I have Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope 64bit and wanted to give Google Chrome Browser a try to see what it feels like to be running Google Chrome OS (which will be based on Linux and run Google  Chrome Browser).

UPDATE Nov 21: Just adding the repository:
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable main
will let you install Google Chrome right from Synaptic.

UPDATE: Now I have Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10) alpha 4 and same works for Karmic too.

So I headed over to Google Chrome Linux Page. Since Google Chrome for Linux is under development and public releases has not been made, I headed to Developer Channel Version Page. Then, I downloaded the Dev channel (for 64-bit systems) and then installed it. If you have a 32-bit processor or 32-bit OS, you will need to download the 32 bit version. I double clicked the downloaded deb file to install it and it was available in the Applications > Internet menu.

UPDATE: For Karmic Koala except for installing deb package as gdebi-gtk crashes (this bug) when trying to install this package. To install, you should use sudo dpkg-i packagename.deb from the terminal to install.

On first launch, it asked me if I wanted to import settings and history from Firefox and I chose to. It is good enough so far. I am using it to post this thread too.

However, flash has not been enabled and I could not play videos on Youtube. So to install and enable it, just type in the following commands (you must have flash plugin installed in Firefox for the following commands to work). Open op the terminal and copy\paste or type in the following commands:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/google/chrome/plugins
sudo cp /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so /opt/google/chrome/plugins/
/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome --enable-plugins

Source: http://jeanderuelle.blogspot.com/2009/07/enable-flash-on-google-chrome-linux-dev.html

UPDATE: You will need to append --enable-plugins at the end of the launcher or menu item if you want it to load with flash plugin enabled each time you launch Chrome.


It is lot faster and lighter than Firefox 3.5 and Swiftfox. Of course, I miss the add-ons in Chrome and will still use Swiftfox as the default browser.

Transmission is the default torrent client with Ubuntu. However, I love ktorrent because of the various features it provides. As I use ubuntu and KDE based softwares require kdelibs to be installed, I usually go for alternatives and I found deluge to be a great alternative for ktorrent. It provides similar features as ktorrent.

It can be installed directly via Synaptic but for the latest version, just type in the following in the terminal window. The following instructions apply to Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).


1. Add the deluge repository: (Copy all the lines before step 2 at once, it is just a single line split because it was long. You may use triple click to select the whole line.)
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/deluge-team/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

2. Add the launchpad key:
a. Get launchpad key updater
wget "http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1113424/launchpad-update.tar.gz"
b. Extract it
tar -xf launchpad-update.tar.gz
c. Install it
sudo mv launchpad-update /usr/bin
d. Add keys
sudo launchpad-update

3. Update your package list:
sudo apt-get update

4. Install
sudo apt-get install deluge

Now, to launch it, goto Applications > Internet > Deluge BitTorrent Client.