JustBrowsing LiveCD

Looking for the Google Chrome OS operating system? Well, we’re sorry to inform you that this is not it, but JustBrowsing is indeed similar with Chrome OS in the way that it provides a web-only computing environment. JustBrowsing is a free, bootable and minimalistic Live CD Linux operating system based on the Arch Linux distribution and built around the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers.

It can be run on top of an existing installation

The good thing about this Linux distribution is that it can be run on top of an existing installation (Linux, Windows or Mac OS X) without modifying it. Instead, users will enjoy a simple computing experience powered only by a web browser. It takes about ten to twenty seconds for the JustBrowing Live CD to start, and depending on the choice made at boot, it will automatically open the respective web browser. However, the other web browser is always one click away.

Uses the latest versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox

JustBrowsing uses the latest versions of the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers, which are bundled with numerous bookmarks for useful sites, as well as a nice selection of extensions. The DuckDuckGo search engine is the default one for both browsers, but you’ll be able to easily choose another one (Google, Amazon, Bing, eBay, Wikipedia, etc.). Built-in support for over 30 languages is another strong feature of the JustBrowsing Linux operating system.

Contains a wide range of Firefox add-ons

Among the included Firefox add-ons, we can mention AdBlock Plus Pop-up, Adblock Edge, Element Hiding Helper, Adobe Flash, PDF.js, Add to Search Bar, Click-to-Play Manager, Hide My Ass Proxy, Offline QR Generator, Screengrab, SearchPreview, Turn Off the Lights, WOT, Download Manager Tweak, Menu Editor, Menu Icons Plus, More in Content UI+, Skip Addon Compatibility Check, Tab Mix Plus, and Toolbar Buttons.

Google Chrome comes with lots of plugins

Chrome also includes several handy extensions, among which we can mention PDF Viewer, Pepper API Flash, Adblock, Flashfree, Hide My Ass Proxy, DuckDuckFallback, DuckDuckGo for Chrome, AddThis, Camera, Chrome to Mobile, Save to Google Drive, Screen Capture, SearchPreview, Smart QRcode, and Turn Off the Lights.

Bottom line

The JustBrowsing distribution also includes a few web apps that allow you to send emails, make basic calculations, or write text. A wage clock and a timer are also available on the taskbar. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use this operating system for more than it’s designed for, but you should download and keep JustBrowsing on a USB flash drive, just in case you need a secure and safe browsing environment that doesn’t require any installation. It’s the perfect operating system for guests!

What is new in this release:

• Changelog:
• Add: Xwrapper override for xorg-server 1.16+
• Add: Samsung Unified Print Driver
• Add: VDPAU video decoding driver
• Add: dynamically update bookmark
• Major overhaul: jb-config GUI
• Settings: add Kiosk mode
• Settings: choose email provider for compose shortcut
• Settings: save/load installed printers
• Settings: save/load Wifi networks
• Settings: adjust mouse acceleration
• Settings: toggle touchpad tapping
• Settings: adjust screen backlight/dimming
• Settings: adjust screen timeout delay
• Settings: adjust/boot audio volume
• Settings: add save confirmation and log files
• Settings: add display auto/reset option
• Settings: rewrote tree row selection and revert mechanisms
• Syslinux: loglevel=0 to boot entries to suppress output
• Syslinux: add missing Arabic menu entry
• Syslinux: splash replaced, text color inverted
• Packaged: Chrome and Firefox profiles
• Packaged: home directory config files
• Packaged: Xorg configs and Polkit rules
• Shrink binaries: libxul.so, chrome, GoogleTalkPlugin
• Hold: NetworkManager 0.9.8.10 (password input dialog broken upstream for GTK2)
• Hold: archiso 15 (ISO structure altered)
• Status:
• Updated to Firefox 31.0 (stable)
• Updated to Google Chrome 36.0.1985.125 (stable)
• Updated to Linux kernel 3.15.8
• 32-bit release
• 64-bit release
• OnlyFirefox release
• OnlyChrome release
• Torrent releases
• ISO size: 659 MB
• Known bugs:
• Printer refresh does not auto-select driver
• Sometimes volume and mouse acceleration not restored on boot
• zRAM support installed but not enabled
• VPN support not tested
• Non-whitelisted keymaps not functional in Chrome 35+
• Broadcom BCM4311 wifi broken in kernel 3.15 (fixed in 3.16rc3)
• Bug reporting partially implemented

What is new in version 20140708:

• Added: chrome-remote-desktop (server)
• Added: Hipmunk bookmark
• Chrome: added extension formerly named QuickOffice
• Fixed: missing Downloads folder
• Packaged: jb-config
• Packaged: custom systemd unit files
• Updated: i3lock-spy
• Updated: justbrowsing-adeskbar
• ISO: squashfs now uses XZ compression

What is new in version 20140704:

• Settings: boot parameter parser updated
• Settings: url parameters added
• Settings: backend added loading config
• Settings: backend added saving config
• Settings: GUI added changing default browser
• Settings: GUI added changing locale
• Settings: GUI added changing keymap
• Settings: GUI added toggling force clean profiles
• Settings: GUI added setting custom homepage
• Settings: uploaded to git repo
• Rewrote: syslinux locale and keymap menu
• Rewrote: syslinux virtual machine menus
• Rewrote: browser toggle to use x-www-browser
• Rewrote: panel dynamic resizing
• Updated: i3lock-spy (zoom fit patches)
• Updated: i3lock-sentry (CSS and placeholders)
• Replaced: gxkb with jbxkb (custom) keyboard layout tray applet
• Compressed: chrome, libxul.so (firefox), GoogleTalkPlugin binaries with upx
• Added: batterymon-clone laptop battery tray applet
• Added: ibus-lite, ibus-pinyin (Chinese), ibus-skk (Japanese), ibus-m17n (various)
• Added: ttf-bitstream-vera, ttf-droid, ttf-indic-otf, ttf-tibetan-machine
• Added: Intel i740 and i810 GPU firmware
• Added: Broadcom b43-firmware
• Added: Chinese (pinyin), Chinese (cangjie), Japanese (skk), Korean (romaja), Thai
• (kesmanne) ibus inputs
• Added: Hebrew and Vietnamese (tcvn) keymaps and locales
• Added .torrent download option
• Status:
• Updated browsers to Firefox 30.0 (stable) and Google Chrome 35.0.1916.153 (stable)
• Updated to Linux kernel 3.15.3
• ISO size: 673 MB
• Known Bugs:
• Non-whitelisted keymaps not functional in Chrome 35+
• Broadcom BCM4311 wifi broken in kernel 3.15 (fixed in 3.16rc3)
• Networks save/load not implemented
• Printer save/load not implemented
• Bug reporting partially implemented

What is new in version 20140409 Nightly:

• Up-to-date
• Experimental GUI settings tool
• Experimental printer support

What is new in version 20131225:

• Added internationalization support: 30 keymaps and locales.
• Boot parameter keymap=xx
• Boot parameter locale=xx
• Boot parameter clean=true
• Syslinux load keymap menus
• Syslinux video mode menus
• Syslinux help menus
• Set gxkb keymap option
• Set browser locale option
• Fresh/untouched browser profile option
• Browser wrapper scripts

What is new in version 20131218:

• Updated to Firefox 26.0 (stable)
• Update to Google Chrome 31.0.1650.63 (beta)
• Updated to Linux kernel 3.12.5
• Upgraded autologin@.service
• GTK icon theme enabled
• Updated Firefox profile
• Update Chrome profile
• Fixes for Chrome slotting (symlinks)
• Chrome: installed camera app
• Firefox: tweaks to about:config
• Firefox: MoreInContent+ extension
• Removed python3
• Optimize ISO size each build
• Default volume 100% for all audio cards
• Change i3 default tiling to tabbed
• VirtualBox support
• VirtualBox RDP fixes
• Keyboard layout/keymap applet switcher (gxkb: us,fr,it,is)
• Fixes to autosize script
• PXE support

What is new in version 20130718:

• New: added searchpreview to Firefox
• New: added flashfree, searchpreview and smart qrcode to Chrome
• New: re-enabled Chrome plugins, added flashfree whitelist
• New: upgrade-iso script to build nightlies
• Removed: google-talkplugin (hangouts)
• Updated: Firefox 22.0
• Updated: Google Chrome 30.0.1566.2 dev
• Updated: Linux kernel 3.9.9