Opera not Firefox

For those of you struggling with Firefox 2 or Firefox 3: try Opera. Its not in the repository so if you want to try, read this post through first and then go to:

http://www.opera.com/download/index.dml?platform=linux

Select Fedora from the drop down (sitting by default at ubuntu) and then select the first package: Fedora Core 5, Core 6, 7, 8. (Linpus being a remix of Fedora 8). Save the rpm file to your download folder, and install simply by clicking on it from within your files browser and entering your password.

NOTE: Opera will not by default appear in the XFCE menu, let alone the acer default. But that can be remedied by following the instructions elsewhere in the forum on how to create a desktop file and editing the groupapp.xml file to display it. A bit of a fiddle, but IMHO well worth it, because:

1. Opera 9.52 happily runs real audio and video feeds which cause FF (2 and 3) to lock up (assuming that you have already installed the codecs)

2. Opera can be optimised for a small display much more effectively than FF, especially if you opt for a minimalist skin like "Breeze"

3. Opera just feels slicker. It always does, which is why I use it on my 4 watt Koolu PC which makes the AA1 look like a supercomputer!

4. You can set it to ask if you want to resume, go to home, or a blank page every time you start up. And many more features, from a (IMO somehat flaky) built in mail client to speed dialling of bookmarks, and the original and best iteration of tabbed browsing. This last apart I just stick to the basic browser on the AA1.

However I still keep FF, and so should you. There are still a handful of sites for which FF works and Opera doesn't. It is a vanishingly small list though.......

 

Not to mention if you uninstall FF half your desktop will dissappear.

I've used opera on my desktop right after they stopped charging for it. But I realized that I used it simply out of just being used to it.

Tabbed browing feels the same in both ff/opera
FF also has speed dial (it's an add-on called fast dial) that's more customizable.
FF can be configured to optimize screen space as well as opera can.
http://www.kejut.com/browsermemory shows that both broswers use pretty much the same amount of memory and load everything pretty much the same.

But I appreciate that without opera, firefox today wouldn't have as many add-on's/extensions. Without Opera there'd be no fast dial, magic wand, undoing closed tabs, a sidebar, and competition to keep making the best browser.

Oh yeah, one thing I really hate about FF is that I can't backspace to go back a page, but that's manageable.

 

Type about:config into the address bar, look for "browser.backspace_action" and change the value from 2 to 1 and restart Firefox.

EDIT: O, just saw how old that post was. Very Sorry

 

Totally agree. Opera's zoom feature is also a must when you have a small scrren like the AA1, and since it seems to be easier to get working than firefox 3, it makes sense. I've also seen some compelling evidence that shows that Opera is the lightest, safest, and fastest browser of the well-known ones.

 

Wolydarg wrote:

As you say, Firefox has been playing catch up. Opera delivers these things out of the box. That said I know one becomes partisan about what one uses most... and your comments will make me look more closely at the FF add-ons. Firefox is in any event absolutely fine, except when it freezes on a real audio feed (Try BBC "listen again" for older stuff without the iplayer.... Just as Opera is OK until it fails to load the odd complex flash page (Try http://www.abarthcars.co.uk). So to cope most fully in a Microsoft World there is a case for installing both on any Linux system.

I have to say though that Opera really does function more smoothly on my (very) low power system. My Koolu "net appliance" takes 12 secs to load FF, 9 secs to load Opera. It also pauses very slightly as you move between tabs on FF, whereas the same move in Opera is seamless. The cumulative effect is to make browsing feel much nicer, even though the actual website rendering speeds are comparable. And as jmorales22 says, the opera "zoom" facility is much better than the incremental "text size" approach used by FF, which rapidly distorts the page and frames, precisely because only text is enlarged.....

 

As a long time Opera user (it's one of the first things I throw on to any new machine I get my hands on) I was delighted to see this post and even more delighted to get a dollop of Opera goodness on my Aspire One. Thanks for the info. Cheers

 

I finally got around to installing opera on my aspire one, and it definitely feels a bit smoother and more profesional. However, I have three little quirks I was hoping someone would be able to answer:
1. All flash (youtube included) runs way slow and is very choppy compared to firefox. Google shows a few other people who have experienced the same issue.
2. Accidently touching the bottom half of the mousepad causes whatever was in my tab to go forward and backwards, is there a way to disable that? (it isn't mouse gestures, turned that off with no success)
3. I can't seem to customize the toolbars, as in I want to move the address bar above the tabs/personal bars, but clicking customize still does not let me move the physical location of the bars, only gives me other options.

thanks

 

I've just run youtube vids on Opera & FF on tne AA1. Couldn't see any difference in speed or smoothness. However Opera still does struggle with Flash. If you go full screen with a YouTube vid and then try to return using esc you often get a blank white box where the video should be. You then have to close Opera from the taskbar. Until 9.5, Opera for Linux was completely hopeless on any but the most basic flash sites, which is why i ran the 9.5 beta for months ahead of the release of 9.5. I also find that 9.52 is less flaky than 9.5... but they are still not there yet.

Again I can't get this to happen. Not when I try anyway, but I think I know what you mean as I do get occasional forward/backward tab movments which don't happen on my other PCs.

AFAIK it can't be done. Not officially anyhow. But you could have a look at this: http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/11/move-the-opera-address-bar-to-the-top/

 

Ah, thank you, was looking for exactly that.

Any ideas on why scrolling horizontally moves forward and back? I'd hate to totally disable horizontal scrolling just so I don't have to go back and forth if I touch the touchpad by accident, or actually need to scroll horizontally >_>

And opera tells me that I am using Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124 as my flash plug-in, is that the latest one or is my problem completely different?

 

solution: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1654#p11345

 

Yeah that is really annoying. I ended up disabling horizontal scrolling and haven't really missed it since I set Opera to fit to width on page zoom. But it's kind of more of a workaround than anything.

 

I can't install Opera 9.52 from the downloaded rpm.
All I could install was 9.27. :shock:
Does anyone know how to install the newest Opera 9.52?

Appreciate help. :mrgreen:

 

tabbed browsing doesn't seem to work in my FF 2.0 anything wrong, or was tb only introduced in FF3.0????

 

Opera does so much for you as soon as you install it.

Little tips for you if you have just started on opera:

use opera link to store and move your speed dial/bookmarks to other comps (or phones)
use web panels
speed dials are activated by ctrl+speed dial position
scroll with space bar and press space bar at the end of the page and it will go to the next page (very useful)
voice control.

 

I have always used firefox and the first thing i done when i got my little one was to put firefox 3 on it. I was a happy man no probs at all runs well same as my main pc Now i dont know why after all these years i had a sudden urge to try opera on my one so i installed it and could not believe the speed i was getting from this browser it is soooo fasssssst bye bye firefox hello opera if you feel the need for speed opera on the one is the way to go

 

I tried Opera a few years ago, but went back to IE/Firefox. I tried Opera again today on my AAO linux 8gb ssd and I´m like "wow!", what speed, what nice and smooth layout/interface. Also, website fonts look so much better than when using Firefox (under Linpus Linux at least). Opera is my new best friend.

 

By the way...one of the best features of Opera is its fastback. By default in the new versions the fastback is not always working and there's a simple solution: go to opera:config and search for history. You want to set the "history navigation mode" to 3 from its default of 1 and the fastback will work all the time. It's still the fastest fastback of any browser....almost instantaneous.

 

Before I begin let me say that I am an unabashed Opera fanboy, but.....
In my opinion Opera is the best browser on any platform.
Plus its built in email client is tons better than the Onemail client. I was going to install Thunderbird but realised there was no need as Opera mail is excellent.
The bittorrent client works well enough too although I admit it is a little too simple.
The synchronise function rocks.
The search from the address bar saves me loads of time.
It manages RSS feeds brilliantly
The notes function is an idea of genious.
Then theres the Widgets (Touch the Sky is my favorite).
You would think that with all those functions the thing would be bloated and slow, but no it flys. How this little gem has only 2% market share on all platforms I will never know.

http://my.opera.com/chooseopera/blog/spread-the-word

Quite simply it is the best thought out piece of software I have ever used.

 

The free OperaMail is quite limited, innit? 3 megabyte storage (yes megabyte, not gigabyte) and 2 mb limited attachment according to their website http://www.operamail.com/templates/common/us/why.htm. So it must be doing something else great for you to praise it this high. I´m not bashing Operamail in any way, I actually feel inclined to make a switch and try it out, but because of those rather poor limitations I am just wondering is it even worth trying. Enlighten me, please.

 

Hi,
I would gladly use Opera rather than Firefox on my AA1. Firefox suffers from very irritating pauses. However there is a killer problem with Opera:it has a serious bug. After a while of browsing (usually with several tabs open) it will lock up. I have found no way to get it going again. I have to kill the opera process. Sometimes even this doesn't work, the whole machine locks up and I have to do a hard reset. I had hoped this would be fixed in 9.61, but it isn't. Does anyone know more about this? How to prevent it or how to easily recover when it does happen?

Jon