Linux Mint introduces its own take on the Chromium web browser | Hacker News Reader

Linux Mint introduces its own take on the Chromium web browser

zdnet.com

24 pointsCrankyBear21 comments

>"To guarantee reactivity and timely updates we had to automate the process of detecting, packaging and compiling new versions of Chromium. This is an application which can require more than 6 hours per build on a fast computer.

As a user of Vivaldi, this makes me wonder how well it is keeping up with security fixes. Users of Brave may have same question ...

Anyone know a simple, quick way to test for timeliness?

You can paint lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. Wish there were other browser engines besides the Chromium monopoly.

Actually, except for Firefox, everything pretty much is Chromium under the hood these days.

Did... did you forget about mobile? iOS is WebKit, as is the default browser on the Mac.

The vast majority of game console are also webkit ! (With its fair share of exploits to be honest)

Gaming consoles with WebKit: Switch, PS4, iPhone/iPad (if you count), PS5(not confirmed but should be)

Gaming consoles with Blink: Many Android devices (including phones/tablets if you count, and console-like devices like Oculus Quest), Xbox Series X/S (Maybe? Fun to see.)

Why? What is the benefit to having more?

I just wish there were other browser applications based on Chrome/Chromium. The rendering engine having been written by Google doesn’t inherently bother me, but the lame browser app does. It’s missing features that I want, keeps removing features that I use, and constantly adds features I will never use.

i'm in the same boat. I want differentiated products on an open source engine, which is what Chrom(e)ium mostly is. Multiple engines seems to me like having half a dozen types of roads only 20% of cars can drive on.

I want open infrastructure, not fractured infrastructure.

Google effectively controls the engine's development, and additionally effectively controls the web standardization process (de facto or de jure). This is bad for obvious reasons. It would be neat if there was another browser not effectively run by Google. Being open-source is nice, but who writes the commits? Who controls the direction? Mostly Googlers. Sure, others contribute, but the project is obviously steered by Google. Having most of the user experience/stack of the Web controlled by one company is called a monoculture and it isn't good.

> This is bad for obvious reasons.

Those reasons are not obvious to me.

Google is incentivised to twist the web to their benefit, not everybody's. Any profit driven entity is. That's why a Google browser monoculture is bad.

Do you understand?

No, because browser is open source and can be forked or modified by anyone should Google do something that threatens the web.

AMP, for example, has nothing to do with their control of Chrome.

Ubuntu is the pig wearing lipstick, Mint has evolved into the wild boar that still has some lipstick. Use Debian if you are allergic to that sort of nonsense.

Can you elaborate on that? I personally think Mint is a fine distro, which made the sane decision to abandon snaps when Ubuntu was pushing it.

Linux Mint is so good I have a hard time understanding why anyone would use Ubunty. I've used so many distros over the years, but I always end up with Mint in the end. Canonical's horrible choise regarding the snap drama is just another reason to stay clear of it.

I personally like Gnome 3, I really do. Mint does not come with one. So, although I am not a big fan of the UI theme of Pop_OS (I find it kinda childish) , I decided to switch to it. The only concern I have so far, is if I can trust System76 or not.

They have had a lot of security issues from serving hacked ISOs to withholding kernel updates.

https://lwn.net/Articles/676664/

Yea I am much happier on Ubuntu and snaps with the backing of a much larger corporation with a security team. Ubuntu is a staple that competes with RedHat and is used commercially in a lot of places. No idea for Mint, but it has far less support.

Has there been any movement on this front since 2016? I've also heard of these security issues with Mint, since around that time, but it's been four years and I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt that it's possible they've improved in that timespan, one way or another.

Fundamentally Mint doesn't have a security team so who knows and who is checking? They are talking here about a expensive build server for making chromium. Compare that with Ubuntu which has a full blown security team with salaries.

The resource difference here is massive.

Anyone looking for anything will be looking at Ubuntu rather than Mint. Mainly because it's the base for everything else and actually has commercial worth.

If you trust them, go ahead but I'm sticking with Ubuntu.

I've been using Mint for years but its desktop environment is somewhat lacking - I have one 1080 and one 4K monitor and it's impossible to have Chrome windows on both with a reasonable font size. I wish they hadn't discontinued KDE version.

Totally agree. I loved Mint but once KDE was discontinued I switched to KDE Neon and haven't bothered looking at anything else. I can't imagine not using KDE plasma. It is just so nice.

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