but when I used Opera I had no problems at all! :D I want a browser that has no problems in streaming flash video.
    – Alvar
    May 22, 2011 at 7:53
  • @Azendale I normally use Google Chrome at an everyday basis. All browsers aren't good at everything that's why.
    – Alvar
    May 22, 2011 at 8:53

19 Answers 19

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You can open Ubuntu Software Center and search for it. There are a plenty of browsers besides those you mentioned:

Refer this Wikipedia link for List of Web Browsers for Unix and Unix-like OS to see some.

And here come two examples:

Opera

Clik here for installation Instructions at Ubuntu Community Help Wiki.

enter image description here

Links Install links

enter image description here

4
18

Midori Install midori

It's is a lightweight web browser.

enter image description here

1
  • 5
    I added some screenshots to give people a better idea of what the browsers are like. May 22, 2011 at 0:26
14

Epiphany

It's is a minimal GNOME browser that uses WebKitGTK+. It's package name is epiphany-browser Install epiphany-browser.

Screenshot

2
  • Epiphany crashed as soon as I started a flash video. FAIL
    – Alvar
    May 21, 2011 at 22:27
  • @Alvar Well, so much for that! I tried it and it just showed a blank, light grey rectangle. I never used it enough to run into video problems.
    – Azendale
    May 22, 2011 at 0:45
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links2 Install links2

If you ever end up without a desktop but can get to a command line this browser is what you need.

im1

It even has a graphics version:

links2 -g

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  • This is the future of browsing, free from any commercials or heavy flash scripts! This is truly awesome, I even managed to send a gmail to a friend with a screenshot of me emailing it! :D
    – Alvar
    May 22, 2011 at 10:49
  • Btw you don't need the sudo. :)
    – Alvar
    Jun 5, 2011 at 18:17
  • @Alvar: for commercials, use adblock and flashblock.
    – eudoxos
    Sep 25, 2011 at 10:53
  • @eudoxos that has nothing todo with my comment. IF you don't read any heavy scripts then the browsing is actually quite fast...
    – Alvar
    Sep 25, 2011 at 14:25
  • 1
    you don't even see my point.
    – Alvar
    Sep 25, 2011 at 19:00
9

Rekonq Install rekonq

enter image description here

It's light, somewhat fast, and pretty stable.

Oh, and it is in the software centre and the default browser on Kubuntu ;).

5
  • Eh, wasn't the default KDE browser Konquerer?
    – Oxwivi
    May 26, 2011 at 13:29
  • 1
    @Oxwivi : Eh, didn't that change since forever on Kubuntu? (Which is relevant to Ubuntu).
    – RolandiXor
    May 26, 2011 at 16:02
  • Last I tried Kubuntu was at 10.04 and it had Konquerer.
    – Oxwivi
    May 26, 2011 at 16:06
  • Just wondering about the default part you mentioned.
    – Oxwivi
    May 26, 2011 at 18:52
  • @Ward why thank you for calling me a wild donkey.
    – RolandiXor
    Jun 13, 2011 at 14:47
9

Lynx Install Lynx

Lynx is one of the oldest command-line browsers that still exist and work rather well. There really isn't much more to say about it except it's lightweight, easy to use, and does a pretty good job of displaying the DOM via terminal.

lynx http://askubuntu.com/

Ask Ubuntu via Lynx

, Navigate page (jumps between links)

, Return Follow link

Back in history

/ Search

Q Quit

H Help

The rest of the docmentation can be found in the man page or via the help interface.

8

Konqueror Install konqueror

Description

The layout engine Safari and Chrome use (WebKit) is based on the layout engine Konqueror uses (KHTML). Konqueror was originally integrated into the KDE desktop as a file manager and default web browser.

Screenshot

Konqueror screenshot

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  • 1
    Lole, where did you get ye olde screenshot from?
    – RolandiXor
    May 22, 2011 at 1:04
  • @Roland: From the first Google image result for 'konquerer' :) May 22, 2011 at 2:16
  • I had bad experience with this browser in Lucid and before, links on various websites (including ubuntuforums.org) were cropped (the text next to it slided under the link) and more CSS issues.
    – Lekensteyn
    May 22, 2011 at 12:19
  • I'll give you an updated screen shot :D!
    – RolandiXor
    May 22, 2011 at 13:36
  • @Lek: That's true. I've heard that it has a lot of CSS problems. May 22, 2011 at 19:24
8

Seamonkey Install seamonkey, (new repository: Install seamonkey via wiki)

You can try the Seamonkey Internet Suite, which bundles a Firefox-based browser, Thunderbird-based mail client, IRC client named Chatzilla, and a web page editor named Composer. Seamonkey is an open source version of the hallowed Netscape Communicator internet suite. One big advantage of using Seamonkey is that if the mail client is already open, the browser will open zero delay. The other advantage is that all your browser, mail client messages and accounts, chat settings, add-ons, and passwords are all in one directory. When you change your computer or upgrade the OS, you just need to copy the Seamonkey profile folder. Almost all Firefox extensions work without any problem.

Seamonkey is available for Windows and Mac also. It can be very useful for Linux users who use multiple operating systems. The profile folder works across platforms. 64-bit Linux users should note that the regular download file will not let flash to run properly. The "unofficial" 64-bit build is usually available in the page under the "Other Systems and Languages" link. It works without a problem in all the Ubuntu installations that I have tried. Installation is simple. Extract the archive in the /opt directory and create a soft link to seamonkey file in /usr/bin. You may want to backup any old /usr/bin/seamonkey link that may exist.

This is the modern theme:

enter image description here


Some tweaks to make Seamonkey look and act sleek and fresh:

  • Right-click on navigation bar, "Customize": drag the google etc search space onto the navigation bar (possible remove the old "search" button by dragging it into the Customize Toolbar window; also may remove or add other stuff visible there)

  • To make tabs more customizable install Tab Clicking Options

  • Support for more addons and plugins on mozdev.org. (e.g. context search)

  • There are few themes available, but the default one is decent, and Kilome has a light fresh look. Also, the new type of firefox themes (formerly called "personas") can be also used to spice up the default theme, and they are very different.

Kilome theme:

enter image description here

Also:

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

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  • 1
    Beside Firefox, Opera, Chromium and Google Chrome, it is difficult to find a stable and simple Internet Browser. Seamonkey is an exception. In spite of its primitive look it is a very trustworthy parent of Firefox.
    – user47206
    Dec 6, 2012 at 11:14
  • 1
    It may be old but there is nothing primitive about it. It has a functional interface that works. That is why Seamonkey users choose it over Firefox or Chrome. If anyone wants the barebones look, they should stick to other browsers.
    – BZ1
    Feb 5, 2013 at 9:43
  • i agree!! i only dislike the lack of themes, my eyes heart when i see the "modern" one, but "Kilome" is ok. as for the rest is an awesome browser. what a coincidence: you commented a few minutes after i started using Seamonkey again. i use FF because it works on my computer very well, but i'm thinking using seamonkey with the "openwith" addon of ff so as to launch it with a lot of addons that would not normally use in ff. using multiple profiles in ff can cause problems, as i've learned lately, so seamonke is a solution to what i was asking here: askubuntu.com/q/228309/47206
    – user47206
    Feb 5, 2013 at 11:33
  • on a parallel use of Firefox/Seamonkey, see last part of this answer (askubuntu.com/a/231014/47206)
    – user47206
    Feb 5, 2013 at 12:43
7

The Amaya Web Browser/Editor is primarily a WYSIWYG Web editor that also works as a Web browser. It is open source, and from the World Wide Web Consortium, which maintains standards for HTML, XHTML, and so on, so it is particularly good at testing for standards compliance.

Amaya

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Google Chrome, based on the open source Chromium browser.

Screenshot showing Google Chrome, with three open tabs.

0
5

w3m Install w3m

It depends what you require. If you are in the geeky corner, why not try w3m? It runs in the terminal.

An example:

w3m example.org

You can scroll up and down with the arrow keys, or by pressing C-v and M-v.

w3m - Google

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  • 4
    haha that's awesome, but not that practical if you want to stream video form like, youtube.
    – Alvar
    May 21, 2011 at 21:30
  • 1
    Yes. It is probably "a little bit" limited for such matters. :)
    – whirlwin
    May 21, 2011 at 21:40
  • w3m is also great for when you need to feed web content into a script but can't be bothered to sort through tabs. w3m + grep = awesomely simple content scraping Feb 5, 2013 at 13:24
4

Vimprobable, a lightweight webkit browser that is keyboard driven. Links are activated by a keypress which triggers a "hint" - a number next to each link that is then entered to activate the link.

It is fast, stable and doesn't require the rodent.

Vimprobable

4

Dillo Install dillo

Dillo is a lightweight web browser based on FLTK.

screenshot of dillo from their webpage

4

Swiftfox

Swiftfox is a web browser based on Mozilla Firefox. It is available for Linux platforms and distributed by Jason Halme.

3

Luakit Install luakit

It is based on webkit. It can be controlled entirely from keyboard and is extensible/configurable with lua!

enter image description here

3

If you are looking for an alternative to Google Chrome because:

  • You don't like their policy when it comes to gathering user information
  • You don't like the fact that they send you dynamic error pages from their servers instead of serving local error pages
  • You want a built-in ad blocker

But you like they way Chrome looks like and how it works, then SRWare Iron is an alternative for you. It is a fork of Chromium which doesn't send user information to Google or interact with Google in any other way and contains a built-in ad blocker.

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  • got a lot of bad press though, didn't it? May 22, 2011 at 12:34
  • 3
    I don't know what you are referring to, so please show us what are talking about. May 22, 2011 at 12:42
  • The main reason for not using it is that it basically is Chromium, with three (already user-configurable) privacy options hardcoded in. I'd rather stay with Chromium, where I get faster security patches and don't have to trust 'SRWare' not to add any malicious code in an update. The bad press was concerning how the author just made it to get the publicity etc. Can't find the link, sorry, I'll have a look later. But really, why use Iron ON LINUX when you can use Chromium? May 23, 2011 at 13:11
  • @The Negative Shape: I see. I hope you find the link, it would be interesting to read. I wasn't aware of the privacy options could turn off the functionality making Iron obsolete. So thanks for sharing! May 23, 2011 at 13:31
  • @Ancide, @The Negative Shape: here is one: Is Iron a Scam? Yes. It's out of date now, as it deals with no later than Chromium/Chrome/Iron 4 and now it's up to 11/12/13, but the situation seems to be approximately the same. Except that the options which weren't exposed in the UI - approximately the only justification for Iron, really - are now. May 26, 2011 at 11:42
0

Galeon

It's stated principles are simplicity and standards compliance.

enter image description here

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  • 2
    There hasn't been a new release of Galeon since 2006. May 26, 2011 at 17:39
  • That's almost as old as Netscape! and Netscape is just something you would use in mac os 9, for instance.
    – Alvar
    May 27, 2011 at 15:11

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