Edge Chromium Linux



When Microsoft announced plans to rebase its Edge browser on Chromium the chance of a dedicated Linux build went from pipe-dream to inevitability.

The existing Chrome extensions will work just fine in the Edge browser in Linux. Adblock and other useful extensions are available for you in Edge for Linux. There are two ways to install Edge for Linux – Graphical way and CLI method. Remember this is a developer preview at the moment, so you might experience issues and bugs. Oct 22, 2020 First, you should know that the experts always knew Edge would run on Linux. Today's Microsoft Edge isn't the one that first shipped. This model, which went into beta on Windows last year, is built.

Edge chromium linux download

Chromium’s cross-platform codebase makes it the ideal foundation on which to build out a modern web browser. Three years since rumours first began swirling, Microsoft Edge for Linux is not only confirmed but it’s almost ready for testing.

Being the impatient sort we installed the Microsoft Edge Developer build on Ubuntu 20.10. This post will stop short of being a “review” per se (you’ll hear throughout this post: this is not a stable build) but I’ve included lots of screenshots and some general thoughts about how well the browser integrates with the default Ubuntu desktop.

Re: Edge Chromium Automation for linux @ShubhamMahajan good morning. We do not yet have a supported way of running Edge on Linux, so we have not yet produced an MSEdgeDriver for Linux. We will adopt Chromium as the web platform for Microsoft Edge desktop. Our desire here is to align Microsoft Edge’s web platform both (a) with web standards and (b) with other Chromium-based browsers, for improved compatibility and a simpler test-matrix for developers.

Microsoft Edge for Linux Developer Build

Did I ever think I’d be writing a post about Microsoft’s flagship web browser being available for Linux? Heck no! And yet, here we are!

Many teeth have been gnashed over the point and purpose of a Microsoft-made web browser on a Linux platform. Some see Edge’s arrival as the latest bouquet in Microsoft’s blooming relationship with Linux and all things open source, but others? Well, they smell suspicion…

For their part Microsoft says its “motive” in bringing Edge to Linux is simply about making its technologies and services available to more users. Yes, even if they don’t run its Windows software (which is, after all, just one product/service in its portfolio).

Microsoft’s heavy presence in business, enterprise, and (increasingly) developer communities also plays a part. People who have to use Microsoft services at work get the chance to use the tech they’re familiar with and/or sync’d up with at home, on their Linux laptop, if they want.

Edge Chromium Linux Beta

But is there anything to interest casual Linux users too?

Edge is more than a Chrome clone; Microsoft had imbued Edge with custom touches and novel feature integrations. While many of these may sound superfluous to power-users they do, on other systems, round out the browser’s feature set.

Or to put it another way: Edge is a mass-market, all-user browser. It’s not aimed exclusively at any one audience, be that web developers, power users, or computer noobs.

So some of its “Added Value” may sound minor, trivial, or frivolous. Take Collections, for instance. This is essential just a souped-up bookmarking tool that lets you save content — not just web links — directly to the browser for future use.

You can create multiple collections in Edge, rename them, add notes to them, and export all of that data to other services (or copy of the links to the system clipboard).

On to integration. The Edge app launcher in the Ubuntu Dock does have a small right-click quicklist. This offers fast access to options to open a new window, a new incognito window, or quit the browser.

Sadly the Edge browser (like other Chromium browsers) does not use the system title/window bar by default. Edge draws its own window bar on Linux, with its own window control icons.

While the pale-grey bar Edge wears is not terribly distracting (unlike Vivaldi’s gaudy red window frame) some kind of GTK inheriting/colour detection (even if only an option) would be welcomed, I’m sure.

And Microsoft Account sync does not work in this build — but if you read this site regularly that will not be a surprise.

The good news is that many of Edge’s other features — yes, snarkypants, it does have some! — are present.

We’ve already touched on Collections, but there’s also an ‘immersive reader’ mode; integration with Bing; optional dark mode; web screenshot tool; and a variety of different New Tab page layouts (ranging from cluttered to calm);

You can install Chrome extensions on Edge easily. The first time you visit the Chrome Web Store using the browser it asks if you want to enable Chrome extension installs.

While I can’t vouch for the entirety of Chrome’s extension catalogue, all of the extensions I tried (yes, including the omg! ubuntu! one) worked as expected, as you can see above!

For an early version of Edge for Linux the browser feels fairly robust. It didn’t crash once during my test. Everything I asked of it, it did. From HD YouTube playback, to translating a Portuguese web page, to letting me play web games.

The app is fast to open and responsive in use. If Microsoft can maintain the friction-free feel it could win some new fans. Firefox isn’t slow, but a Chromium-based backend just feels so much faster in use (to me, anyhow).

Download Edge for Linux Dev Build

Want to try things out for yourself? We have a guide on how to install Edge on Ubuntu.

It’s not yet clear when Edge for Linux will go stable, but Microsoft has formally announced that it’s in developer preview. You can Linux builds on this Microsoft repo page.

If you jump on Edge for some early-bird testing just keep in mind that it is development software. It’s not finished. It’s not stable. Heck, it’s not even fully functional. Ergo, don’t get irate about any issues you encounter!

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Edge is finally coming to Linux. At Ignite 2020 today, Microsoft announced that Edge for Linux will be available in the Dev preview channel starting in October. Linux users will be able to download the preview from the Microsoft Edge Insider website or from their native Linux package manager. Microsoft will start with the Ubuntu and Debian distributions, with support for Fedora and openSUSE coming afterwards.

Microsoft launched Chromium Edge for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and macOS in January 2020. The browser has since been installed on “hundreds of millions of devices and climbing,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat, and is now the second most popular desktop browser, after Chrome, according to Net Applications.

Microsoft wants Edge to be “the browser for business.” Bringing Edge to Linux isn’t so much an attempt to grow market share as it is a way to give businesses the option of rolling out a single browser to all their employee’s devices. “We are thrilled with customer interest we’ve received since we first announced our intention to bring Edge to Linux,” Edge program manager Kyle Pflug told VentureBeat. “We’ve heard feedback from business customers that they want one browser solution to deploy to their organization regardless of platform, and we’re excited to bring an offering to those that need a solution for Linux.”

Also available today, IT professionals can now roll back to a previous version of Chromium Edge. Microsoft said it is offering this feature because sometimes new versions break things, and in remote work environments, “any break is magnified.” With so many more employees working remotely nowadays, the company wants to give IT Pros a way to quickly “minimize interruption and address the issue.”

Going after developers

Microsoft specifically wants to ensure enterprise developers can get Edge for Linux. The primary goal is to reduce testing costs for businesses that want their websites to work on Edge.

“Linux stands out in that, while it has a relatively small desktop population in terms of what you might call typical consumer or end user, developers are often overrepresented in that population, and especially in areas like test automation, or CI/CD workloads for their web apps,” Pflug told VentureBeat. “Edge on Linux is a natural part of our strategy to reduce fragmentation and test overhead for web developers. By providing the same rendering behavior and tools across platforms, developers can build and test sites and web apps in their preferred environment and be confident in the experience their customers will have.”

Edge Chromium Linux Tutorial

Once Microsoft releases the first preview in October, the team plans to ship weekly builds in sync with the Dev channel on Windows and macOS. Microsoft promises developer tools, extensions, test automation, WebDriver, and Puppeteer will all work. Some end user scenarios, such as connected services like sign in and sync will not be available, as those will arrive in future previews. But everything developers care about should work — it isn’t called the Dev channel for nothing.

Edge For Linux

Because Chromium doesn’t have a Canary channel for Linux, Chromium Edge won’t have a Canary channel for Linux either. Edge for Linux will eventually get Beta and Stable channels, of course, but Microsoft would not commit to a time frame for either.

Edge Chromium Linux Download

Chromium

New Edge features coming soon

At Ignite 2020, Microsoft also announced a bunch of new Edge capabilities that are “coming soon.” WebView2, which is decoupled from specific versions of Windows, will be available for C/C++ and .NET by the end of 2020. Once available, any Windows app will be able to embed web content using Chromium Edge.

Chromium Edge is getting a preview of kiosk mode, also coming soon. With assigned access, it creates a locked-down and tailored browsing experience on Windows 10 for kiosks and digital signage. This is meant to replace the popular kiosk mode in Microsoft Edge Legacy, the version that is not based on Chromium and will lose support on March 9, 2021.

IT Pros also have new functionality to look forward to. They will soon be able to manage their Enterprise Mode Site list from the cloud, instead of locally hosting the XML site list.

Additionally, using Azure Active Directory profiles in Edge, App Configuration in Intune will soon let IT Pros manage only the activity in an app that is related to work, leaving the rest of the device alone. Employees will be able to log in to their work identity on a personal device, while the organization only manages that experience. IT departments get the control they want for compliance, and end users get to use the device they want without handing over the keys.

Finally, Edge will get new PDF features in October. The biggest boon for businesses is the ability to view and validate PDF digital signatures, which is useful for verifying the authenticity of documents, particularly for anything legally or financially binding. Users will also be able to add notes to PDFs and access interactive tables of content.

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