Terrible, terrible things

IF you use Opera, and IF you use Linux, and IF you use Gnome, you may have noticed that a lot of filetypes you used to be able to open with Opera for Windows (as opposed to save) simply don't...open anymore. You've got to save the file, navigate to the directory using a different program or in the terminal, and then open it from there. A pain in the ass, and one of the things I don't particularly like about Opera for Linux.

It took a lot of searching to find the solution (guaranteed only for Opera 8.51 running on Ubuntu 5.10 using Gnome, but I'll bet it works elsewhere with Gnome, too):

1. Open the Preferences menu [ALT-P]
   
2. Click the Advanced tab
   
3. Select "Downloads" in the left-hand pane
   
4. On the right-hand side, click the "Handlers for saved files" button
   
5. Under both "Files" and "Folders" change the program from "gnome-open exec" to simply "gnome-open"
   
6. Click OK on your way out of the menus

Now, clicking on a file located on your hard drive will actually open it using whatever your Gnome default program is, just as it should in any browser on any platform.