Install Opera on Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint and Enjoy Free Unlimited VPN

Opera 40 was released on September 19th, 2016. The biggest change in this version is that a free, unlimited, no-log browser-based VPN service is included for everybody to use. Other features in Opera 40 includes:

• Switch into power saving mode automatically whenever your laptop is unplugged.
• Chromecast support
• Video pop-out improvements: more video sites and players are supported.
• News reader now has RSS support.
• Updated browser engine

What’s VPN?

A VPN, or private virtual network, allows you to hide you real IP address from the outside world, unblock services that are only available to certain countries and unblock websites that are blocked by firewalls of your country or area.

Install Opera Browser on Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint

We can install Opera from the official software repository. Open a terminal window and create a new repository file with the command below. (Nano is a command-line text editor, which allows you to edit text files in terminal.)

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list

Add the following line to this file.

deb https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free

Save and close the file. (To save a file in Nano text editor, press Ctrl+O, then press Enter to confirm. To exit, press Ctrl+X.)

Then we need to add the Opera public key with the following command so APT package manager will be able to verify the integrity of packages downloaded from this repository.

wget -qO - https://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

The Opera software repository uses https connection, so we need to install the apt-transport-https package.

sudo apt install apt-transport-https

Now update local package index and install Opera.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install opera-stable

You may be asked if you want to add the Opera repository to receive updates. Because we have already added the repository, so answer No.

Once installed, you can start Opera from your application menu, or from the command line:

opera

Set up Virtual Private Network Access in Opera

To establish a virtual private network connection, go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security. Scroll down a little bit and tick on Enable VPN.

You will see a VPN badge in the address bar. If its background color is white, that means you are not connected to VPN. A blue color means VPN access is established. You can click the VPN badge and choose your desired country from virtual location drop-down menu.

With Opera 40, you online privacy is better protected. However, your traffic if only protected in Opera browser. To secure all your Internet traffic, you need to set up VPN for your entire operating system which may cost a little bit of money. The built-in VPN in Opera browser is not available to those who live in China. You can also buy a VPS and set up your own VPN server.

How to Add RSS Feeds to the News Reader

Open a new tab, click the News icon on the left, then select + add sources. Enter the feed address in the text field.

Opera browser also comes with a built-in ad-blocker. If you love this Linux blog, please consider adding our site to your exceptions list so that we can continue to provide Linux tutorials.

That’s it! Hope this tutorial helped you install Opera browser on Ubuntu. As always, if you found this post useful, subscribe to our free newsletter to receive more tips and tricks. Take care 🙂