What is your preferred browser? For me, it’s Opera. Opera browser is my default web browser & mail client. I always surf with beta & snapshot versions of Opera, but I don’t remove the stable version. I use Snapshot versions of Opera to surf & report bugs. Hope you know, I have already posted a tutorial about Installing Firefox and Thunderbird in Ubuntu. Let’s see how to install Opera beta / snapshot versions without conflict your installed stable version.
Tutorial: how to install beta version of Opera along with stable version? / Installing Multiple Versions of Opera in Ubuntu
- Download Opera & install it on your computer. FYI, Ubuntu Debian package format is available for both 32 & 64 bit architecture .
- Simple double click the .deb package file will lead you to the installation process.
Now, your Stable version is ready. Let’s come to the beta version. Opera 11 beta is a test version that gives you a preview of the great things to come in the next major release. It is recommended that you back up your current Opera installation before installing this version. For more info, please visit Backing up Opera.
- Go here to download the beta version. This time, instead of picking the debian version, download tar.bz2 or tar.gz package format. Save that file straight in your personal folder; do not keep it on your desktop or in the downloads. This will simplify the terminal commands that you are going to execute soon. For example, user charles should not leave the file in /home/charles/Desktop or in /home/charles/Downloads, but should save it in /home/charles
- Right click & Extract the Opera tar.bz2 file. For this tutorial, I use Opera 11 beta1 version.
- Rename it as Opera11. It helps us to simplify our terminal commands.
- Goto the terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and execute the following commands,
sudo mv ~/opera11 /opt
This command will move the opera11 folder to the /opt directory.
Execute the following command,
sudo /opt/opera11/install
The above command will prompt you to the installation process. It’s good to accept the recommended location, prefix and all, by simply pressing Enter Key.
Now, Opera beta version is successfully installed in the /usr/local/bin/ directory. Please refer the installation screenshots below.
Ref:Screenshot:Opera Installation Process
Opera’s install script will create a opera-beta launcher (or *.desktop file). The launcher will be added inside the Applications -> Internet menu.
That’s it. Now, you can have your Opera stable and beta versions together. This will use the same profile which is inside ~/.opera.
Important: Creating separate profile for your Opera versions (Recommended)
In-case, if you’d like to create separate profile for Opera beta while installing, Follow the same steps above until you move opera11 folder to /opt directory & execute the below command,
sudo /opt/opera11/install –system –unattended –suffix beta
It will use ~/.opera-beta as its profile and be installed under /usr/local/bin
The above command is suggested by Ruario. A big thanks to him. Earlier I prefer to use,
opera -personaldir /home/UserName/.opera-beta
command to create a separate profile while making the Launcher. And of course, thanks for his suggestion which helps many surferz.
By this way, you can keep different profiles for different versions. So, you do not spoil your existing stable profile while experimenting. 
Hmm, I know you said you don’t use Opera. Come on Surferz! Trust me, Opera is the world’s most secure browser. Download different versions of Opera here,
Opera Stable for your computer & mobile
Opera beta
Opera Snapshot: New builds are posted frequently at the Desktop Team blog
I hope this tutorial helps you much. Let me know your results by commenting here. Happy Surfing with Opera! 
Thanks for the info Charles. If I have a technical issue with technology I know you are the one to call. Right now I use Firefox and am pretty happy with it. There seems to be a lot more browsers coming into the market.
This is a great overview. I have been told to use Ubuntu for a while now and definitely am going to check it out. Thanks again!
June Stoyer recently posted..Nominate and Vote For Your Favorite Charity!
This will cause both to use the same profile directory. I suggest you set the suffix to beta so that they use different profiles or you have a high chance or corrupting your stable profile.
I also don’t see the point of moving the install to /opt first. It gives no advantage.
Thanks for your suggestion. I updated this tutorial with your suggestion. And also, moving to /opt is helpful for some surferz like me, because I often use minimum 3 versions of Opera with 4 different profiles. So, I no need to download the package again.
The opera-beta “launcher” (or *.desktop file) will be created by the install script for you. Next Opera in the Network section of your applications menu. You don’t need to create your own. If you don’t see it at first lout out and back into your account and it should appear.
“And also, moving to /opt is helpful for some surferz like me, because I often use minimum 3 versions of Opera with 4 different profiles. ”
You still don’t need /opt. You can just install each with a different suffix. Use the build number if you want something unique.
You can have as many side by side installs as you like. I have hundreds of builds of Opera on my machine. Many are simply unpacked and run in place but I also have quite a few installs. In case you think I exaggerate I should explain that I an Opera employee working in the UNIX team as a tester/QA. I have lots of old internal versions as it help me track down regressions when they happen.
I think, keeping an extracted opera package inside /opt will not bring anything harmful.
It’s just a backup solution. Yep, I know you are an Opera employee. I hope you notice I’ve already mentioned your profile & suggestions in my tutorial. In-case, if you missed it check out again. Thanks for commenting here.
I’m not sure I understood anything I just read, but I guess that makes you the surfer-guru not me
Thanks — this is awesome and helpful.
I used Ubuntu it was not bad at all, actually i have firefox it is going with my needs
Thanks! Good tutorial. It also helped me renaming existing opera istallation.
When trying to do “sudo /opt/opera11/install –system –unattended –suffix” I got the information “–suffix S Obsolete. Same as –name opera-S.” So I tried “sudo /opt/opera11/install –system –unattended –name opera-11″ which worked perfectly for me.
I had to do this because the automatic software update option failed
BTW, opera-S supposed to work. Please verify your installation. It will create opera-opera-S launcher too.