Web Browsers on Linux
How to Install and/or Upgrade
Web Browsers on LinuxHow to Install and/or Upgrade |
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INTRODUCTION: This page is meant to provide information on several web browsers that are available on Linux (Wikipedia link). In particular, this page is meant to provide installation and/or upgrade information. The web browser that I use the most (circa 2009 through 2022) is SeaMonkey (Wikipedia link). In that time period, I have been using SeaMonkey on various flavors of Ubuntu --- mainly Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) from 2009 to 2019, and Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 from 2019 through 2022. One reason I like SeaMonkey is that it has a robust Bookmarks subsystem with which I can manage hundreds of bookmark 'folders' and thousands of bookmarks. In the rare case when I cannot access a web site with SeaMonkey, I may be forced to try another browser, such as
These should provide sufficient 'backup' for my web browsing needs. But there are still other web browsers available on Linux, such as
I prefer to use a web browser based on a non-Google 'browser engine' --- such as the Gecko engine used by the Mozilla Firefox web browser, or the WebKit engine used by the Apple Safari web browser. But, unfortunately, circa 2022, about 70% of web browsers were based on the Google Chrome web browser components, such as the Blink browser engine and the V8 JavaScript engine. Eventually, I may be forced to use a browser based on a Google-developed-and-maintained browser engine, but, for the time being, I am resisting. More Linux Web Browsers: To find more web browsers available on Linux distros, you can try WEB SEARCHES on keywords such as the following. Enough of this intro. A Linux-web-browsers-menu follows. |
Linux Web Browsers Menu:(links to sections of this page, below)
Note : 'install' OR 'upgrade' OR 'download' OR 'synaptic' OR 'compress' OR 'tar' OR 'bz2'
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SeaMonkey
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The SeaMonkey web browser is (ordinarily) not available for quick installation via an Ubuntu 'software boutique' nor via the Synaptic Package Manager. But you can install it pretty quickly (for the first time) by downloading a '.tar.bz2' compressed installation file from the SeaMonkey project Downloads page. On an Ubuntu-MATE operating system, I would use the 'Engrampa' file-archiver utility to unpack and install the SeaMonkey package files. In 2019 to 2022Nov, I was using SeaMonkey 2.49.2. But I may have to upgrade SeaMonkey around December 2022 (to version 2.53.14 or higher), because I am encountering an occasional web site which encounters page-load failures due to a web browser component that was removed because it had been 'deprecated'. BUT, it turned out that it was later discovered that the component should not be deprecated because many web sites needed that component, so it was later re-activated in later versions of web browsers. To upgrade SeaMonkey, it is recommended to back up the user files that exist in a subdirectory of the user's home directory. I intend to detail here how an 'upgrade' is done, because the Linux instructions on the SeaMonkey web site are rather vague --- especially on the subject of where to install the SeaMonkey files --- in other words, in which directory should the package file be uncompressed. When I 'upgrade' SeaMonkey on Ubuntu-MATE, I intend to provide the upgrade steps here --- including details on backing up the user files. Until I provide details here, the following WEB SEARCH keywords can be used to get information.
In Nov 2022, I went to the SeaMonkey Download page and clicked on a Linux 'Download' link to download the '.tar.bz2' file. I put the 'seamonkey-2.53.14.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2' file in a subdirectory of the 'Downloads' directory of my home directory. I did not install it, yet (uncompress it with the MATE 'Engrampa' file archiver) --- according to the upgrade instructions at the SeaMonkey web site. I may install and test it later, if needed. If I do an upgrade of Seamonkey, I may provide details here. My SeaMonkey 2.49.2 executable file is located at /home/userid/bin/seamonkey64/seamonkey It looks like I extracted the SeaMonkey 2.49.2 install files into directory /home/userid/bin/seamonkey64/ that I created for the installation. |
Firefox
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Circa 2018 to 2022, the Firefox web browser came pre-installed in Ubuntu-MATE Linux distributions. So a version of Firefox came with the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 operating system that I was using from 2019 to 2022-plus. However, in Nov 2022, that version of Firefox was getting to be about 5 years old and it was looking like I may need it as a backup to my old (circa 2018) SeaMonkey 2.49.2 version. I did a web search on how to upgrade Firefox. I found that you should be able to upgrade Firefox via the 'About Firefox' option of the Help option in the current version that you have installed. At first that did not seem to work for me, but after a couple of attempts it seemed like Firefox upgraded --- to version 106.0.5. I did not record the details of what happened. If I can rediscover exactly what happened, I intend to put a description here. Unlike the SeaMonkey installation, there was no warning to backup the Firefox user files that are in a subdirectory of a 'hidden' directory of your home directory. Until I provide details here, the following WEB SEARCH keywords can be used to get information.
My Firefox executable file is located at /usr/bin/firefox which is where it was installed as part of the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 'distribution'. The upgrade/update process seems to have put the new executable in that same location. |
Pale Moon
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The PaleMoon web browser is (ordinarily) not available for quick installation via an Ubuntu 'software boutique' nor via the Synaptic Package Manager. But you can install it pretty quickly (for the first time) by downloading a compressed installation file from the Pale Moon for Linux Downloads page. On the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 operating system, on my main desktop computer, circa 2019, I think I used the 'Engrampa' file-archiver utility to unpack and install the Pale Moon package files --- a version circa 2019. I decided to upgrade Pale Moon in November 2022. Pale Moon allows for quick and easy upgrade through its GUI interface by going to the Help option in the currently installed browser. I used an update option there to quickly upgrade to version 31.3.1. Pale Moon did not warn me to backup any files, but I had hardly used Pale Moon in the 2019 to 2022 time frame, so I was not concerned about losing any data such as bookmarks. To get more information on installation and/or upgrade of the Pale Moon web browser, the following WEB SEARCH keywords can be used to get information.
My Palemoon 28.7.1 executable file was located at /home/userid/apps/palemoon28-7-1/palemoon/palemoon It looks like I extracted the Palemoon 28.7.1 install files into directory /home/userid/apps/palemoon-28.7.1/ that I created for the installation. When I updated Palemoon (to 31.3.1), it looks like it updated into 'palemoon-28.7.1' subdirectories. |
Epiphany
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In November 2022, I decided to install Epiphany (alias GNOME Web) as another alternative to the SeaMonkey web browser. I had never installed Epiphany on the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 operating system on my main desktop computer. I thought it might be available via the Synaptic Package Manager on Ubuntu-MATE 18.04, so I started it up. Synaptic is available via the top panel of MATE using the menu-path System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager I used the Search option in Synpatic with the keywords 'web browser' and found the Epiphany package --- named 'epiphany-browser'. I simply selected 'epiphany-browser' for installation and chose 'Apply'. The installation (of version 3.28.6) went quickly. The application 'Web' showed up in the MATE menu path Applications > Internet > Web I wanted to have the GNOME Web browser available via a single click on an icon in the MATE top panel, so I did a right-click on the 'Web' icon in the Applications menu and used the 'Add this launcher to panel' option to put a 'Web' (Epiphany) icon on the top panel. I moved that icon to a group of web browser icons and right-clicked on the 'Web' icon and chose 'Lock to Panel' to keep the icon from moving around from time to time.
The Synaptic Search option on 'web browser' keywords showed other web browsers such as To get more information on installation and/or upgrade of the Epiphany (GNOME Web) web browser, the following WEB SEARCH keywords can be used to get information.
My Epiphany 3.28.6 executable file is located at /usr/bin/epiphany which is where it was installed by my use of the Synaptic Package Manager. |
Waterfox
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In November 2022, I decided to download Waterfox as another alternative to the SeaMonkey web browser. I had never installed Waterfox on my Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 operating system on my main desktop computer. It wasn't available via the Synaptic Package Manager on Ubuntu-MATE 18.04, nor by an Ubuntu-MATE 'software boutique'. So I went to the Waterfox.net Download page and clicked on the Linux 'Download' link to download the '.tar.bz2' file. I put the 'waterfox-G5.1.tar.bz2' file in a subdirectory of the 'Downloads' directory of my home directory. I did not install it (uncompress it with the MATE 'Engrampa' file archiver), yet. I may install and test it later, if needed. To get more information on installation and/or upgrade of the Waterfox web browser, the following WEB SEARCH keywords can be used to get information.
If I do install Waterfox, I may provide details here. |
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Page was created 2022 Nov 20.
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