back to article Vivaldi Arms onto Raspberry Pi

The power user’s browser Vivaldi has come to the Raspberry Pi and other Linux Arm boards. The Chrome-based browser will run on all three generations of the Pi, as well as the CubieBoard and ASUS’s Tinker Board, Vivaldi said today. Vivaldi has supported Linux (and Mac) since it made its debut, but this is the first Arm port, a …

  1. m0rt

    Why would you kill off looping gifs?

    I mean WHY?

    All the good things are being taken away. *sob*.

    http://meowgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/laughing-cat.gif

  2. Updraft102

    Vivaldi doesn't come close to the options offered by Waterfox and "legacy" Firefox addons. Firefox itself just blew itself up, but Waterfox is still in the running. Best browser in the world right now, as I see it.

    I've tried Vivaldi, and while it offers a lot of choices out of the box, it still isn't good enough. Maybe someday, but not yet. Its lack of UI-modifying addons isn't a philosophical choice so much as the only one; the Chromium engine's addon API doesn't allow UI modification, a feature now shared by Firefox.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's modern software design. Rip off all the knobs so users can't change anything. So devs can treat what appears on "your" computer like some kind of fashion project, and appear to be doing something, when in fact they're not.

  3. Martin Gregorie

    Dunno about Vivaldi. As a former fan of Opera I was keen the try it, and did when it was first released as a standard package for the Fedora Linux distro. However, I didn't like some features such as replacing the ability to set fonts and point sizes for different types of text with a text scaling control (I don't like serif fonts). So I went back to Firefox, every so often checking to see whether Vivaldi had improved yet. It never did. Other folks must have thought the same because Vivaldi has now vanished from Fedora - its not even an optional extra package now (Fedora 26).

    Meanwhile I still dislike the way Firefox has gone with its steadily dumbing down reduced configurability and have settled on PaleMoon as my usual browser.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Pale Moon Browser

      Been getting cheesed off with Firefox for the same reasons and have been using an old version since later ones stopped respecting my TDE desktop colour schemes and looked like crap. Tried Vivaldi and its flat scheme looked even worse - really jarred with everything else. Will give Pale Moon a try.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Pale Moon Browser

        Looking good and mostly ok so far after simply importing my bookmarks and setting my usual font. The 'mostly' qualifier: it appears to be rendering the fonts slightly differently but I should be able to sort that fairly quickly, once I look in to it.

        Edit: Ah yes - I'd forgot to set the zoom. All good now, and I can stop using my old FF.

        1. Updraft102

          Re: Pale Moon Browser

          Pale Moon is a fine choice, and I would use it instead of FF 57 without question, but Waterfox is still better IMO. To wit:

          -Pale Moon does not (and will probably never) support e10s. The stuttering and general jankiness in the UI and while scrolling that was endemic in older Firefox releases is still there (though it's not at a terrible level, it is noticeable). By comparison, WF 56 (current as I write) is fluid and smooth in scrolling, and it's very noticeably better than any FF derivatives without e10s (including WF 56, if you should happen to turn e10s off). PM was forked well before e10s was ready for mainstream, and backporting it would be a monstrous task that would take far more resources than the PM project has, if it can be feasibly done at all.

          -Pale Moon does not work with a lot of FF addons, particularly newer ones. None of the new-type Webextensions addons that Mozilla thinks are all we need will work on it, but they work fine on Waterfox. In the future, more APIs may be added to the FF implementation of Webextensions, and we will have to wait and see if those can be backported to WF or not. For now, though, all the ones I have tried in WF work perfectly.

          -Waterfox is far faster than Pale Moon. I tested PM, WF 56, and FF 57 in browserbench.org's Speedometer 1.0 benchmark, using mostly the same addon profile (with the only changes being where there are compatibility issues) and the same profile and prefs as possible. FF 57 led with 88.0, while WF 56 clocked in with 81.0, which is a small price to pay for the vast Firefox addon library that still works in WF but not in FF anymore. Pale Moon, by comparison, came in at 53 and change. I don't have the screenshot in front of me, but it's not even close to WF or FF 57.

          I put speed last in my list intentionally. It's always nice to have "faster," but not at the cost FF57 imposes to get there, IMO. Once you cross the threshold of "fast enough," more speed is just a luxury instead of a must. Where that threshold lies is up to the user in question, but for me, PM is certainly "fast enough."

          It''s only when all the other boxes are ticked that I begin to think of speed, but in this case, all those other boxes are ticked. Waterfox doesn't give up the classic UI or configurability compared to PM to get the extra speed, though; you can still get the classic UI, and the configurability is greater than in PM, thanks to all of the addons that WF56 supports that neither FF57 nor PM do.

          Waterfox unfortunately comes with the Australis UI, but it also still works flawlessly with Classic Theme Restorer, and that alone gives you a ton more options to change the UI than does Vivaldi. You won't need an addon to restore the classic UI in Pale Moon, but you will need addons to add back in other features that were added to Firefox (and thus Waterfox) after PM was forked, like the little speaker icon in the tab if it is playing sound, if you want it (I do). All told, I actually have more addons in Pale Moon than Waterfox because of this, even though I insist upon the classic UI that is in Pale Moon by default.

  4. TRT Silver badge

    So long...

    as it does full screen take over, interval refresh by command line invocation and embedded borderless PDF browsing, I'll be happy. I currently use a Chrome based browser to do all of this (except the blasted borderless PDF, so I'm stuck with doing a SVG conversion beforehand).

    1. mdava

      Re: So long...

      embedded borderless PDF browsing

      I don't even know what that means. Is it useful (ie, should I)?

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: embedded borderless PDF browsing

        It means that if you use either an iframe or an embed object tag with an href pointed to a PDF file, and if you pass suitable parameters, then the contents appear without any additional controls, scrollbars, borders etc. I use if for displaying event posters submitted to an upload facility.

        1. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Flame

          Re: embedded borderless PDF browsing

          embedded PDF viewing in a browser is nearly always IRRITATING. save the file, then read it with 'atril' or some other PDF reader [preferably one that's not built with MONO or ".NOT"].

          [I always "shut that crap off" along with a few other irritating settings - but if I can NOT shut it off, that application will NEVER be used by ME]

          this is why everything in a browser needs to be CUSTOMIZE-ABLE since there's probably enough people that disagree with MY preferences that they actually WANT viewing PDF contents in an iframe. There are also people who like the 2D FLATSO, unfortunately. Well, they all need to be SETTINGS, so that EVERY customer is happy [not just the fanbois].

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: embedded borderless PDF browsing

            Woah.. I agree with Bob.

            Time to check my meds.

            1. bombastic bob Silver badge
              Happy

              Re: embedded borderless PDF browsing

              "I agree with Bob. Time to check my meds."

              heh

              (I do this without any chemicals)

    2. Lee D Silver badge

      Re: So long...

      Vivaldi is Chrome.

      Apart from some menu changes on a tiny bit of the UI, it does nothing different.

      Basically my biggest complaint against it, because all that "we're going to re-make Opera" stuff was just hyperbole and it does nothing new or different compared to Chrome, and doesn't begin to approach even the ancient versions of Opera (despite all the rendering engine being written for them), let alone put in the features they promised or actually push any boundaries.

      In fact, it's worse than that, because it's Chrome but when you use it on some websites, the Vivaldi identifier throws it and makes it say it's not compatible. For example, TVPlayer.com.

      I had big hopes of it, and still run Opera 12.15 as my email and RSS client, but to be honest, the difference between using Vivaldi or Chrome is so miniscule I barely bother to look at which one I actually hit any more.

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: So long...

        Vivaldi is Chrome.

        With you on that and the rest of the criticism. I've been using it as a standard browser since it came out but recent SNAFUs* and the failure to do a mail client have convinced me to switch to the new Firefox, with Opera sill handling my e-mail.

        * I can't get at the passwords it's stored for sites and the most recent version keeps on opening links in full screen, which on a 4k monitor is not something I generally want.

        1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
          Boffin

          Re: So long...

          Passwords are here: vivaldi://settings/passwords

          I prefer it to Chrome (and to an extent Firefox) mainly because it can do vertical tabs.

          1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: So long...

            Passwords are here: vivaldi://settings/passwords

            Er, not on my system because the file got corrupted apparently. There is a workaround if I am prepared to install an older version of the browser and then export the passwords… well, if I'm supposed to that I might as well try a new browser.

            Vivaldi's most recent releases have largely tackled problems I don't have.

        2. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Flame

          Re: So long...

          " keeps on opening links in full screen"

          That's a *MAJOR* deal breaker with ME!

          I *HATE* full-screen windows popping up and TAKING OVER the desktop, like "you cannot do ANYTHING ELSE, because *THIS* is now *THE* *MOST* *IMPORTANT* *THING*!!!".

          Might as well run "The Metro" CRapps on Win-10-nic if you want *THAT*

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: *THE* *MOST* *IMPORTANT* *THING*!!!111eleven

            ANYONE ELSE HAVING AN ***EADON*** FLASHBACK!!!!????

          2. TRT Silver badge

            Re: So long... full screen...

            However it is very useful indeed for an autonomous touch-screen kiosk making use of low cost components. If I use an init script to start it in full screen, I want it to stay in full screen and I don't want my underware showing through.

            1. Lee D Silver badge

              Re: So long... full screen...

              Indeed... it took them ages to solve the "new windows open at random places/sizes" bug, and this time round they "solved" it by just opening everything fullscreen. What's wrong with a) an option and b) using the current window settings to spawn a similar window?

              But they've taken so long to do anything vaguely useful, and there ARE password bugs (my work copy of Vivaldi has a password auto-plugged into the browser on a certain admin page, but there's no way to change it / delete it in the settings and I had to SQLite into the browser config itself to actually rid myself of it... but still it TRIES to auto-complete (but at least now it has the wrong password in its stead), that I've basically given up on it.

              You can't even drag a bookmark into a subfolder on the bookmark bar. You have to lob it at the bookmark bar, go find it in the bookmark manager and try to slot it where you would like. After several YEARS of development on what is basically the Chrome backend doing all the hard work, that's atrocious.

              But they changed the application icon three times!

              Sorry, but Vivaldi is dead. Even a mail client is years too late for me. I only cling to Opera because it's got all my old email but now it's been two years since I've needed to query it, so I could use anything (and an owncloud-style webmail sounds so much better nowadays and would be like my own personal GMail from anywhere).

            2. Dave559 Silver badge

              Re: So long... full screen...

              Porteus Kiosk is a really handy super-lightweight distro for displaying kiosk information screens. Unfortunately it’s only x86, and not ARM, at present, but it works great with an old PC driving the display.

              http://porteus-kiosk.org/

        3. rh587

          Re: So long...

          the most recent version keeps on opening links in full screen, which on a 4k monitor is not something I generally want.

          Yes, it's a known bug which is fixed in 1.14. I went back to FF because of it.

          My major beef with Firefox and derivates is no custom keyboard bindings. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to have "Close Tab" as Cmd/Ctrl-W and "Close everything" as Cmd/Ctrl-Q was an utter moron.

          I also see in FF57 that the home screen has lost the "Restore Last Session" button - having just accidentally mashed Cmd-Q, you have to navigate into the History menu to do it.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: •-W, •-Q

            •-W, •-Q, have been commonplace in many apps for ages, and are logical (in English, anyway): W = close window/tab, Q = quit.

            If the problem is that you sometimes press the wrong key inadvertently, Firefox does have a “Request on closing multiple windows” option so that you can avoid bringing down the house by accident.

      2. Updraft102

        Re: So long...

        "In fact, it's worse than that, because it's Chrome but when you use it on some websites, the Vivaldi identifier throws it and makes it say it's not compatible. For example, TVPlayer.com."

        So spoof the useragent. Surely there is a way to do this in Chromium world!

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