Installing Flash for Firefox on a AMD64 Core

[geoffrey]

I am in the process of setting up my core and slowly getting the kinks ironed out.  One of my first issues is that Flash support is not native to AMD64 setups so the Adobe process for installing it will not work.  (Since one of the biggest selling points I used on my wife for permission to buy all this new equipment was that she could watch her shows on Youtube full screen on the TV, I needed the flash plug-in quickly)

Anyhow, although this is a linux specific thing not a LinuxMCE specific thing I figured that enough new users of LMCE were also linux newbies so the solution I found may be of use.

I got this procedure from a German linux site (http://blog.jbbr.net) and it worked perfectly for me.

first in the KDE desktop, open the console

then type:

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sudo apt-get install nspluginwrapper  (it may ask for your password, which is linuxmce, if you installed from the DVD)

next type:

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wget http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz
tar xvfz install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz
then:

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mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins
cp install_flash_player_9_linux/libflashplayer.so ~/.mozilla/plugins
nspluginwrapper -i ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
close firefox and then reopen and test, it should now play flash

hope other newbies find this useful

[colinjones]

All the instructions seemed to work without errors, but when I try YouTube it still says I am missing a plugin. I click the install missing plugins on the little popup bar, it searches, then comes back and says no suitable plugins were found/unknown plugin application/x-shockwave-flash....

But it only seems to do this when I use the "Computing" browser in LMCE. If I go to KDE desktop, it works perfectly now! Are they running under different user contexts, and I need to install it under whatever LMCE/Computing is using? I thought they all used the linuxmce account?

[rrambo]

all I did to get flash to work in firefox was to add/remove programs from within kde (adept_installer) and search for 'restricted' then installed the Ubuntu and Kubuntu Restricted extras.  Hope this helps..  my MD is 64-bit.

[colinjones]

But adept isn't installed (or visible) on KDE once LMCE is installed.... where did you find it? Command line?

[rrambo]

But adept isn't installed (or visible) on KDE once LMCE is installed.... where did you find it? Command line?

Weird..  it was installed on my MD..  under K (Start Button), then up to Add/Remove Programs. Just like in a normal Kubuntu install.

[rrambo]

As a matter of fact, it's been on every MD since 7.04 and now both betas of 7.10.

[golgoj4]

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Flash - added to the wiki. Please let me know if I missed anything. I dont have the 64bit installed on any of my machines, but I making an effort to try and add stuff to the wiki.

[colinjones]

rrambo - I haven't seen it in the usual place since 0704, assumed it was removed. Actually I seem to remember getting into KDE desktop before the setup wizard had run and seeing it still there, but gone afterwards. Have reinstalled many times 0710, never seen it after the setup wizard...

Thanks golgoj4 - I was going to do that as well after I worked out what the problem is.

I got it working - went to a terminal session and did ps -ef to see what user the LMCE browsers run under. Seems it is root, not linuxmce which is why I was having the problem. So did a sudo -u root bash, and then followed the instructions again (even though the home folder was the same!) and this time it worked!

Don't want to update the wiki article until I understand 1) if this is the real reason why (although I did try the original process twice with reboots between, to no avail, and as soon as I did this it worked) and 2) if this is the best procedure to recommend....

Col.

[geoffrey]

although this may be delving into an entirely different topic...i, like colinjones' am not able to find Adept.  (which is why I used the preceding method to get Flash)

[royw]

rrambo - I haven't seen it in the usual place since 0704, assumed it was removed. Actually I seem to remember getting into KDE desktop before the setup wizard had run and seeing it still there, but gone afterwards. Have reinstalled many times 0710, never seen it after the setup wizard...

On 0710 Beta 2 and Beta 3 dvd quick installs, I do not see adept-installer.  Maybe it's available on the CD installs?

Don't want to update the wiki article until I understand 1) if this is the real reason why (although I did try the original process twice with reboots between, to no avail, and as soon as I did this it worked) and 2) if this is the best procedure to recommend....

That makes a lot of sense to me.  Rip a file then look at it's ownership, it'll be root:public.  It looks like the MD is running as root (a really bad idea, IMO).  When you go to the KDE desktop and open a konsole, you can see that you are running as linuxmce.

BTW, here's the kubunto instructions for installing flash on 64-bit firefox:

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AMD64/FirefoxAndPlugins?action=show&redirect=FirefoxAMD64FlashJava

Have fun,
Roy

[colinjones]

So can someone validate my method or perhaps suggest a "best practice" method of doing the same thing under the root user context so that we can update the wiki?? I am new to all this (most of my stuff comes from Unix 15 years ago so it very rusty!)

[rrambo]

rrambo - I haven't seen it in the usual place since 0704, assumed it was removed. Actually I seem to remember getting into KDE desktop before the setup wizard had run and seeing it still there, but gone afterwards. Have reinstalled many times 0710, never seen it after the setup wizard...

On 0710 Beta 2 and Beta 3 dvd quick installs, I do not see adept-installer.  Maybe it's available on the CD installs?

Don't want to update the wiki article until I understand 1) if this is the real reason why (although I did try the original process twice with reboots between, to no avail, and as soon as I did this it worked) and 2) if this is the best procedure to recommend....

That makes a lot of sense to me.  Rip a file then look at it's ownership, it'll be root:public.  It looks like the MD is running as root (a really bad idea, IMO).  When you go to the KDE desktop and open a konsole, you can see that you are running as linuxmce.

BTW, here's the kubunto instructions for installing flash on 64-bit firefox:

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AMD64/FirefoxAndPlugins?action=show&redirect=FirefoxAMD64FlashJava

Have fun,
Roy

Are you all looking for adept on the core/hybrid or on a diskless MD??  Because on 7.04, 7.10b2 and 7.10b3 I have had adept on my MD's..  My core was installed by DVD method.

[Zaerc]

All the instructions seemed to work without errors, but when I try YouTube it still says I am missing a plugin. I click the install missing plugins on the little popup bar, it searches, then comes back and says no suitable plugins were found/unknown plugin application/x-shockwave-flash....

But it only seems to do this when I use the "Computing" browser in LMCE. If I go to KDE desktop, it works perfectly now! Are they running under different user contexts, and I need to install it under whatever LMCE/Computing is using? I thought they all used the linuxmce account?

Try installing it to the global plugins directory /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/ instead.

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sudo cp install_flash_player_9_linux/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/
sudo nspluginwrapper -i /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libflashplayer.so


[colinjones]

I have no idea how to guarantee uninstall this to test. Is there anyone reading, using AMD64 but hasn't installed Flash plugin yet? Could you please try Zaerc's suggestion and confirm if it works or not for BOTH KDE desktop and within LMCE?

I will update the wiki based on that feedback. Failing that, I will try the suggestion on my next rebuild (hoping that isn't until 0710 at this point!)

[Zaerc]

Well you can just do this extra and it youtube should work from the computing screen then.

EDIT:

And uninstalling should be a simple as removing the file from ~/.mozilla/plugins, or wherever you put it.