First off, a huge thank you to everyone who responded to my [last post] with suggestions and insights. The feedback was incredibly helpful.
Now, I’d like to focus on one specific challenge that’s still unresolved: my browser situation.
Currently, I’m using Brave as a temporary solution. It has vertical tabs and pinned sites, which I need, but it’s still Chromium-based. I want to move away from Google’s ecosystem, but I’m not willing to compromise on usability. If a browser can’t handle vertical tabs or DRM for streaming, it’s not a viable option for me.
What I Need
- Vertical tabs (non-negotiable; Arc spoiled me)
- No Chromium (Firefox-based or independent engine preferred)
- Functional DRM (yes, even on Linux—don’t judge me)
- Daily usability (no constant cookie purges, no janky workarounds)
What I’ve Tried
- Vivaldi & Zen Browser: Firefox-based, which I liked in theory. But DRM (Widevine) was a no-go, even with plugins. Linux + DRM is a known nightmare, but if someone has a functional setup, I’d love to hear about it.
- Mullvad Browser: Privacy-wise, it’s great, but the aggressive cookie-clearing makes it impractical for daily use.
What I Haven’t Tried (But Am Watching)
- Ladybird Browser: This could be the answer—if it ever becomes stable. If anyone’s tested recent builds, I’d love to hear how close it is to daily usability.
What I’m Looking For Now
Is there a browser out there that I’m missing?
One that balances privacy, usability, and my specific needs - without forcing me into a Chromium-based corner?
Specifically, I’d love to hear from people who’ve had success with:
- Firefox-based browsers (or others) that handle vertical tabs and DRM smoothly.
- General experiences with non-Chromium browsers - what’s your daily driver, and why?
If you’ve found a setup that works for you, I’d genuinely love to hear about it.
> thanks <
I actually laughed out loud when I read your comment because it’s so obvious, yet I completely overlooked it. 😅
I’ve been so hyper-focused on finding Firefox-based alternatives (Vivaldi, Zen, etc.) that I somehow forgot to reconsider Firefox itself, even though it’s been sitting right there as the default browser on my Linux Mint Cinnamon setup this whole time. The last time I used Firefox seriously was years ago, and I don’t even remember why I didn’t like it back then. But now that I’ve taken another look:
The irony? I’ve spent hours hunting for workarounds in other browsers while the solution was pre-installed. Thanks for the reality check... sometimes you’re so deep in the weeds, you miss the obvious.
I’m testing it now with manual Widevine setup to see how DRM/streaming holds up. If you’ve got any Linux-specific tips (or warnings), I’m all ears!
(And yes, I’ll still keep an eye out for other alternatives like Ladybird, but for now, Firefox might just be the answer I’ve been ignoring.)
Firefox has native vertical tabs now.
... was this written by an LLM? It certainly reads like it was.
I hate LLMs. I hate them, because they were trained on the vast text corpus freely available on the internet, the majority of which are still literary and academic texts. Consequently, nowadays everybody identifies LLM—generated texts with stylistic choices that used to indicate academic or literary writers. When this is just the way you're educated to think and express yourself — yes, including the use of interjected thoughts demarcated by typologically correct m—dashes instead of non—descript all purpose pseudo—minus signs developed in the age of typewriters — LLMs suck.
I guess we'll need t'make a new-slang every two-years t'stay-a-head of LLM's ability t'cos-play hu-mans and proove t'each-other we're hu-mans.
It seems prudent to point out that they're em-dashes, not m-dashes.
I was referring to the styled text. I use mdashes myself. But I've hardly ever styled text, let alone so many individual parts.
Plus, it's just so verbose.
LLMs don't use "smart" writing, they mock it.
You are overdoing the m-dashes. Ask an LLM to correct your style. They are known to get this right.
Yes, it is. Look at their other posts, it's pretty clear.
I just switched to Firefox and i like it. This makes it even faster: https://justthebrowser.com/ And I love the Multi-Account Containers Adon that separets cookies and other stuff.
If you want Firefox minus the AI fluff, also Waterfox. I've been using it on Linux.