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Old 01-21-2014, 09:39 PM   #1
phazon
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I want to watch Netflix using SolydK


I have been very pleased with SolydK and have been using it exclusively for a few weeks. Saw some really helpful how-to videos on youtube for watching Netflix on Ubuntu, etc. Have not found any for SolydK. sometimes I find that UBUNTU software works on SolydK, but the screen shots on the videos I was watching clearly show stuff being downloaded from an UBUNTU repository.

Any ideas on how to get Netflix running on SolydK?

Thanks
 
Old 01-22-2014, 04:05 AM   #2
bonnydeal
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Hi


Netflix on a PC jut runs in the browser of your choice, so should just work in Solydk.
If it doesn't it may ask you to to install a browser plugin. Otherwise try a different browser.
I don't know what the default browser is for SolydK, but firefox plays netflix streams great for me in Fedora and OSX.

Hope this helps
 
Old 01-22-2014, 06:34 AM   #3
phazon
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here is what it shows when I try to play a movie;

Complete System Requirements

To watch instantly, you''ll need a computer that meets the following minimum requirements:

Windows
Windows Vista or Windows 7
Internet Explorer 8 or higher; or the latest version of Firefox; or the latest version of Chrome
1.2 GHz processor
512 MB RAM
Mac
An Intel-based Mac with OS 10.4.11 or later
Safari 4 or higher; or the latest version of Firefox; or the latest version of Chrome
1 GB RAM
Chrome OS
A Google Chromebook or Chromebox running Chrome OS 29 or higher

No mention of linux.....

I have seen some threads on installing pipelight etc, it seems a tad more complicated than what your experience has been.

Even though I have been resisting it, I am leaning toward using Ubuntu or Fedora. It seems like a lot more stuff has been worked out on them already. Don't get me wrong, I have a tinkerin impule and liek lerning aobut the sytems and playing around the "guts" of them in teh terminal and al, but sometimes it is just nice when somethign works the first time. So far, SolydK has done more "out of the box" than any other distro I have played around with so far. Not being able to use Netflix may be a deal breaker....
 
Old 01-22-2014, 07:03 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
here is what it shows when I try to play a movie;

Complete System Requirements

To watch instantly, you''ll need a computer that meets the following minimum requirements:

Windows
Windows Vista or Windows 7
Internet Explorer 8 or higher; or the latest version of Firefox; or the latest version of Chrome
1.2 GHz processor
512 MB RAM
Mac
An Intel-based Mac with OS 10.4.11 or later
Safari 4 or higher; or the latest version of Firefox; or the latest version of Chrome
1 GB RAM
Chrome OS
A Google Chromebook or Chromebox running Chrome OS 29 or higher

No mention of linux....
You need a User Agent switcher and switch to say "Chrome 28.0.1469.0 (Win 7 - 64 bit)" before you visit netflix.com/movies/whatever.
(netflix doesn't work for me but at least I don't get that "error".

This says mixing Ubuntu repos is not a good idea.

http://fds-team.de/cms/pipelight-installation.html
 
Old 01-22-2014, 04:47 PM   #5
phazon
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well, I don't want to use the Ubuntu method as seen on the youtube demo, so that is why I am asking if anyone knows a better way. your linkhttp://fds-team.de/cms/pipelight-installation.html

has been suggested to me as a possible way to do it using the debian method....

Not sure though.
 
Old 01-22-2014, 07:00 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
well, I don't want to use the Ubuntu method as seen on the youtube demo, so that is why I am asking if anyone knows a better way. your linkhttp://fds-team.de/cms/pipelight-installation.html

has been suggested to me as a possible way to do it using the debian method....

Not sure though.
Make backups of what you value and want to keep.
Proceed with caution and vigilance?
 
Old 01-23-2014, 05:20 PM   #7
enorbet
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A Shout Out Thank You to the boys at Launchpad for Pipelight but I just have to say, what a pita M$ is with this silly Silverlight crap. Like this can't be handled in a much simpler way. AS IF!
 
Old 01-28-2014, 06:59 PM   #8
phazon
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Habitual -

what is "User Agent switcher" and how is it used?
 
Old 01-28-2014, 07:41 PM   #9
enorbet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
Habitual -

what is "User Agent switcher" and how is it used?
Although this wasn't directed at me I hope you don't mind an answer. A user agent switcher is an app that will write a config for your browser ID. This, by default, identifies your OpSys and Browser by brand and version. Think of it as a "name tag".

One does not have to install such an app to try out Pipelight. I did it manually and Netflix is working like an MMA Champ for me on Slackware 14, where most people can have it working in 4 easy steps. You can do this manually if you are comfortable with your skills and careful with your actions.

If you'd like to see where and how this information is stored in any Mozilla based browser, it is easy to do without risk as long as you don't change anything. Just open a browser tab and use "about:config" for the address. It will warn you that you could break your browser in there but of course that could only occur if you write something wrong in there. For the purposes of this thread I'm only going to show how to see what yours is now. If you wish to use an app or manually is up to you and there are many websites that will show you step by step and with screeenshots.

For the purposes of seeing what and where, just type "useragent" in the search field and you should see a handful of config lines. A user agent switcher will edit "general.useragent.override" if you already have one, or it will create one, if you don't. It's actually not hard to do this manually but as I said, no need to duplicate what is readily available. There are also sites that keep a database of useragent strings so you can effectively "spoof" whatever you need.

Last edited by enorbet; 01-28-2014 at 07:44 PM.
 
Old 01-28-2014, 09:07 PM   #10
phazon
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enorbet-

Very thankful for your response.

Unfortunately, my head is swimming on this issue. I have been running hard and fast at this brick wall for aobut 4 days, and I can't even remember what I have tried or not tried.

I probably have a ton of crap floating around in my folders so my hopes for watching Netflix in SolydK may hinge on re-installing SolydK and starting from scratch.

I have Netflix working on Ubuntu, and using the same steps is supposed to work on Mint, but it does not.

There are people who have listed some steps that they sy worked perfectly and they are successfully watching Netflix on SlydK, but it just does not work for me.

I think that I am going to just live with haveing more thatn one distro for now.

I was hoping to have that golden distro. SolydK is in the lead, but still not 100%

SolydK -
able to connect to netwok drive in Kentucky
able to connect to, print to wireless priinter
able to run Audcaity, Audacity sees my input devices
able to to install Draftsight, run Draftsight
NOT albe to install Netflix, run Netflix

Mint -
NOT able to connect to netwok drive in Kentucky
able to connect to, print to wireless priinter
able to run Audcaity, Audacity sees my input devices
able to to install Draftsight, run Draftsight
NOT albe to install Netflix, run Netflix

Ubuntu-
NOT able to connect to netwok drive in Kentucky
NOT able to connect to, print to wireless priinter (even though the printer set up looks identicle to Mint)
able to run Audcaity, Audacity sees my input devices
NOT able to to install Draftsight, run Draftsight
NOT albe to install Netflix, run Netflix
 
Old 01-29-2014, 05:55 AM   #11
enorbet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
enorbet-
Very thankful for your response.
Of course, you are welcome. Only glad to have helped at all. Maybe I can do more....

Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
Unfortunately, my head is swimming on this issue. I have been running hard and fast at this brick wall for aobut 4 days, and I can't even remember what I have tried or not tried.
Although it is a good idea to keep notes on such an undertaking, losing track of all one has tried is not uncommon so don't despair. There are solutions, especially with Linux.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
I probably have a ton of crap floating around in my folders so my hopes for watching Netflix in SolydK may hinge on re-installing SolydK and starting from scratch.
I wouldn't resort to re-installing just yet. Once we have a running Linux system we have tools to discover where we are and what needs fixing and how. This is somewhat easier to accomplish within the system upon which the attempt was made for the simple reason that errors and obstacles are still a step in reaching a successful conclusion. In Logic, knowing all that is "Not=A" also describes "WHAT=A". In a real endeavor, errors and dead ends at least helps define what needs to be done.

Firstly, and very important to keeping the failed system, is that Pipelight provides a diagnostics page Here This takes time and will effectively feel like a freeze for a time, so be patient and let it complete. Not only will it tell you what works and what fails, but it will give advice as to how to repair.

Before you go to the diagnostics page you should try running from command line (as normal user)
Code:
pipelight-plugin --list-enabled
The output from this command and switch combination will tell you what your configuration is ie - how many and which pipelight plugins are currently enabled.

It is important to remember that Pipelight works in 2 ways. One is all Linux and the other is through a version of wine specific to Pipelight and stored in "/home/user/.wine-pipelight". Remembering that the dot (.) before "wine-pipelight" make it a hidden directory, know that the Linux portion of Pipelight will check to see if the hidden wine portion exists, and recreates it if it does not. This means that a user can force a fresh reinstall of Pipelight's wine, just by renaming or deleting the existing "~user/.wine-pipelight".

If you have an existing wine install, it will be untouched by pipelight's wine through this method as long as you comply with it's location and don't change anything to combine them. Combining is possible as well, but not necessary, at least in most distros. You can verify your distros handling of this by checking to see that pipelight's wine, if kept separate, accomplishes this by installing it to "usr/libexec/wine-pipelight".

If yours is separate this folder will exist and have pipelight's files within it. If it does not exist, your distro combines them, likely in wines normal folder, "/usr/lib/wine". You can determine this either by the "ls" command or through your file manager. It may be worthwhile to verify how each of your 3 distros handle this in order to see how Solydk differs.


Quote:
Originally Posted by phazon View Post
I have Netflix working on Ubuntu, and using the same steps is supposed to work on Mint, but it does not.

There are people who have listed some steps that they sy worked perfectly and they are successfully watching Netflix on SlydK, but it just does not work for me.

I think that I am going to just live with haveing more thatn one distro for now.

I was hoping to have that golden distro. SolydK is in the lead, but still not 100%
SolydK -
able to connect to netwok drive in Kentucky
able to connect to, print to wireless priinter
able to run Audcaity, Audacity sees my input devices
able to to install Draftsight, run Draftsight
NOT albe to install Netflix, run Netflix

Mint -
NOT able to connect to netwok drive in Kentucky
able to connect to, print to wireless priinter
able to run Audcaity, Audacity sees my input devices
able to to install Draftsight, run Draftsight
NOT albe to install Netflix, run Netflix

Ubuntu-
NOT able to connect to netwok drive in Kentucky
NOT able to connect to, print to wireless priinter (even though the printer set up looks identicle to Mint)
able to run Audcaity, Audacity sees my input devices
NOT able to to install Draftsight, run Draftsight
NOT albe to install Netflix, run Netflix
It is possible to make any distro do all of the above. The only factor as to which one you choose depends solely on your preferences as to what a "Golden Distro" means to you. Surely it doesn't rest on just the 5 conditions you mention above, but also on look and feel, and the power and ease each offers to comply with your desires.

For example, even though Ubuntu presently fails 4 of the 5 you mention, I'm confident that it can be made to do all of those if there are other compelling reasons that it suits you. I was unaware of Solydk/Solydxk until you posted this thread but I have to say that my first impression after a little reading was that conceptually I like it better than Ubuntu and Mint.... so much so that I may try it.

In your case it should be the easiest to fix since it only fails 1 out of 5 of your listed criteria. I am nowhere near an expert on Pipelight and in fact had to jump through a few hoops because I do have an existing wine install and sought aid here in LQ and I got excellent help. In my case I got help from one of Slackware's developers, Alien Bob, who hammered out most of the 64bit and multi-lib versions and maintains the major packaging repository (among many other things), so I am quite confident that there is sufficiently qualified and willing help here for you to accomplish this with whichever distro you like best. FWIW I will continue to monitor this thread to offer you any assistance I can, so just say what you want if you wish to proceed.

OT aside -
BTW are you in the Aerospace industry?
 
Old 01-31-2014, 04:22 AM   #12
enorbet
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Final Update - SUCCESS!

Hello again
I have great news... or at least I think it's great...haven't seen OP on here in a long time. Hope he didn't give up because

1) SolydK is indeed a very decent Distro
and
2) It does Silverlight just fine and quite easily

Here's how I did it.

I did NOT use Ubuntu repositories because they are no longer anywhere near as compatible with Debian as SolydK is. I just followed the directions on the Pipelight Installation page for Debian. Oddly, they have us add a repository for OpenSuse but hey...it works.

Follow the directions in order, so you get the Release Key downloaded and installed.

Then add the OpenSuse Repository as instructed. The site doesn't mention that you have to do apt-get as root (sudo, w/e) I suppose because we should all know that by now, but don't forget.

Issue the pipelight command to enable Silverlight plugin, again as per the instructions, and go to the site listed by FDS to get the Silverlight plugin downloaded. This was very fast for me including all the fonts I know it must have. Couldn't have taken more than 4 minutes.

The only difficulty I had was useragent shifter for Firefox. I couldn't get that thing to work right in 20 minutes and I know another way so I uninstalled it and "went commando". This is riskier but not a big deal if you're at all careful - copy 'n paste, don't trust your typing skills is some good advice here. Also I have not tried this on other mozilla-based browsers, just Firefox.

Just put "about:config" as your go to address in Firefox and read the warning. The rest assumes you clicked "I'll be careful"

in the search field at the top of that screen enter "useragent" (and we all know to leave out quotation marks unless specified , right?)

You should get a list of a few strings by that name. We want to create a new one so right click in empty space and select New > String. Enter "general.useragent.override" in the dialogue box. It will close and be replaced by another for the actual string. Because I installed 32 bit SolydK, I used

Code:
 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; rv:22.0) Gecko/20130405 Firefox/22.0
You can find alternatives for 64bit and other browsers at useragentstrings.com.

For most people, you're basically done! Test it at fds-team.de/pipelight to get the greenlights or see errors if you have work to do but mine worked as soon as I got the useragent.override in. Then go to Netflix or whatever your lil' heart desires, raise a glass (and perhaps a finger) to Billy, Ballmer and the Boys and maybe have some popcorn on hand
 
2 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-31-2014, 11:18 AM   #13
Habitual
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enorbet View Post
Hello again
I have great news... or at least I think it's great...haven't seen OP on here in a long time. Hope he didn't give up because
...
You did all that just to help somebody?
But what takes you or I twenty minutes to do successfully, takes some (new) users 20 hours without success.
Excellent write-up and Props to you.
 
Old 02-22-2014, 10:13 PM   #14
phazon
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Sorry I did not check in earlier on this. I sort of gave up on getting it to work in SolydX. And yes, I totally agree, SolydX seems like it is the closest thing to a Linux distro that has worked "all" the bugs out. Being that pipelight is a Microsfot product, it is destin to require some tricks for it to work in Linux, no matter which distro.

I will be following your lead on this.

I will get back to you on the results.

Thanks bunches for your dilegence.

Most appreciated.
 
Old 02-23-2014, 08:19 AM   #15
phazon
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enorbit -

Following your lead

I followed the "Wheezy" steps for Debian at this URL

http://fds-team.de/cms/pipelight-installation.html

Simply "appending" the "contrib" to the end of everything that starts with "deb" in the etc/apt/sources.list file was a little conveluted because clicking on the file entitled "sources.list" brings up a user window, not just a gedit text window. I had to look at the text file called "sources.list.save", which is a simple text file, to see which ones start with "deb"....they all do.
So, within that user window, I selected eack line, clicked edit, then added the word "contrib" to the end.

After that I...

With Firefox open
1.) Clicked the tab to open a new browser window
2.) Entered "about:config" in URL go-to field
3.) Clicked "I'll be careful" at the warning window
4.) Entered "useragent" in the search field
5.) Right clicked in empty space and selected New > String
6.) Entered "general.useragent.override" in the dialogue box
7.) Entered
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; rv:22.0) Gecko/20130405 Firefox/26.0
NOTE: This is all being done on a 32 bit machine running SolidX, and
NOTE: Your description, that I was following, says that you entered
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; rv:22.0) Gecko/20130405 Firefox/22.0
I changed mine to "...Firefox/26.0" because I noticed that the
"general.user.agent" already there had 26, not 22 at the end.
A quick check on the help tab confiremd that I am running firefox 26

After step 4, there was already a "general.user.agent" line item thus...
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0
Step 7 effectively replaced the "general.user.agent" line item that was already there instead of adding this as an additional one....

NOTE: Before going to the netflix website, you have to click on your menu tab in the bottom left of your window, and in the search field, start typing "netflix". You will see an application with with the netflix logo in you available choices of applications. Click on that application. Nothing seems to happen, but then when you go to the netflix website, it all works.
(in Ubuntu ans Mint, clicking on this little application spawns a virtual browser window that runs on top of the firefox window, kinda different)

So, YAY, it worked - BUT - it does not "take".

It seems that I have to perform steps 2 through 7 every time I restart Firefox.

When I close and restart Firefox, go to the about:config window and search "useragent", the only "general.user.agent" line item present is the
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0
Repeating steps 2 through 7 replaces it.

Is there a way to keep this in there so I don't have to repeat steps 2 through 7 every time?

Awesome! Thanks

P.S. was reading some about SolyXK on wikipedia. I had noticed that SolydX was very similar to Mint. Turns out that indeed, it is a fork of the Mint Debian distro. Who knew? I am toggling between using Mint and SolydX daily. Right now, they both pretty much do everything I want from a Distro. It is a toss up.

Last edited by phazon; 02-23-2014 at 08:38 AM. Reason: spelling errors
 
  


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