October 30, 2014 at 11:25Yandex.Browser is now also for Linux
They say that the promise is expected for three years, but we managed faster, and just at YaC 2014 the first beta version of Yandex.Browser for Linux was presented.
In this post, in addition to the link, a short story about what was the difficulty of supporting Flash Player, what percentage of Yandex employees use Linux, and why are comments on Habr about it especially important to us.
This assembly could be called a special version for Habrahabr - we were not asked anywhere to release it as actively as here. Under any of our articles about Yandex.Browser, it was necessarily something like this:
On the other hand, in Yandex itself, about 15% of employees use various Linux distributions on their desktops. Several hundred of them voluntarily help us test browser pre-builds. Therefore, the demand for the browser was including domestic.
The current assembly under Linux is almost the same Yandex.Browser as on Windows or OS X. In our address bar, you can still enter the names and addresses of sites in the wrong layout ( more ). Mouse gestures are available and a quick jump to the top of the page by clicking on the tab. Turbo mode compresses not only the pages, but also the video while watching it. Installation of extensions is supported not only from the built-in catalog and the Chrome Web Store, but also from Opera Addons (yes, we supported the NEX format). And much more.
However, the Linux version still has differences from other assemblies. For example, the current Yandex.Browser beta is delivered without a preinstalled Flash Player plugin. There are several reasons for this. First of all, it is worth remembering about Adobe's refusal to develop Flash for this platform. But this applies only to the NPAPI version of the plugin, since the PPAPI version of Flash Player is still developing, but comes exclusively with the Chrome browser. And most importantly, NPAPI support was completely cut out of the Chromium codebase for Linux when migrating the project to the new Aura cross-platform graphics stack. Yandex.Browser developers faced a choice: leave users without Flash-content or think of something ...
Fortunately, the option was found quite quickly. Already in this version, Yandex.Browser can automatically pick up the pepperflashplayer-nonfree package, available in the standard Ubuntu repository. The user is not even required to run it with special parameters. And if Chrome is installed on the system, then its Pepper Flash will also be used by Yandex.Browser.
Currently deb and rpm packages are available for 64-bit systems, which can be downloaded at browser.yandex.ru/beta . We welcome your feedback and suggestions.
Recall that before you is the very first beta version of Yandex.Browser for Linux, so you may find errors in it that we would really like to know through https://browser.yandex.ru/feedback/ .
In this post, in addition to the link, a short story about what was the difficulty of supporting Flash Player, what percentage of Yandex employees use Linux, and why are comments on Habr about it especially important to us.
This assembly could be called a special version for Habrahabr - we were not asked anywhere to release it as actively as here. Under any of our articles about Yandex.Browser, it was necessarily something like this:
On the other hand, in Yandex itself, about 15% of employees use various Linux distributions on their desktops. Several hundred of them voluntarily help us test browser pre-builds. Therefore, the demand for the browser was including domestic.
The current assembly under Linux is almost the same Yandex.Browser as on Windows or OS X. In our address bar, you can still enter the names and addresses of sites in the wrong layout ( more ). Mouse gestures are available and a quick jump to the top of the page by clicking on the tab. Turbo mode compresses not only the pages, but also the video while watching it. Installation of extensions is supported not only from the built-in catalog and the Chrome Web Store, but also from Opera Addons (yes, we supported the NEX format). And much more.
However, the Linux version still has differences from other assemblies. For example, the current Yandex.Browser beta is delivered without a preinstalled Flash Player plugin. There are several reasons for this. First of all, it is worth remembering about Adobe's refusal to develop Flash for this platform. But this applies only to the NPAPI version of the plugin, since the PPAPI version of Flash Player is still developing, but comes exclusively with the Chrome browser. And most importantly, NPAPI support was completely cut out of the Chromium codebase for Linux when migrating the project to the new Aura cross-platform graphics stack. Yandex.Browser developers faced a choice: leave users without Flash-content or think of something ...
Fortunately, the option was found quite quickly. Already in this version, Yandex.Browser can automatically pick up the pepperflashplayer-nonfree package, available in the standard Ubuntu repository. The user is not even required to run it with special parameters. And if Chrome is installed on the system, then its Pepper Flash will also be used by Yandex.Browser.
Currently deb and rpm packages are available for 64-bit systems, which can be downloaded at browser.yandex.ru/beta . We welcome your feedback and suggestions.
Recall that before you is the very first beta version of Yandex.Browser for Linux, so you may find errors in it that we would really like to know through https://browser.yandex.ru/feedback/ .