Opera GX was recently released for Linux. From what I could see, the reception was very mixed; In one camp, there were people who really wanted to use Opera GX on Linux and were obviously elated to see it come to their favorite operating system. In the other camp there were people who did not use or care for Opera GX, who had some scathing things to say about it.
So, as someone who likes to get stuck in and find an opinion for themselves, I downloaded Opera GX on my openSUSE Tumbleweed installation and made it my daily driver for a while. And while I definitely see the appeal of the browser, there was a sticking point with Opera GX on Linux (which only seems to happen on Linux) which I think will be a big problem for gamers.
Opera GX does many interesting things well
I really enjoyed what I wanted to achieve.
a few days before Opera GX launched on LinuxI had a lovely interview with their product manager, Maciej Kocemba. We started talking about the launch of Opera GX on Linux, and he gave me some tips for using the browser once I got my hands on it.
Kocemba said Opera GX is the only browser he knows of where slow performance is a good thing. This is because it can limit the amount of hardware the browser uses. You could set it to load web pages at a snail’s pace if you wanted, which seems impractical on paper. However, when you have the browser open to watch a tutorial while playing on your main monitor, you don’t want to sacrifice performance just to keep the window open.
Kocemba also mentioned the browser’s background music feature, which plays a nice ambient track while you browse. Every time you leave the browser alone, the music decreases in intensity. When you start opening tabs and typing up a storm, the music starts up again. I really enjoyed using it, even if it was more of a fun novelty than a productivity boost.
Finally, one feature I wanted to use that Kocemba taught me was keypress sounds. They were enabled by default and I honestly didn’t change them. I liked the addition of software-based keypress noises while browsing, and I had no qualms with the default.
Kocemba told me that Opera GX should look modular and I was able to see it for myself. All of the features I covered above were completely optional and you could turn them all off if you wanted. I noticed that Opera GX also has an AI assistant enabled by default, which you can also get rid of if you want. Overall, I liked the features that Opera GX brought to the table.
Unfortunately, watching Twitch on Opera GX for Linux is a big struggle
It seems like it would be a big problem for players.
So here’s the problem. Opera GX has a Twitch widget where you can log in with your account and see everyone you follow in a sidebar. It makes sense to have this as part of the default experience, because if anyone is watching Twitch streams, it’s gamers. The problem is actually looking a Twitch channel on Opera GX is almost impossible.
Every time I tried to watch a stream, I would get error #4000. This is usually a codec issue, and Linux users have two ways to fix it: use a browser that pays for an H264 license, or download the non-free codecs yourself using RPM Fusion. Apparently, both Opera GX and its main browser, Opera, do not like both solutions. Instead, it looks for the codec in a specific folder in your files, and if it’s not there, it won’t use it.
It seems that the solution is grab the codecs from a repository or another browser and manually place them in your folder. It sounds easy enough, except you need to check which version of Chromium Opera GX is using and get the appropriate codec. The worst part is that when Opera updates, you have to do this search again for a new codex.
Even though I tried my best, I was unable to access Twitch using the methods provided. Even if I could, The idea that you have to jump through all these hoops to get H264 codecs to work in Opera GX seems like too much effort. I can’t imagine anyone who just wants to download and play Twitch streams would appreciate having to do all this work.
Again, if this were happening in regular Opera, it wouldn’t be that much of a problem; It would probably only affect a specific group of your users. However, because this was happening in a gaming browser with Twitch integration enabled by default, it seemed like a major issue. Twitch is the largest social media site for gamers, so I imagine they won’t fit with Opera GX. Which is a shame, because this is not a problem with GX itself, but with the Opera codebase as a whole.
Opera GX fans may have to wait for the Flatpak
One is in the works, fortunately.
The good news is that an Opera GX Flatpak would eliminate this headache. That way, developers could include the correct codecs in the installation and people could watch Twitch streams out of the box. The bad news is that a Flatpak has not been released; at least, not yet. The press release said there was one in the works, and when it goes live, I’ll be sure to try it a second time and see if the codec issues have been resolved. Until then, I have a nasty feeling that Linux gamers simply won’t adapt to Opera GX.
Opera GX for Linux still needs a little more time in the oven
From what I saw, bringing Opera GX to Linux is a smart idea. Not only are there many Opera GX fans who left Windows for greener pastures, but gamers are embracing gaming-based Linux distributions more than ever. While the Linux old guard may despise Opera GX, the impression I got from Kocemba is that it’s there for people who want the browser, not to convince people who don’t want it. Despite that, I think the browser needs a little more time to prepare before players can properly adopt it.
