Chromium is an open source web browser. The project was founded by Google, which built Google Chrome on top of the code of Chromium. Sadly enough, only a Windows version of Google Chrome as been released, leaving the rest of us in the dust.
What I learned today is pretty awesome.
While I knew that Linux and Mac versions were in the works, I found out that a PPA repository for daily builds of Linux’s Chromium does exist ! (we’re talking about a native non-using Wine version)
Before explaing how to install it, let me just specify we’re talking about alpha builds, and pretty incomplete ones. Just basic web surfing works.: Chromium may don’t work, make your loose data or make your loose your cat. Remember if that anything breaks, you’re on your own – install it only if you’re confortable with restoring your system/data. Also keep in mind this disclaimer on the PPA’s launchpad page:
Ubuntu daily builds of the Chromium browser.
The PPA is maintained by a bot, so it contains completely untested builds, mostly useful to track regressions or if you are curious, or just brave.The package is still a work-in-progress, so is Chromium, please be patient.
FAQ: no native 64bit debs planed for now. The amd64 package is using ia32-libs.
Project page for Chromium in Ubuntu: https://launchpad.net/chromium-project
How to install Chromium on Ubuntu
Open your /etc/apt/sources.list file !
gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Add these lines at the very bottom of it:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
then upload and install:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Update: due to some bug Chromium requires the msttcorefonts package to actually show content (otherwise it will just show a blank content area). So, make sure to have multiverse repositories enabled and also type:
sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
(thanks bjoerns2000 !)
—-
Update ! How to install Chromium on Fedora ? Follow the instructions on this post !
The you’ll find Chromium in your Internet menu. This is what will appear when you first start it.
Aesthetically it comes with a blueish toolbar, that doesn’t follow your theme settings, it looks nicely blending in the screenshots just because of my white theme. This is how Chromium appears using the human theme. Compared with a nautilus window.
Getting rid of the debug terminal
By default, the menu entry created by the Chromium package will open the browser inside a debug terminal. That means that you’ll see two windows appearing every time you launch it, the browser itself and a terminal console full of debug/error messages. And if you close the terminal, the browser itself will close. 
Getting rid of it is quite simple, and unless you’re a developer you really don’t need it. (also note the Chromium team doesn’t need people to post bug about the project until it gets more mature, so you don’t need it even as a bug reporter)
Right click on the Application menu then select Edit Menus:
Then look for Chromium Web Browser inside the Internet section and change the Type entry from Terminal Application to Application.
No more terminal !
A few screenshots
Because everybody likes’em.
How a new tab appears
This is how history appears
Of course the history is searchable.
Leftovers
At a first test the browser is pretty fast ! I didn’t had the time to test it properly but it seems quite nice for being an alpha. Also I like the sober toolbar, which scaringly looks like some Firefox setup 
. I really think Chromium for Linux has a long way. While most features are still missing, seems the most difficult part is done and works.
Install it, test it, and let me know how it feels ! If you write an article about it, be sure to link me or post a comment here with the link of your article, so I can know your opinion about it !
Note: If it’s a while you read my posts, now you know how much right I was.
Before leaving you to play with Chromium, let me repeat one thing (and again and again), as I can’t stress it enough, this is an alpha build. The default homepage you’ll see when you open the browser, will explain the concept even better:
This is a pre-alpha build of Chromium on Linux. It is woefully incomplete.
It’s ‘Chromium’, not ‘Google Chrome’:
Chromium is an open source browser project. Google Chrome is a browser from Google, based on the Chromium project. This is a build of Chromium. No versions of Google Chrome for Linux will exist until Google makes an official release.
Please don’t file bugs:
At this point there are so many gaping holes that finding bugs is not the problem and dealing with them is just a distraction.
Blogging about it is not helpful:
Chromium’s problem is not a lack of media attention, but an excess of it. Coverage encourages people to try it out in this incomplete state which only creates negative first impressions. Also, dealing with misunderstandings/questions etc only distracts the team from the job of improving it.
Likewise, keep in mind that we won’t see your comments if they’re on a random blog somewhere.
Frankly I don’t agree with the last section (otherwise I wouldn’t have post this, of course), but I agree with them that a sober waiting attitude is the right behaviour for everyone willing to test the (any) alpha release (tabs don’t really work, incognito mode doesn’t work, etc edit: well, a little bit)
[via pollycoke.net - warning: italian language]
PS: if after spending your time on this post you have some other to waste, check some other howto. If you plan to waste some other time in the near future, why not subscribe my rss ?
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Thank You
[...] Vía Stefano Forenza [...]
W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net jaunty Release: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 5A9BF3BB4E5E17B5
Can’t find the key to import =/
[...] hay nada como tener una versión completamente nativa del software, corriendo a como debe, así que Stefano Forenza, nos trae un pequeño tutorial sobre como instalar Chromium pre-alpha en cualquier versión de [...]
@ MUD
$ gpg –keyserver –recv 5A9BF3BB4E5E17B5 && gpg –armor –export 5A9BF3BB4E5E17B5 | sudo apt-key add -
[...] Chromium on Ubuntu ! [HOW TO] [...]
[...] the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. I didn’t get excited until I saw this post, which shows that the packages do contain a working web [...]
u can install it using ubuntu tweak.
@seif: Nice to know, thank you. I am somewhat cautious, though, in suggesting programs I didn’t try or use myself in first place. I’ll perhaps give a look to ubuntu tweak some day, hope it doesn’t follow the (unfortunate) pattern of ultimatix.
[...] Chromium para Linux y las impresiones de quienes lo han probado os recomiendo leer el post original Chromium on Ubuntu How-to via Tombuntu Enviar a menéame | Enviar a [...]
[...] Stefan Forenza geschrieben hatte, es gibt ein(en) PPA für den Google Chrome Browser, somit tut man sich als [...]
[...] Detailed instructions can be found here. [...]
[...] sich Chromium nun auch das allererste auf einem Linuxsystem antesten. Hierfür gibt es passende Ubuntu PPAs, die tägliche Builds des Browsers enthalten. Für alle die eine 1:1 Kopie der Windowsversion [...]
Out of interest, has anyone tried the Acid3 test yet? ;-O
@TGM: I didn’t tried my self, but I saw around the net a lot of screenshots claiming a 100% success.
[...] Actually, it haw not impact for everyone, or at small impact the prototypal time, as this application institute out. But it does establish with a azygos bidding and, if it works, browses the base non-Flash scheme pretty snappily. The up-top journalism bar, break detection, and a patron of another features currently acquirable in Windows aren’t there yet, but it’s a native, non-Wine-based build, and it’s updated regular with the stylish cipher from the Chromium project. Follow the manual at either unification beneath for support instalment and actuation Chromium on your system, and verify us what you conceive (or how farther you got, or how you immobile it) in the comments. Screenshot via Tombuntu. Chromium Project [Launchpad via Stefano Forenza] [...]
[...] Plus d’info sur clubic, et la procédure d installation sous ubuntu ici. [...]
[...] Pour de plus amples informations et suivre la procédure d’installation rendez-vous ici [...]
Hey everyone. thank you for this article I would really like to test this linux version of chromium but :
is it possible to do this on xubuntu jaunty jackalope alpha (latest) version?
i get an error at the very first step when adding the 2 lines.
Nice article, Stefano. Discovered via Lifehacker. Congrats.
@ozenda, it’s possible. Just substitute ‘intrepid’ with ‘jaunty’.
Please tell us which error you get.
[...] de instalarlo es realmente simple y puedes seguir los pasos de cómo hacerlo a través de la web de Stefano Forenza. Vía: Lifehacker ← Anterior | Inicio Comparte esta anotación [...]
[...] tip final: Si usas Ubuntu y estas interesado en usar Chrome (Chromium) puedes revisar este muy buen tutorial de como instalaro (aun en ingles) Comparte y [...]
Just a note that editing your sources.list is soooo yesterday (not to mention dangerous).
A more modern method is to leave sources.list alone, and create a “chromium.list” file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory containing just the two deb lines you listed.
Cheers
[...] other Chrome news, Ubuntu users can try a very early release of Chromium for Linux, a pre-alpha build that lacks basic features like tabs. I installed this version in Ubuntu [...]
[...] Via [...]
Thanks. I am very impressed with PPA’s in Launchpad. I have aded a few things including an important one for me, openoffice 3.1, and it was so simple.
[...] auf Linux. Allerdings ist die Software noch in einem frühen Alpha-Stadium der Entwicklung; ein Howto beschreibt die Installation auf Ubuntu [...]
[...] via Stefano Forenza [...]
Hey,
2.0.170.0~svn20090316r11783-0ubuntu1~ucd1~intrepid.
I only get a white page today… not a nice first try. It doesn’t even load the alpha warning. I guess that’s real pre-alpha
@D: it’s a daily build. Wait and hope..
[...] ma la compilazione è veramente ardua. In questi giorni sono venuto a conoscenza, grazie ad un articolo di Stefano Forenza, di un PPA repository che contiene la versione aggiornata di Chromium per [...]
@ozenda,
The error you are getting is either the gpg error as stated above or you have a 64bit install and the ia32-libs It is being worked on as of this writing. Without seeing the exact error it is almost impossible to help.
@Stefan:
Sorry but you did not provide instructions on what to do with this:
$ gpg –keyserver –recv 5A9BF3BB4E5E17B5 && gpg –armor –export 5A9BF3BB4E5E17B5 | sudo apt-key add -
Please provide some kind of instruction for us who are newer to the Ubuntu environment. Thanks!
[...] futur Firefox 3.5. Si vous ne pouvez plus attendre, vous trouverez les informations nécessaires ici pour pouvoir utiliser cette pre-alpha. [...]
[...] Via | Stefano Forenza Blog [...]
[...] software dubbed Chromium, Google made it sure that Chrome is future-ready. I recently tried a pre-alpha version of Chromium, not Chrome, on my Linux install, and although it looked almost the same as Chrome, I [...]
You know, your comment has got me thinking — there really needs to be a much easier way to add keys to Ubuntu.
The user _shouldn’t_ have to go to the command line, and he shouldn’t have to download files — it should be as easy as adding an URL to a box like it is to add a repository.
@captainskyhawk: Then I have a good and a bad news and a ugly news for you.
The good one:
Ubuntu 9.04 will have click to install repositories. You click a link, and it installs the repository for you.
The bad one:
The repositories installable via single-click will have to be whitelisted. That means that only ubuntu-community approved repositories will work with the click install. That narrows a lot the scope of the install.
You can give a look to the guidelines for the repository approval here:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2009-February/027355.html
The ugly: not only getting included seems quite hard, but only
“Only packages where inclusion in the appropriate Ubuntu repository
is not feasible for some technical or licensing reason will be
considered.”
In other words, we will have the feature, but only for Medibuntu :-/.
I should make a post out of this, one day.
[...] Einen recht ausführlichen englischen Artikel über Chromiustefanoforenza.comm gibt es unter stefanoforenza.com. [...]
The gOS cloud must use a linux version of chrome.
@ricord: believe me there’s no way they use this alpha. they probably use the wine-d/crossover-ed one. If you get any more information, let us know
[...] adaptée à cette distribution Linux), vous pouvez tenter Chrome sur votre système en cliquant sur ce lien. Attention, à vos risques et périls [...]
Thx for tutorial bro Stefano, but in my Ubuntu Intrepid the chromuim browser not display anything, it just blank white.. hw i can resolve this problem thanks.
@CLO Just install the “msttcorefonts” and it will work.
Known bug:
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=9171
@bjoerns2000: I updated the post, thank you!
[...] http://www.stefanoforenza.com/chromium-on-ubuntu-how-to/ : installer chromium sous Linux (c’est le coeur de Google Chrome sous licence libre, et le portage sous linux est encore très expérimental) [...]
OK, thx bjoerns2000 and Stefano. It’s work well
Last update finally shows tabs !
http://www.stefanoforenza.com/linux-chromium-progresses-on-tab/
Thank you bjoerns2000 a million times!
I thought I had a blank page because I was using the 64 version lol