Which browser for Solus?

mikilinux

For months, I've been thinking about which browser might be ideal for my fantastic PC running Solus.
The point is, I have a workhorse notebook, a Lenovo with a Celeron N4020 processor. Not exactly lightning speed.

I've always used Firefox with Linux, mainly for ideological reasons... I hate Google's dominance, I've always thought it's absurd that all browsers have to use the same engine, Google's.

On Solus (KDE/Wayland version) I started noticing more and more incompatibilities and various problems... some sites simply work poorly..
Tidal, Whatsapp web, Airbnb, many video streaming sites..
Others are decidedly slow.. google maps/canva..
Many problems are definitely performance-related, others are outright compatibility issues. Sites are only tested on Chromium browsers.. and this is the result.

If I install a Chromium browser (I tried Vivaldi which is really nice graphically and even has a built-in mail client) all the problems disappear. Sites are always quite fast, no incompatibilities (obviously) .. and it's even still possible to use ublock Origin (which I thought was exclusive to Firefox)... In short, EVERYTHING works WELL. And yet, the idea of having a non-open-source and still "Google-ized" browser doesn't thrill me.
Using 2 browsers is also an idea I hate... I hate switching from one app to another.

All this to say...
What do you guys use?
Do you prefer to use a Chromium browser? If yes, which one?
Do you think it's worth holding out to support the open-source world?
Let me know what you think.
Cheers

Citfta

I also started having problems with ungoogled Chromium beginning to act up on some web sites. A couple of months ago I looked at and tried several browsers. I also am using an old laptop. I finally settled on Floorp. That is a fork of Firefox. After using it for a couple of months I have not had any problems at all. It just seems to work.

My 2 cents.

alfisya

I use Zen, another Firefox fork. I use Whatsapp web too and it works fine.

Honestly, just use whatever browser works best for you. You can also use multiple browser for different usecase if you want to limit your interaction with Big tech/proprietary product.

Computer should be used to help you not just become a statement.

mikilinux

alfisya I had issues with audio messages on whatsapp web. Maybe now it works fine. BTW you're totally right.

WhiteWolf

Using Brave for a long time but if Zen would be in Solus repository I would pick it.

mikilinux

WhiteWolf yeah!
but Zen is basically Firefox in terms of compatibility and performance.

riffer

WhiteWolf

Zen browser has a flatpak, appimage and a tarball. Between the three there should be something workable in Solus.

I use it in Endeavour and it is my favorite browser for now. Not easy to theme though as Firefox themes don't work only modding the css files.

AlphaElwedritsch

Only Chromium based browsers. Prefers Vivaldi. Occasionally Brave. But no Firefox or Firefox forks.

mikilinux

AlphaElwedritsch Is it a performance choice? Or why?

AlphaElwedritsch

Chromium-based browsers have bothered me less so far.
Vivaldi is a feature monster, but it's also incredibly cool...

mikilinux

AlphaElwedritsch i agree Vivaldi is amazing.

Original-Syn

I use Vivaldi and Firefox. Vivaldi for media consumption and some online services that just work better with the chromium base. Firefox is my general purpose. I would use Zen, but I don't like the "only" vertical tabs. I prefer to be able to switch between vertical and horizontal depending on what I am doing.

Solarmass

Original-Syn I use Vivaldi and Firefox. Vivaldi for media consumption and some online services that just work better with the chromium base. Firefox is my general purpose. I would use Zen, but I don't like the "only" vertical tabs. I prefer to be able to switch between vertical and horizontal depending on what I am doing.

Same! Firefox and Vivaldi 🍻 (voted for Firefox as only one vote is allowed)
I don't care about Zen as they don't care about horizontal tabs users..

BuzzPCSOS

I still enjoy Firefox. If sites don't load then they don't get my cookies or my tracked details, no hardship, I will go elsewhere. The internet is full of so much content that there will usually be another site that has what I am looking for which will load fine. If I really need to use a particular site that insists on Chrome I will install it to do what I have to do and then remove it when I'm done, not forgetting to complain bitterly about poorly written websites.
Brave has potential as a good browser but they need to make all the bitcoin and the rest of the fluff an opt-in rather than an opt-out.
Tried Vivaldi but for me it broke more websites than Firefox so it got uninstalled. Likewise Ungoogled Chromium just did not load a lot of websites either at all or messed with the layout and made them unusable.
Firefox now has a built in translation feature that is really useful and they have finally dropped Pocket which is a bonus. Having it come pre-installed in Solus was always another feature that I liked.

Solarmass

BuzzPCSOS Firefox now has a built in translation feature that is really useful and they have finally dropped Pocket which is a bonus.

yea, that Pocket crap is finally out! 🥳 🎉 🎉
But they added more AI crap instead and other 💩

brent

unanswerable question: is it speedy, easy on the eyes, and gets the job done? surprisingly not a lot of browsers fit my simple criteria.

voted other anyway as LibreWolf and Mullvad are my workhorses.

If you think using 2 browsers is a PITA, I use three. I don't think good things happen when all those cookies swim around the same enclosure 🙂

elfprince

brent Do you have issues with banking and/or government/taxation sites with your browsers?

brent

elfprince Do you have issues with banking and/or government/taxation sites with your browsers?
I have a browser for .gov and another for banking (ungoogled and mullvad respectively) and they are tweaked to where there are no problems with either site. So far.

VaSAMiAn

I use Vivaldi before that i use Opera.

AlphaElwedritsch

Solarmass Vivaldi is and will be AI free.

BuzzPCSOS

Solarmass But they added more AI crap instead and other 💩

True, about:config is your friend here.
browser.ml.chat.enabled = False
browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled = False

No AI.

Solarmass

AlphaElwedritsch Vivaldi is and will be AI free.

I know, if only Vivaldi was chromium-free..