Flash, Firefox and Ubuntu

[gypsyphyr]

I have Ubuntu Hardy and I have loaded flash nonfree through Synaptic. But when I go to YouTube I have a quick flash of "loading flowplayer" then it's just white. No player. I am struggling trying to learn my way around Ubuntu...since I made the leap away from MS products in December. I have looked on other forums, removed, reinstalled, updated my libs etc and still it doesn't play. I can play videos on Adobe's site, and on the local newspapers, but not YouTube. Any Ideas?

[Theory5]

I have Ubuntu Hardy and I have loaded flash nonfree through Synaptic. But when I go to YouTube I have a quick flash of "loading flowplayer" then it's just white. No player. I am struggling trying to learn my way around Ubuntu...since I made the leap away from MS products in December. I have looked on other forums, removed, reinstalled, updated my libs etc and still it doesn't play. I can play videos on Adobe's site, and on the local newspapers, but not YouTube. Any Ideas?

 

no but when I have been playing around with linux I used the forum site linuxquestions.org

very helpful.

[freeztar]

This might be helpful.

 

[ubuntu] Firefox won't play website videos...youtube, news websites - Ubuntu Forums

[alexander]

way more thorough (and linked to in that thread) is this comprehensive manual on getting ubuntu to everyday working conditions:

[all variants] Comprehensive Multimedia & Video Howto - Ubuntu Forums

[gypsyphyr]

Thank you Theory, Freeztar and Alexander! I have taken note of each of your links, and Alexander, your wins this time. Actually I did go through the sticky instructions ubu freak had, and I am sure it has helped clean up several things - the the anser was in another place in the forum when someone mentioned that they lost flash in youtube, then mentioned that someone had loaded a plugin and removing it fixed their issue. I check in my Firefox addons, saw Better YouTube from Greasemonkey, deactivated it, and POOF Kim Stanley Robinson on Google and Climate Change flowing video, audio, color I have sound and light!

 

I also solved another issue was having earlier this week with my speakers not working, though every time I reboot, the speaker are again off, and I have to go into the volumn control to unmute them again.

 

Steps forward out number the steps backward this week! Currently i am running both my Windows computer and this Ubuntu computer but the day will come when I can forever shut the other computer down. Next is getting off DSL and moving to cable. We'll see how that goes with Ubuntu, since my cable company doesn't support Linix in any form.

 

again - thanks all

[freeztar]

Next is getting off DSL and moving to cable. We'll see how that goes with Ubuntu, since my cable company doesn't support Linix in any form.

 

This should not be a problem at all. Cable internet works OS independent AFAIK. I'm running the latest version of Ubuntu via cable internet with no problems.

[alexander]

oh yes, because we all know that cable internet is different from the dsl internet....

 

no cable/dsl company "supports" linux, bsd, os x, minix, be os, and yet most people who use nix arent rich enough to have a fiber drop to their house, what could they possibly be using, oh i dunno, a router? Get a router, have it be the front man to the network, Cable > Cable Modem > Router > Switch > Computasaurus, no problemos :phones:

[gypsyphyr]

You make it sound easy. "From your lips to the technogods ears".

 

I suspect it will be either very easy and I will quickly connect, or I will have lots of issues and it will not. I have a very solid background in networking and computers, which is why I feel so insecure now. A MS or Mac box would be no issue for me, but I feel like a slow child learning a new language. I know my background helps - just not enough.

 

You see I am doing a very radical (for me) upgrade to my lifestyle right now. First I went Microsoft free, now I am adding cable and Skype and going wireless. Regardless that I have done tech support for cell and IP providers, as well as antivirus and recovery for MS, I have personally seen little use for edgeir tech in my own life. Running a little network of 4-5 computers and having a landline and DVDs has been enough. But my friends laugh at me, and I am tired of paying the needlessly higher costs. We shall see how it goes.

[alexander]

I make it sound easy because it really is easy, my home network topology would loose you before we get to the computers, and contains lots of words you have probably never heard before, but putting in a small router, it's really fairly simple, and considering the amount of help available online, so read up, as well as support from both your cable provider and the router manufacturers, it actually is as easy as i say it is :hihi:

[gypsyphyr]

Thanks for the support and good news. Since I am running two machines just now, I already have a router, plus the DSL 'modem' (router). and a splitter so I don't have to have multiple monitors, which is something of a joke since I am too comfortable with two screens to go back to one. I have not moved all the files, or the DVD burner to the box I am running Ubuntu on, and since I am being sent another DVD burner, I'll leave the windows box as it is to do some of the little tasks.

 

I've installed and troubleshot DSL for years, but not cable. My only cable guru tech support buddy is afraid of Ubuntu so I will be on my own. I suppose it is the little things - like all of a sudden when I minimize a window it doesn't dock on the panel the way it did last week - that kind of freak me. I'd know the problem and where to go to fix it in Windows, but it seems I don't know here. So I spend the evening looking, learning and wishing on stars I had a 14 year old Ubuntu geek next door. I also need to find out why several times a night my Firefox freezes up and I have to hard reboot. I like stable, always on, always ready. I do not like turning my computer off for any reason. After i find the issue and hopefully fix it, I am looking for something like Front Page to interface with a website and let me upload content directly for Ubu. Any suggestions on stable and a short learning curve?

[alexander]

you dont need to do anything.... setup your router to get dhcp from the modem, activate the modem (you need to call them sometimes), then the internal network does not matter at all, it will operate as it did...

[gypsyphyr]

Glad News! I am connected and it was not as tricky as connecting in windows. No disc, just plugged it in, connected, went to comcast site, logged in and poof! The Cable Guy was impressed. I'd promised if it didn't work we'd log in through windows!!

 

I also fixed the lat of the three things I broke..so I am a step ahead. Actually all the cable install went well, we found the cable wire first try. At some point I will pull all the wire for the dish on the roof and remove the dish as well.

 

I feel better about being out here in Ubuntu land knowing I am not alone.

[freeztar]

Kudos. :)

 

In my brief experience with Ubuntu, it seems some things are so simple that they seem miraculous (plug it in, boom, it works) and others take hours of research and experimentation. I *think* I have everything stable in Ubuntu at this point. :doh:

[alexander]

great to hear that :)

[gypsyphyr]

n my brief experience with Ubuntu, it seems some things are so simple that they seem miraculous (plug it in, boom, it works) and others take hours of research and experimentation..

I agree, but then I remember learning DOS 2.11, I remember struggling with 'plug and play" I remember spending hours debugging C++ code. So yeah, I am resigned that there is a learning curve, and that much of what I 'know' isn't always going to help me here. I am going to hold onto the cookie I got today when it's 3:00am and I am tearing my hair out, but I feel confident that I can master this and I am going to continue to run it as primary.

 

Now i tackle setting up skype as my in house phone.

[gypsyphyr]

great to hear that :shrug:

 

I am grinning from ear to ear!! More confidence that I can master this transition and learn to live in this altered state!

[freeztar]

I'm with you Gyps!

 

I miss the dos days. :(

 

I learned programming on a C64. My first prog was an ansi helicopter that terminated when it hit the edge of the screen. ;) Not the most fun for a game, but it layed the foundation for learning Basic, and then C, and then a bit of assembly, and then...the internet happened! :shrug:

 

Bye bye BBS, bye bye DOS (well, it was almost already gone at this point). Hello craziness!

 

Unfortunately, my timing was not good. While I was chasing tail in high school, some smart folks were buying up web space and taking names. My dreams of becoming an electrical engineer with a degree from Stanford changed to a "back to Nature" vibe. After many degree changes in college, I settled on Ecology. I don't regret it a bit, but sometimes I wish I were a bit more (modern) tech savvy. It's a bit of a hit to the ego to struggle through Linux. :(

 

At the same time, it's a very uplifting feeling, especially when things work good! :phones:

 

All that said, I feel I owe you one (thanks for the task bar moving info!), so if you struggle with something, post it here (or in a new thread) and I'll try to help. :cheer: