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Chrome: Linux's Best Web Browser?
Computerworld ^ | January 4, 2010 | Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Posted on 01/06/2010 1:20:43 AM PST by nickcarraway

I'm a long time Firefox fan, but I've also grown fond of Google's Chrome browser. In fact, I've pretty much switched to Chrome as my browser of choice on my Windows PCs. Up until now though I've stuck with Firefox on Linux, but now that Chrome is available as a beta on Linux, I'm being tempted to switch.

I've been using the Chrome developer builds on Linux for months. It was fast, but it was also unstable so I never seriously considered it as a Firefox replacement. With the Chrome beta, though Chrome is proving to be both faster than fast and stable to boot.

I've been running the rapidly evolving Web browser primarily on my Dell Inspiron 530s. This desktop PC is powered by a 2.2GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800MHz front side bus, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB SATA drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 Graphics Media Accelerator. On it, I'm running MEPIS 8, one of my favorite desktop Linux distributions.

The first thing I noticed with the beta is that it's faster than ever. Pages that drag to the screen on Firefox burst on to the screen with Chrome. This wasn't just my perception. On the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test, Chrome 4.0.249.11 zipped in at 786.2 milliseconds. That's more than three-times faster than Firefox 3.5.6 with its 2,969.4 milliseconds on the exact same machine. Wow.

Speed isn't everything though. I'm also pleased that Chrome now supports extensions like Xmarks, my bookmark sync program of choice. While Chrome doesn't have the wealth of extensions that Firefox has yet, there are already many good and useful Chrome extensions.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.computerworld.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: chrome; linux; webbrowser

1 posted on 01/06/2010 1:20:44 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

What about Opera? I heard they’re the best Linux browser


2 posted on 01/06/2010 1:25:25 AM PST by 4rcane
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To: nickcarraway

Anything that google has to offer is verboten on my computer. Google archives every move you make on the internet. I didn’t realize how much until I used the ghostery plug in for firefox.. EVERY single website that I go to has at least one google webbug (sometmes multiple ones).. I value my privacy too much to willingly let google track me..
Ghostery makes it much harder for them to do so..


3 posted on 01/06/2010 4:12:06 AM PST by contrarian (Don't blame me-- I didn't vote for him)
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t run Linux but I just removed Chrome from my computer. It seems as though Google as multiple things going on in the background that just keep slowing down my computer.


4 posted on 01/06/2010 4:34:19 AM PST by caver (Obama's first goals: allow more killing of innocents and allow the killers of innocents to go free.)
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To: nickcarraway

Just to get Linux Chrome to work I had to do some work. After nailing down the bugs to get it up and running I’ve notice the animated graphics slow down in Linux Chrome. That and having to having to relearn things like bookmarks and how to search items keeps me using Firefox. (Plug Google is Liberal and tracking info all the time)


5 posted on 01/06/2010 5:55:09 AM PST by Nateman
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To: nickcarraway; rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...

6 posted on 01/06/2010 5:58:54 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: nickcarraway
That's more than three-times faster than Firefox 3.5.6 with its 2,969.4 milliseconds on the exact same machine. Wow.

3.776901552 times faster, you nerd (the author).

I've been using Chrome on my Ubuntu machine. It seems a little faster than firefox, but I really can't live without Adblock and Noscript on Firefox.

7 posted on 01/06/2010 6:42:03 AM PST by shorty_harris
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To: shorty_harris
I really can't live without Adblock and Noscript on Firefox.

There are at least two adblock systems for Chrome. I'm using it right now. I don't know about the Noscript, I've never used that before.

My impressions of Chrome are very good for speed, but I've had it lock up several times in the first week or two. I'm running it on my W7 64 bit machine, and on my XP Acer Aspire 10.1" machine. In both cases, the stuff most always come blazing onto the screen, but every now and then, something just won't work. I also am quite aware of every thing being monitored by Google, even watching the googleanalytics notification in the progress bar at the bottom. Especially whne a page won't load. I'm thinking that maybe the googleanalytics may be at fault for the crashing of the browser.

I'm thrilled that Xmarks is finally included. It is the primary reason I was staying with Foxmarks for so long.

8 posted on 01/06/2010 8:43:18 AM PST by Big Giant Head (Running my computer bare naked for over a year with no infections at all.)
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To: Big Giant Head
I'm thinking that maybe the googleanalytics may be at fault for the crashing of the browser.

That's what I like about Noscript...you can stop those annoying scripts from running in the first place.

9 posted on 01/06/2010 9:00:17 AM PST by shorty_harris
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To: nickcarraway

occasionally chrome tells me that

free republic and drudge are

not available.


10 posted on 01/06/2010 10:53:53 AM PST by ken21 (i am not voting for a rino-progressive.)
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To: nickcarraway

My grandkids love Chrome ...


11 posted on 01/06/2010 11:05:39 AM PST by GOPJ (You don't have to eat all of a rotten egg to know it's rotten.)
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