It's not quite that simple in Linux. You are generally dumped into a /usr/lib/ folder and expected to find your own way there, rather than being offered a list of appropriate applications.

Note the OP is talking about Chromium, not Chrome. It's sort of Google Chrome but with reduced Google.

Try

which chromium

in a command prompt. And this can be handy too:

locate chromium

The first will find the "official" installed version of Chromium, being whatever came via your distro and its repository and installed via your usual software manager. If you have gone "off piste" and downloaded it in some other way (maybe a .deb or .tar.bz2 file, or direct from its home site) then it may not be formally registered. In this case, the "locate" command might find it by filename.

Good luck.

In answer to Zenos's last post (by email, don't see it here): I tried "which chromium" in my general search bar (ctrl space) and in my explorer's "search files" window - neither gave any result. (My chromium is an official version.) But I did find the usr/lib/ folder, with a chromium-browser subfolder - but it has no .exe file. It has two other executable files, which however don't seem to do anything when I execute them. I find myself marvelling now that anything works on this computer when nobody seems to know how..... ;)

But you probably won't have .exe files on a Linux machine (well, you can run Windows programs on Linux, but that would be a last resort, especially when there is a native Linux version of Chromium.)

The "which" command needs to be run in a command line terminal.

Given that you were looking for a .exe file and you hadn't picked up on advice to use a command window, I do think you need to learn more about your choice of operating system. All along you're complaining about Thunderbird and/or Firefox and really the issue here is all about configuring your operating system.

Wondering if it's true that my issue is about configuring my OS - none of you seemed to be quite sure what the solution is. But what I've learned (not for the first time) is that in order to use a Linux OS, you need to be an IT expert. Not that Windows doesn't give problems unsolvable to the lay user, but there are enough IT consultants around who can help with Windows. I always wonder why none of them know about Linux systems: this is the real bottleneck for its wider use.

None of us is yet sure exactly what OS you're running! ;-)

It's hard enough with Mac and Windows users. With Linux you have the added complication of multiple distros (Debian, Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, Red Hat, Mandora, Fedora, Suse, Scientific etc etc) and on these you can have many different desktop environments (Gnome, KDE, XFCE, Mate, etc etc) so the complexity is compounded. It's a small user base and is fragmented over these distros, so it's hard to find anyone with exact and relevant experience to help you out. No-one here can tell you where to go to set your defaults, because as yet we don't know quite what you're running, and chances are, no-one else here has experience of that particular arrangement.

Yes, if you want to use Linux, you have to be prepared to find your own answers. For a while, Ubuntu looked like it could be the killer version that anyone could use, but that very ease of use was also a handicap if you didn't want to use it as the designers intended. In my case, I wanted to run beta Thunderbirds, and it was just too hard work. So I went looking for a version of Linux that doesn't get in the way.

I also hated the Unity desktop; I do not want a touch compatible interface on a PC which is worked via mouse and keyboard. On Windows 10 I use Classic Shell to get rid of all the animated tile nonsense. In Linux, the Mate desktop gives me a similar user experience.

And Thunderbird works in both of these environments, so I don't have to adjust to multiple email clients.

Diederick said

Wondering if it's true that my issue is about configuring my OS - none of you seemed to be quite sure what the solution is.

You are yet to advise what operating system you are using. There is considerable differences between distributions in the Linux word just as there is considerable difference between windows RT and Windows 10. So instead of lamenting about the need for skills you obviously do not posses, please answer the questions asked of you. We are not mind readers and can only respond to the small amount of relevant information you have imparted to this thread.

What distribution of Linux are you using? You said "I work under Freshbook, an adaptation of Ubuntu" I have searched, as have others. We can find no Linux distribution called freshbook. (the only thing Google gives on freshbook is https://www.freshbooks.com/)

I gave you a link to setting a default browser in Ubuntu. This was based on the user agent string your browser provided the forum software with which Identifies the operating system as Ubuntu (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Ubuntu Chromium/65.0.3325.181 Chrome/65.0.3325.181 Safari/537.36)

As that does not work for you, either you did not follow the instructions, or your distribution is no Ubuntu, but some variant. Perhaps you might review the list of ubuntu based distributions here and tell us which of them you use..

You may also not have sufficient privileges on your Linus device to make the changes you are trying to make. Have you tried logging in a root and then launching your browser?

Matt, Zenos, thanks once more for all your efforts and your understanding, I really appreciate it, but this is the last I'm writing about this - I simply don't have more time. Matt, I don't have a clue where to find the version numbers or whatever it is that will tell you what version of Ubuntu Freshbook is (trust me, it exists). I also don't know what 'logging in a root' means. I'm a lay user, I'm not an idiot, but not an expert either - and without the skills of an expert, I simply cannot answer many of the questions you are asking. This is the dilemma of this discussion and of Linux; it's no use blaming each other for this. So once again, lots of thanks, you're great guys. Apologies if I caused any discomfort.

I asked for a link where you downloaded it. That should be fairly simple surely. Or a link the the repository If you were using ubuntu this would be the information https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu

Root is the user that controls everything in a Linux operating system. I suggest you learn about it as you will not be able to do much about configuring Linux without knowing not only what it is, but how to use it. Look here for an explanation. http://www.linfo.org/root.html

Your a lay user, that is not an excuse to throw your hand in the air and claim ignorance. When you encounter new terms. Google is your friend. It is not as if I ever went to computer school. So I guess I am a lay user as well.

Version number in ubuntu can be obtained by following the procedure here. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CheckingYourUbuntuVersion

Note I do not use Linux at all and have not used it in anger for a decade. I spun up a copy of Mint a couple of weeks ago, but have gone no further than install it. I located all these links using Google.

Diederick said

I don't have a clue where to find the version numbers or whatever it is that will tell you what version of Ubuntu Freshbook is (trust me, it exists).

Why not give the url of where you downloaded this little known version of Ubuntu?

Are you sure the English name is Ubuntu Freshbook and Freshbook is not a translation?

Pretty much every current Linux distro is listed at https://distrowatch.com/ and there is an extensive list of Ubuntu variations at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DerivativeTeam/Derivatives but no mention of freshbook anywhere.

Note applications like Thunderbird and Firefox and others on Linux does not .exe as you run .sh file. You can run .exe on Linux with Wine or PlayOnLinux with Wine for games that are for Windows.