I've seen one tutorial or two on this subject, but since none worked, I decided to write one, on how I did make it work.
Install Opera
If you haven't already, download opera from opera.com - I used opera_8.50-20050916.6-shared-qt_en_etch_i386.deb, and install it:
Code:
dpkg -i opera_8.50-20050916.6-shared-qt_en_etch_i386.deb
...and install any missing dependencies:
Unsure about dependencies?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=78626
Make it look good
I'm not sure everyone knows this, but you can tell opera to use QT widgets instead of motif, by starting opera like this:
Code:
opera --style default
If you get a popup at startup, something about "operamotifwrapper", you need to create a symlink.
First, fire up a terminal and go to /usr/lib/opera/plugins.
Try to start operamotifwrapper-3 ("./operamotifwrapper-3"), and if the output is something similar to this:
Code:
./operamotifwrapper-3: error while loading shared libraries: libXm.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
...you might have to do a quick hack.
This guide used a soft link to make this silly hack, but since I think it ruined more than helped, I think copy is the way to go.
Code:
cd /usr/lib; cp libXm.so.2 libXm.so.3
The Smart Method (tm)
I know there are a few debian zealots out there, who doesn't like to mess around in /usr/lib - so here is a solution for your sexuality 
I haven't tested this - can someone confirm this actually works?
It shouldn't matter where you do this from (paths etc):
Code:
ln -s ../../libXm.so.2.0.1 /usr/lib/opera/8.50-20050916.6/libXm.so.3
Note: Some might refer to this as a anal method.
Try to start opera ("opera --style default") again.
It should work.
Make it look even better
When you get tired of starting opera with "--style default", there is another easy "hack" (well, it's not a hack, but I can't find any other description that's good enough) you can try!
First of all, take a backup of the opera starter -
Code:
sudo cp /usr/bin/opera /root/opera-org
Then, open the opera starter (it's a text-file, not a binary) with your favourite editor -
Code:
sudo gedit /usr/bin/opera
Go down to line 8, that starts with "passflags=", and change it to something like this:
Code:
# Parse commandline parameters
passflags='--style default'
Now opera always will start with --style default.
Changing QT-styles
This isn't very hard either, and there's who way's to go at this point, and you can use them both.
Using qtconfig
Since a few people out there doesn't want to install any kde packages more than necessary, they can change the QT-theme by installing and using qtconfig - the package is called qt3-qtconfig.
Code:
sudo apt-get install qt3-qtconfig
Start qtconfig as a ordinary user, and from there, you can change how QT looks. There aren't many themes to choose between, and none of them are very exciting to look at, but it's better than nothing
Remember to save your preferences before quiting!
Using kcontrol
If you want some useful eyecandy, it's worth installing a few kde packages, and since this is ubuntu, it's not very hard either -
Code:
sudo apt-get install kcontrol
When the installation is done, simply start kcontrol, change styles, colours and fonts to your liking, and start opera.
Using both
I'm not entirely sure there is any need for this, but I've done anyway (just in case).
First, make sure you have both kcontrol and qtconfig installed.
Make your choices in kcontrol (styles etc), and close kcontrol.
Then start qtconfig again, and this time, you can choose between the ugly themes, and the themes from KDE - and pick your choice here (using the same style here as in kcontrol might be a good idea), and save it.
Now, if opera somehow wouldn't use KDE's settings, it will fall back on your qt-settings.
Creating an application link
I think I stole this from another thread, I just can't remember which.
If you want opera to show up in the Internet-menu without using sMeg, this is the way to go:
First,
Code:
sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/opera.desktop
and fill the empty file with this:
Code:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Opera Web Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Simply the Best Internet Experience
Exec=opera %u
Terminal=false
MultipleArgs=true
Type=Application
Icon=/usr/X11R6/include/X11/bitmaps/opera.xpm
Categories=Application;Network
MimeType=text/html;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png
Now - once last thing:
Have fun, be secure and surf fast!
