Snap-less browsers?

[sithlord48]

I have removed snapd a have firefox installed from the focal repo
Here is the package for firefox https://packages.ubuntu.com/focal/web/firefox
Here is the package for chromium https://packages.ubuntu.com/focal/chromium-browser

apt search firefox
.. its a long list
> firefox/focal-updates,focal-security,now 76.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 amd64 [installed]
Safe and easy web browser from Mozilla

doing the same for chromium-browser results an a package with a interesting description
>chromium-browser/focal-updates 81.0.4044.129-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 amd64
Transitional package - chromium-browser -> chromium snap

Looks like chromium-browser will be snap only soon...
Snaps are pointless NIH... Hopefully soon it will join the other NIH projects of canonical.
Stuff like this is why I'm having a much harder time recommending *buntu to people lately.
There are better distros to base neon on .. (arch)

[Bings]

Falkon is a good browser and uses QTWebEngine I actually have it as a second browser to do basic web design with. I use it with kate and it auto refreshes when a local html file is saved.

[Don B. Cilly]

While it's true that Chrome/ium has a 70% share of desk/lap/top use,
I use FF for just about everything, and it works just fine - for just about everything.
(I do "compartmentalise" a bit, so I also use Opera/Chrome/Brave for some limited instances). But Firefox will cut it -for me - on any site).
Brave is sleek and fast, but can be annoying,

Still, if someone "needs a Chromium-based web browser to test websites for her customers"... hmmm, well... Chrome doesn't need snaps anyway...
So, if it's for testing purposes, why not Chrome?

[kyonides]

Nah, Brave doesn't convince me. It fails to properly display a search bar inside a toolbar on a website I frequently visit. And I had just installed brave a few minutes ago... Firefox didn't fail me like that.

[oshunluvr]

Yes, Debian is notoriously slower at adopting new packages the Ubuntu. KDEneon is on version 81.0.4044.138 and Buster is definitely on 80.0.3987.162-1. If you must have the latest and greatest, either use the snap or compile it yourself may be your only choices.

On the other hand, I just started using Brave browser and I think I'm sticking with it! Lots of features and way faster than Chromium has been lately. Current Brave release is based on Version 1.8.96 Chromium: 81.0.4044.138 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[Schwarzer Kater]

Thank you for the link, oshunluvr. Could give this "Debian solution" a try later on, but I doubt it will be the current version of Chromium as it isn't in my Debian 10.4 KDE installation on my private desktop (version number there is: 80.0.3987.162-1)…

[oshunluvr]

Just in case anyone cares: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1204...m-without-snap

[Schwarzer Kater]

[…] I use FF so Chromium is not needed. […]

One of my friends I currently install Kubuntu 20.04 for does need a Chromium-based web browser to test websites for her customers.
But unfortunately Chromium is available as snap only in 20.04 and I couldn't find a trustworthy PPA for it. So I installed Opera and Google Chrome for her instead by adding their official PPAs to avoid snaps.

Personally I don't like Google at all, but I think one has to make compromises one way or the other or otherwise "normal" users will go back to Windows 10 systems…

[chimak111]

@Schwarzer Kater, thank you very much for the links in your first post

I'm trying out snaps in VMs of Kubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 and the experience is interesting. I've filed two snap-related bugs, both are the same but the first was at Launchpad before I realised that bugs relating to snaps published by "KDE" should be at https://bugs.kde.org/enter_bug.cgi?p...omponent=Snaps!). With my limited knowledge, I also managed to help out a couple of snap users elsewhere.

I'll soon install snaps for Kate and Okular in Kubuntu 18.04.

[verndog]

Yes, the first order of business is remove snapd. I have no need for it. I use FF so Chromium is not needed. I'm running neon, so there's not much else I need to remove, since most are not installed anyway.