Just days after Firefox version 17 was released, the first beta version of 18 is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux machines.
This new version incorporates the IonMonkey just-in-time JavaScript compiler that replaces SpiderMonkay engine. According to Mozilla, IonMonkey is designed to improve the performance around tab switching and long-running JavaScript application, support for Retina Display on OS X 10.7 and up, preliminary support for WebRTC and better image quality with its new HTML scaling algorithm.
This brief tutorial is going to show you how to easily install it on Windows, Mac or Linux system (Ubuntu). Remember this is just a beta release and not recommended to install it on a production system or replace the current version of Firefox. Beta releases are just there for you to test and see what to expect when the final product is released. There are also no guarantees that what you see the the beta software will be available when the final version is available to users.
To install Firefox 18 beta in Windows or Mac, click this link and download it.
In Ubuntu, press Ctrl – Alt – T on your keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below to add Mozilla PPA.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
Finally, run the commands below to update your system and install / upgrade to Firefox 18
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox
That’s it!