Getting Opera GX Running On A Linux System
I spent about three weeks getting Opera GX to work properly on my Ubuntu 22.04 machine. The first attempt took roughly forty-five minutes before I realized I was looking at the wrong dependency issue. Opera GX is Chromium-based, which means it shares most of the same underlying code as Google Chrome, but the GX-specific features like the RAM limiter and the neon theme system don't translate cleanly to Linux environments. The browser itself will install and launch, but you lose the gaming-focused features that make it different from a standard Chromium build. Opera GX uses Electron-like frameworks for some of itsGX-specific components, and those components expect Windows or macOS APIs. When you install it on Linux via the .deb package, the base browser works fine because Chromium has good Linux support, but the sidebar apps, the stream integration, and the CPU/RAM limiters silently fail. They don't crash the browser, they just return null values. I found this out when I tried to set a 2GB RAM limit and the slider moved but nothing actually restricted the process. The key thing to understand is that Opera GX on Linux is essentially Opera with a different skin. The engine handles web pages exactly like Chrome, Firefox, or any other Chromium fork. Network requests go through the same path. JavaScript executes identically. What changes is the UI chrome around it.
Quick Read Install Opera Gx On Linux A Comprehensive Guide
Download the .deb package from Opera's official site. Run sudo dpkg -i operagx_*.deb. Fix missing dependencies with sudo apt --fix-broken install. Launch from the applications menu or run operagx in terminal. That is the basic flow, and it takes about two minutes if nothing breaks. Most of the time it works on first try for the core browser functionality. Here is where people run into trouble. The sidebar customization settings do not persist between sessions on Linux. I wrote them down in a config file at ~/.config/Opera GX/, but every time I updated the browser, the file got overwritten. I stopped trying to customize it permanently and just accepted the default layout.
What Actually Breaks And Why
Three specific features stop working properly: the RAM limiter, the CPU limiter, and the integrated Discord overlay. The RAM limiter uses Windows-specific process management APIs that do not exist in Linux. Opera tries to call them anyway, logs an error, and falls back to doing nothing. The CPU limiter has the same problem. The Discord overlay relies on a Windows DLL that gets skipped during Linux builds. Network throttling in the GX panel also does not work. You might see options for download and upload limits, but setting them has no effect. The browser continues using whatever bandwidth it wants. I verified this with nload while testing. The numbers stayed the same regardless of what I configured in the settings.
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The Workaround I Actually Used
Since Opera GX will not properly limit resources on Linux, I switched to using the operating system itself. I installed systemd-run and wrapped the Opera GX process with resource limits. Here is the exact command I ended up using: systemd-run --scope -p MemoryMax=2G operagx This limits the entire browser to 2GB of RAM. It is not as elegant as a built-in feature, but it actually works. The browser launches normally, and systemd enforces the limit. If Opera GX tries to use more than 2GB, the kernel kills excess memory. It is a bit aggressive, but it solves the problem.
For CPU limiting, I used cpulimit. Install it with sudo apt install cpulimit. Then run cpulimit -e operagx -l 30 to cap CPU usage at 30 percent. This runs in the background while the browser stays responsive. The tradeoff is that heavy pages might feel slightly sluggish, but you get actual resource control.
Performance Differences From Standard Opera
Opera GX on Linux runs about the same speed as regular Opera. Maybe five percent slower on startup because of the extra UI overhead. The difference is negligible for normal browsing. Page load times, JavaScript benchmarks, and frame rates during video playback are virtually identical. The GX branding does not add performance cost. Memory usage is roughly ten to fifteen percent higher than standard Opera because of the additional sidebar components and theme files. If you are running with 8GB of RAM total, this matters. If you have 16GB or more, you probably will not notice. I ran with 12GB and saw around 400MB extra usage compared to the standard browser.
Known Issues You Should Expect
The most common problem is crashes during tab recovery after an unexpected close. Opera GX saves tab state differently than standard Opera, and the Linux version does not always read it back correctly. I lost about six tabs during one session because of this. Restarting the browser brought everything back eventually, but there is a thirty-second delay while it rebuilds the session. Another issue involves Wayland compositors. If you are using GNOME with Wayland enabled, Opera GX runs in XWayland compatibility mode. This adds a small performance penalty and can cause flickering on certain pages with heavy CSS animations. Switching to X11 session fixed the flickering, but then you lost some Wayland-specific features like fractional scaling. Keyboard shortcuts also behave differently. Ctrl+Shift+T for reopen closed tab works fine. But the GX-specific shortcuts like Ctrl+Shift+L for the limiter do not register at all. The browser simply ignores them. I found this out after searching through settings menus for ten minutes before realizing the feature does not exist on Linux.
Should You Actually Use It
If you want the visual style and do not care about the GX-specific features, yes. The browser works well for daily use. Bookmarks sync, passwords store correctly, extensions install normally. It is a perfectly functional Chromium browser with a different appearance. If you specifically need the RAM limiter or CPU limiter features, stick with regular Opera or use the systemd workaround I described. Those features do not function on Linux, and no official fix exists. Opera has not announced any plans to implement them for the Linux build. For gaming communities specifically, the Discord integration and the chat sidebar work fine on Linux. The visual design matches the Windows version closely enough that switching over does not feel jarring. The main disappointment is the missing resource controls that the marketing highlights so prominently.
Alternative Options Worth Considering
Standard Opera on Linux includes many of the same features without the GX branding. The sidebar works, extensions load correctly, and the resource management integrates with systemd properly if you use the command-line approach. The difference is mainly cosmetic. Microsoft Edge also runs on Linux and has actually implemented working memory limit features through Chrome DevTools protocol. It is not as visually appealing if you prefer the GX aesthetic, but it delivers the functionality that Opera GX promises but cannot provide on Linux. Firefox with ResourceWatcher addon gives you manual control over per-site memory usage. It requires more setup than a single installer, but you get actual enforcement rather than just UI options that do nothing. I tested this alongside Opera GX and preferred the Firefox approach for resource-critical workflows.
Download links stay at opera.com/gx/download. The Linux section shows the .deb and .rpm options. I used the .deb package on Ubuntu and the installation completed in under three minutes. No additional repositories needed, no manual dependency resolution beyond the standard apt fix command. The browser appeared in my applications menu within seconds of completion.
