Opera Browser For Ubuntu

Instructions to install & configure Opera 8 in Hoary, based off [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=40467 this Ubuntu Forum thread.], updated for Opera 8.02.

Download the Latest Ubuntu Opera .deb

Opera now provides .deb files specifically for Ubuntu (Hoary only as of July 2005).

Go to [http://www.opera.com/download/ Opera Download], make sure you choose the Ubuntu package, and pick a download mirror. (not all of Opera's mirrors have all the Linux packages, it seems)

Save the file to somewhere you can find it - either Desktop or your own home directory is best.

Install Opera

Open a terminal. Type:

sudo dpkg -i Opera<tab>.deb
password:

Tab completion can be a major help with long, complex filenames. Provided you're in the correct directory, just typing "Opera" and then hitting the Tab key where it says <tab> in the above command should get Ubuntu to finish the filename for you.

Opera will take a minute to install.

Ubuntu-izing Opera

Unlike most programs from Ubuntu's repositories, Opera won't add itself to Ubuntu's Application menu. That's easy to fix, though. We'll also get Opera to use Ubuntu's default file handler.

Back in terminal:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/opera.desktop

And in gedit, type:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Opera Web Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Simply the Best Internet Experience
Exec=opera %u
Terminal=false
MultipleArgs=true
Type=Application
Icon=/usr/X11R6/include/X11/bitmaps/opera.xpm
Categories=Application;Network
MimeType=text/html;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png

Save this file, and go back to Terminal. Type:

gedit ~/.opera/filehandler.ini

In gedit, paste the following:

Opera Preferences version 2.0
; Do not edit this file while Opera is running
; This file is stored in UTF-8 encoding
[Settings]
Default File Handler=gnome-open exec,1
Default Directory Handler=gnome-open exec,1

Save this file, and exit gedit.

You can now start up the best browser known to mankind by going Application menu --> Internet --> Opera Web Browser.