Built for the modern web, Chromium is a fast, stable, and secure browser. It has been the base of many of the famous browsers of today including Google Chrome.
The main difference between Chrome and Chromium is that Chromium is an open-source browser. You will not get the crash reports, the proprietary web codecs and the usage tracking to Google. Chromium is an excellent choice for you if you prefer open-source applications.
Here, in this article, we will talk about two different ways of installing Chromium on Ubuntu 20.04. You can install Chromium as a deb package from the Google repositories or as a snap package via the Snapcraft store.
For any Ubuntu-based distribution, be it Kubuntu, Elementary OS or Linux Mint, the same instructions will apply.
Installing Chromium as a Deb Package
The default Ubuntu repositories have Chromium deb available as a transitional package that installs the snap.
You can either click on the terminal icon or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T to open your terminal and then run the following commands as a user with Sudo privileges:
sudo apt updatesudo apt install chromium-browser
And that is it, after this, you have Chromium installed on your Ubuntu system.
You can update Chromium through the command-line or your desktop Software Update tool when a new version is released.
Installing Chromium as a Snap Package
The company behind Ubuntu, Canonical, distributes and maintains the Chromium snap package.
Snaps can be defined as the software packages that are self-contained and include the binary all dependencies that are required to run the application. They are very secure and easy to upgrade. Snaps have a larger disk footprint and longer application startup time, unlike the standard deb packages.
You can install the snap packages from either the Ubuntu Software application or the command line.
You can install the Chromium snap by just opening your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and running this command:
sudo snap install chromium
After this, Chromium will be installed on your Ubuntu desktop and you can start using it.
The Chromium snap package will automatically be updated in the background whenever there is a new version released.
You can even open the Ubuntu Software, search for "Chromium" and install the application if you are not comfortable with the command line.
Starting Chromium
- Type "Chromium" in the Activities search bar and click on the icon to launch the application.
- You will see the default Chromium welcome page when you start the browser for the first time.
- You can sign in to your Google Account from here so that your bookmarks, passwords, history, and other settings on your devices are synced.
- You can differentiate Google Chrome and Chromium by the icons' colours if you have both of them on your system.
Conclusion
Thus we have now told you the two ways you can install Chromium on Ubuntu 20.04. You can also import your bookmarks and settings from a different browser, like Firefox, Chrome or Opera into Chromium.
1: What is Chromium, and why should I install it on Ubuntu?
Chromium is an open-source web browser that serves as the foundation for Google Chrome. Installing it on Ubuntu provides a fast and reliable browsing experience with the added benefit of being customizable and secure.
2: What are the system requirements for installing Chromium on Ubuntu?
Chromium can be installed on Ubuntu with a minimum requirement of 512MB of RAM and 200MB of hard disk space.
3: What are the steps to install Chromium on Ubuntu?
To install Chromium on Ubuntu, you can use the command line to add the official Chromium repository, update the package list, and install Chromium using the apt-get command.
4: How do I launch Chromium on Ubuntu after installing it?
To launch Chromium on Ubuntu, you can search for it in the Activities menu or open it from the terminal by typing "chromium-browser" command.
