Browser Switchboard

Browser Switchboard control panel screenshot on Diablo Browser Switchboard control panel screenshot on Fremantle

Browser Switchboard is a program which allows you to choose which browser to use as the default browser. It supports MicroB, Tear, Mobile Firefox, Opera Mobile, and Midori out of the box, and can also be used to launch MicroB without having browserd running. A Control Panel applet to choose the default browser is provided.

Current Release

Version 3.3 (2010/09/02) (Diablo one-click install, Fremantle one-click install)

Getting Browser Switchboard

The recommended way to install Browser Switchboard is via the Maemo Extras repository, which is enabled by default in the Application Manager. You should find Browser Switchboard in the Application Manager catalog under the network category. Alternately, if you're viewing this page on your Maemo device, opening the one-click install will install the package from Maemo Extras for you.

Source code and packages can also be found on the Maemo Garage download page.

Quick Start

Just open the one-click install in a browser on your device and follow the instructions to install Browser Switchboard.

If you want to install the package by hand:

  1. Download the binary package: browser-switchboard_X.Y-Z_all.deb (where X.Y-Z is the version number, of course).
  2. Install the package using the Application Manager.

Browser Switchboard control panel UI
You can now select the default browser by using the Browser Switchboard applet in the Control Panel. Links in most applications, locally-saved web pages opened from the file manager, and (for Maemo 4.x) entries in the Web sidebar panel will open in the browser that you select as the default. Opening the "Web" menu entry and running "browser" from the shell will also cause your chosen default browser to open. If you don't configure a default browser, MicroB will continue to be used as the default browser.

No matter which browser you select as the default, MicroB can always be opened via the MicroB menu entry in the applications menu (for Maemo 4.x, installed in the Extras menu by default), or by running "microb" from the shell. While MicroB is open, it will receive all links from other applications; closing MicroB will restore your chosen default browser.

If you experience trouble after installing the package, try rebooting your device. If that fixes things, please report this as a bug.

Documentation

See the README for further instructions on how to configure and use Browser Switchboard.

Support

You can email your question to the maintainers (see below), or you can take it to the Browser Switchboard thread on the talk.maemo.org forums.

Development

The latest source is available via a Git repository; you can check it out by running

git clone https://git.maemo.org/projects/browser-switch

from a shell. You can also browse the repository using gitweb.

Bug reports and patches can be emailed to the maintainers, or posted on the forum thread.

Maintainers

Steven Luo <steven+maemo [at] steven676.net> is the primary maintainer of Browser Switchboard, with assistance from Jason Simpson (the original developer).