Opera 10.5 For Linux Ditches Qt, Is Faster Than Chrome

By , Published December 27, 2009

Opera 10.5 pre-alpha was released as an early XMAS present for Windows and Mac users early last week but Linux users were seemingly left out in the cold. However the reasons for the delay in a Linux build are more than exciting enough!

What's New In Opera 10.5?

Speed

Opera 10.5 will see the niche browser gain a brand new JavaScript engine codenamed €œCarakan€. Carakan boasts speeds up to 7x faster than the previous JavaScript Engine and will better place Opera in standing against Google Chrome's irrepressibly fast V8 engine and open-source giant Firefox.

Benchmarks of the Windows and OS X pre=release already show that the browser not only matches Chrome's V8 engine for speed but in some tests beats it!

What Else

  • The cache in Opera is more streamlined and faster allowing for faster shutdown and start up times. 
  • Improvements to its vector graphics library with it allowing potential hardware acceleration using OpenGL.
  • New inline page search and password manager.
  • Private €œtabs€ relegate the need for an entirely new €œprivate€ session
  • Presto 2.5 engine supports more CSS3 effects, HTML5 properties

Widgets

As we reported on earlier last weeek, Opera 10.5 will come with €œDesktop Opera Widget€ support €“ allowing you to run Opera widgets on your desktop without the need for the browser to be running.

Opera 10.5 For Linux

The Linux version of 10.5 wasn’t released alongside the other OSes. Annoying for some, but the Linux build is currently not quite ready enough according to developers.

One reason for the delay is most certainly down to the fact Opera 10.50 will no longer use the Qt framework for its interface.

"What?!!!"

No, that wasn't a typo – Opera is ditching Qt and will instead rely on X11 drawing for the interface. Native window styling for both GNOME and KDE users will also be available in 10.5.

Stripping the Qt component out of the next version will make Opera €œ€¦faster, smaller and easier to install.€ Huib Kleinhout continues €œNaturally Opera will still integrate well with your desktop environment by supporting KDE/GTK skinning and show open/save dialogs that match your desktop.€

The reasoning behind the dropping of Qt may seem odd until you learn that, according to Opera developer Arjan van Leeuwen, €œ€¦integration with the main desktop environments and toolkits on *nix (Gnome/GTK and KDE/Qt) is easier for us without Qt than with.€

What does it look like?

Opera developer Ruari Ødegaard posted some screenshots of the for-now internal build of the Linux Opera 10.5. The title-bar in the screenshot below may not be present in the final version, as per the Windows and Mac builds which omit it, but nothing as yet has been decided.

image

When will a Linux version be available?

There will likely be no Linux pre-alpha, however developer Shwetank Dixit responded to a query on his blog that the first Linux version will be the proper Alpha. 

Sources

http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2009/12/22/from-all-of-us-to-all-of-you

http://techie-buzz.com/opera/opera-10-5-for-linux.html

http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/opera-10-5-pre-alpha-build-released-here-is-whats-new

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

Related posts:

  1. Move Over Screenlets – Opera Desktop Widgets Come To Town
  2. Google Chrome Beta Officially Released For Linux
  3. Opera 10 Adapts Flawlessy Into Gnome Desktop – Goodbye Ugly Opera!
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  • http://orkutcidio.deliriocoletivo.org Peterson Espaçoporto

    I’m a bit impressed, but I’ll doubt I’ll use it.

  • AW

    If they’re using X11 for drawing, doesn’t that mean they’ll just be mimicking GTK/QT?

    Imagine a very fast Java application, basically.

    Er, sorry, didn’t mean to put the image of a java app in your head, sorry.

    • bhm

      Ditching QT ain’t hear that bad as Java. Although I fear my hearing gone bad.
      After all qt4 builds weren’t that fast anyway.

  • http://livinginagoogleworld.blogspot.com/ Jonathan Frederickson

    Faster than Chrome… well that’s nice (it would make Opera the fastest browser on Linux to my knowledge) but I’m sticking with Chrome anyway because of its netbook-friendly interface.

    • http://morghus.com/ Morghus

      Check out the minimalist/slim Opera interfaces. For 10.50 Opera will have the best interface bar going full screen :)

  • http://disqus.com/forums/omgubuntu/rhythmbox_context_pane_coming_in_0126/trackback/ John

    I’m impressed – Opera was always my favourite browser but ended up switching to Firefox due to its better integration with GTK. Will give 10.5 a try when they release a sneak-peek version to the unwashed masses.

  • Anonymous

    _The title-bar in the screenshot below may not be present in the final version, as per the Windows and Mac builds which omit it, but nothing as yet has been decided._
    Actually, in Windows XP there is a title bar.
    http://i50.tinypic.com/2ep7es3.jpg

    I think they should think about the way Chrome does it… or maybe not.

    • Anonymous

      I was hoping that the whole Metacity or Emerald Window decorator engine adopt the Chrome titlebar style. :)

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B7ADFIW3PUZPR2662FVIH3NO3A Pauli Jaakkola

        With Kwin you can do window tabs which is basically the same, but even sleeker and you can tab different programs into the same window.
        It’s the most useful WM feature ever.

        http://thales-img.deviantart.com/art/Rekonq-0-5-55-176230426

        Fluxbox also has this feature, and actually had it first.

  • http://www.HostMyJPG.com/ John Smith

    I got rid of the title bar and menu bar recently for my wide screen laptop. It’s a huge improvement, I hope they keep it.

    Opera has always been my favorite browser. It comes with everything I need without having to install a bunch of third-party plugins. Plus, Firefox doesn’t handle a lot of windows very well.

    The pre-alpha on Windows kinda sucked btw (as the name implies), so I’d hold off on installing it.

  • http://seifsallam.co.cc/ Seif Sallam

    its like they took the speed of Chrome with the interface of Firefox 4.0

    • bhm

      Yeah right. Opera also took tabbed browsing from Firefox.

      I wish for once FF/Chrome. user would take Opera for proper spin without making assumptions and craving for addons.

  • http://thestrayworld.com/ Rewarp

    I like having Firefox, Chromium, and Opera on my laptop. Firefox will always be First Prime, but Chromium and Opera will always be there to back it up.

    • Anonymous

      I have all three installed too. Surprisingly Chromium had been really good for me on Jaunty for the past few weeks, especially now that it has extensions. Autopager is a boon.

      I’m looking forward to Opera, though I fall back to FF when video sometimes break on Chromium.

  • http://www.linuxmint.com/ Jimbo

    I don’t understand everyone’s obsession with speed. A millisecond faster java performance means diddly squat to me. Sure it will become more and more important as the internet becomes more and more a desktop replacement, but the idea that I’m gunna switch to another browser anytime soon because lab tests say its faster is a joke. In the grand scheme of things that is pretty low of the list of priorities compared to good ad blocking, good bookmark and history management etc.

  • Nu

    Great move ditching Qt. Hopefully flash integration will be better too.

  • Mohan

    Waiting for the release, I been using 10.5 on Win7 and it’s blazing fast. Love the UI change and I think Opera really put itself on my map since 10.

  • http://pensieriacoriandoli.blogspot.com/ Giorg

    It would be much more interesting if it was free software….

    • bhm

      It’s free. It’s not open source. If your, not a full time dev/code-freak I cannot see how Open Source aspect is so relevant.

  • http://twitter.com/SeifSallam Seif Sallam

    btw you didn’t mention that best feature in Opera which is Unity

  • peter

    Hope to see it very soon :-)

    PS I really like that it’s been tested on Archlinux :D

  • Anonymous

    Qt does suck and the blocky menus was my main reason as to why I didn’t bother with it.

    … but they’ll go mad with X11.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      As long as -I- don’t go mad using it, it’s all fine! =P

      That said, i always found the QT4 version of Opera to be pretty darn flawless when it came to looking the part in GNOME.

      • Anonymous

        Yeah ur right. Maybe this gtk version also adds the functionality to just use the systems theme! I hope so. Cos the opera renderengine is darn good, but its interface just sucks.

      • Anonymous

        I tried it when they said they upgraded to Qt4 but the menus were still blocky… so no idea.

  • http://ammonkey.posterous.com/ ammonkey

    well well chromium on linux is faster than the windows version it’s a knowed fact.
    the opera version 10.5 for linux does not exist yet. So faster than chrome maybe faster than chromium i doubt it. But well we’ll see when they’ll realease it.