Chromium's restyled 'new tab' page is minimal win

With so many visually important Ubuntu updates landing today it was nice to find something else non-Ubuntu related amongst them.

Users of the Chromium Daily Builds may (or may not have depending on level of observation!) a new look 'new tab' page.

The evolution of the Chrome/ium interface is one I really love following - simply because changes often appear when you least expect it!

The new look is, visually at least, easier on the eye. I like being able to collapse any/all of the segments as and when I wish, tucking away the commanding colours of garish thumbnails.

Chromium Daily PPA (experimental & liable to crash)

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/ppa
• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

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Use Google Chrome’s Native PDF reader in Chromium

There are various odds and sods in Google Chrome which are exempt from inclusion in the fully open-source development version Chromium. Integrated flash is one and Chromes new native PDF reader is another. The reasons for this are, as Linux users you can probably guess, down to licensing issues.

If you desperately want to use it there is, what we like to call, a hack around, courtesy of an awesome dude going by the moniker of f.Zweig*

How to use Google Chromes' Native PDF reader in Chromium

1. Download the latest Google Chrome dev build (yes Google Chrome) choosing to save it.

• http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/eula_dev.html?dl=unstable_i386_deb
• http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/eula_dev.html?dl=unstable_amd64_deb

2. Having saved the correct package above proceed to right click > extract

3. Enter the extracted folder and proceed to right click > Extract the ‘data.tar.gz’

4. Navigate to data/opt/google/chrome and locate ‘libpdf.so’

5. Copy the above file to /usr/lib/chromium-browser/ (You may need to run a root nautilus window for this. Press ALT+F2 and type ‘gksu nautilus /usr/lib/chromium-browser/’ minus the apostrophes.)

6. Start Chromium and type ‘about:plugins’ into the address bar

7. Search for \"Chrome PDF Viewer (2 files)\" and click the ‘Enable’ option.

*(awesome name, one of my favourite authors is Stefan Zweig.)

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Chrome Dev Channel adds GNOME Keyring support for saving passwords

The Google Chrome dev channel (as well as the Chromium daily builds) recently gained preliminary support for storing user passwords in the native system keyring rather than, as currently, the built-in unencrypted password store.

Whilst the feature is switched off by default you can enable it easily using one of the following switches below, either by appending them to the the chrome command in a terminal session or by editing the application launcher itself.

• --password-store=gnome
• --password-store=kwallet
• --password-store=detect

Upon launching Chrome/ium using the switch, passwords will be saved natively, allowing for encryption, and existing passwords already saved in Chrome/ium will be migrated over.

It is worth bearing in mind that this feature is switched off for a reason and does requires the latest development version of Chrome/ium.

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UDS-M: Chromium to be default browser in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition

The Opensource Chromium browser - the base behind Google Chrome - will be the default browser in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Netbook Edition - at least until Alpha 3!

Speed
The decision, taken today in the Default Netbook App Selection session at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, was based on a variety of reasons not least of which favoured the good code base, upstream maintainance and the browser speed. The wide plugin base and the flexibility of webkit were also seen as plus.

Concerns
Issues raised concerning Chromium's non-native look, lack of support for native scrollbars and issues with printing will lead the Netbook team to decide, by Alpha 3, whether or not it will remain default for the full cycle. One area that will certainly need consideration will be compatability with the new global menu bar coming in the netbook edition.

During the discussion other alternative browsers mooted were Midori - which was praised for its speed and active development but untimely rejected due to lack of user awareness and the surging popularity of Chromium.

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Enable Bookmark Sync In Chromium

I tweeted this news yesterday but in case you don’t use twitter or it got lost in the chatter, here’s the news again.

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