Chrome vs Chromium

[Dr. Righteous]

I found that Google CHROME was not as stable as Chromium on the linux distros I used.
No big deal; I just switch to Chromium and problems resolved.
I'm suddenly running into "browser not supported" messages with things like ADP. They say they support CHROME; and have no answer why Chromium is unsupported now. Makes no sense since Chrome is based on Chromium.

Anyone else seeing issues like this?

 

[IdiotInCharge]

Tried using Chromium, lack of Netflix support a no-go.

Assuming that broad compatibility issues abound.

 

[the wafflator]

Two options:

1. These websites whitelist browsers based on the user agent string and they have only whitelisted chrome, not chromium. You could fix this with a user agent spoofing extension to make chromium advertise itself as chrome.
2. Less likely but it's possible these websites rely on some of the features in chrome that aren't in chromium, like the DRM modules or some video codecs.

EDIT: netflix support falls in bucket #2 and yeah that's one of the big problems with chromium

 

[ChadD]

Chrome includes a DRM package called widevine.

Chromium does not.

Having said that... you can install the widevine DRM package.

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/chromium-widevine/

Its pretty easy to install via the AUR on arch or any arch based distro like Manjaro.

I don't know if there is a easy way to get widevine on other distros like Ubuntu or Fedora... but I'm sure google will be your friend now that you know the issue.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

I don't know if there is a easy way to get widevine on other distros like Ubuntu or Fedora... but I'm sure google will be your friend now that you know the issue.

Does it work for Netflix though?

[I had it simultaneously 'installed' on Fedora and also not available according to Chromium's settings...]

 

[ChadD]

Does it work for Netflix though?

[I had it simultaneously 'installed' on Fedora and also not available according to Chromium's settings...]

No problems with widevine and netflix on manjaro.

74.0.3729.131 (Official Build) Manjaro Linux (64-bit) I'm running that with widevine installed. Netflix runs no problems. Also using the netflix 1080p extension and that is working fine as well.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/netflix-1080p/cankofcoohmbhfpcemhmaaeennfbnmgp?hl=en-GB

I really have no idea how to install it on fedora, don't run fedora... and never needed it on a rhel install. Doing some real quick reading it sounds like Fedora as seems to be their stance on everything also remove x264 from their chromium build.... so it may be more involved then just installing the widevinedrm. As I understand it you would have to install a different build of chromium instead.

https://github.com/UnitedRPMs/chromium-freeworld

I haven't run this... but it seems to be what you want. (perhaps) Sounds like its in the RPMfusion repos.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

The issue may also be related to how Fedora 30 is set up; could be waiting for other software to catch up.

Spotify, for instance, will not install using the lpf tool; the snap and flatpak do install, but neither can log in.

Another challenge is SELinux. I love the idea, but I haven't yet wrapped my mind around it yet.