I can't Install Flash Player

Foggy · 12-06-2003, 05:28 PM

Just installed redHat 9.0 and found that to be the easy part, Managed to get the Wireless network working, connected through the cable modem to the internet and managed to get the e-mail working.

I was feeling really smug... Till I tried a simple thing like down loading Flash Player for Mozilla.

Why does it have to be so difficult to do a simple thing, like down loading a program?

Down loaded the plug-in into /home/james
Clicked on what looked like a package.
It appeared to create another directory /home/james/install_flash_player_6_linux

Following the instructions on the web page

I loaded a new terminal entered su and password

# /home/james/install_flash_player_6_linux/flashplayer-installer

pressed enter a few times

Please enter the installation path of the Mozilla, Netscape,
or Opera browser (i.e., /usr/lib/mozilla): /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4

WARNING: A newer version of the Macromedia Flash Player has been detected in
/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins.
The installer will overwrite this existing binary.

----------- Install Action Summary -----------

Macromedia Flash Player 6 will be installed in the following directory:

Browser installation directory = /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4

Proceed with the installation? (y/n/q): y

Installation complete.

However when I go to Help/about plugins in Mozilla I can't find any thing installed,

I have also tried going to a web site that requires the use of Flashplayer and can see that it still needs installing.

Please help and tell me what it is that I am doing.

Best wishes.

James.

h/w · 12-06-2003, 05:34 PM

do "ls /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins"
see if theres a file called "libflashplayer.so".

if there is, then from your user home dir, goto ".mozilla/plugins" and do a "ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins".

now, if libflashplayer.so wasnt there, ...... umm, write back.

Foggy · 12-06-2003, 05:49 PM

Many Thanks for your quick response.

My original effort was with a tar

Getting a little fed up I thought I would try and down load the rpm instead.

What a difference.... Now that is what I call easy.

All sorted now.

Once again many thanks for your response, I am sure that I will be a big user of this forum for some time to come..... I will persevere.

Best wishes.

James.

h/w · 12-06-2003, 07:02 PM

no problem at all. have u used apt (i think not from your ...and down load the rpm instead.
What a difference.... Now that is what I call easy.")

if not - get these 2 files:
http://ftp.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrp...6-fr1.i386.rpm
http://ftp.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrp...6-fr1.i386.rpm

as root, do

Code:

rpm -Uvh apt-*

in the directory where u saved them.
then, staying root, do

Code:

apt-get install update

. and you will not have anymore problems installing any package. you may want to read some stuff on APT, or make some changes in the /etc/apt/sources.list.

all you will need is "apt-cache search xxx", and "apt-get install xxx" or "apt-get remove xxx"

Foggy · 12-06-2003, 07:16 PM

H/W Once again Many thanks.

I have tried Google to find out a little more on APT, before I start loading stuff, but with out much success.

Would you know of a site that would explain it in plain English. (If that is possible with Linux).

Best wishes.

James.

h/w · 12-06-2003, 07:26 PM

APT is debians package management tool. redhat, seeing what it can do, and how it can make everyones life simpler, ported it for RH users. the details of APT can be found on debians (debian.org) site.
dont worry bout "loading stuff". those 2 links are from redhat rpm sites which i looked up for you (rh9 specifically).
if you installed those 2 rpm's as i suggested....

say you want to install xmms now.... what you will do is "apt-get install xmms".

if you want to install mozilla now .... "apt-get install mozilla"

yes, it must look confusing because of its simplicity, but thats what it does. it will look up "xmms" or "mozilla" in its lists of repositories (which is in the sources.list file i mentioned), download it, and any other dependencies it might need, and install it for you. so, it will search, download, check (+download if necessary) dependencies, and install for you, with only 1 command. 'leading to less use of aspirin trying to solve dependencies, and more productivity.

krissly1 · 12-06-2003, 10:25 PM

Foggy go to http://freshrpms.net/ and you will get more info in plain English.
GOOD LUCK & ENJOY !

burnpile · 12-07-2003, 12:16 AM

Trust the advice you've been given. apt-get is a MUST HAVE if you're new to Linux and running RH9. To take it even further, there's a gui frontend for it called synaptical...point and click instead of command line.

Foggy · 12-07-2003, 05:16 AM

Hi Guys,

Thank you all very much for your help. The last comment about GUI did get my attention.

Although I promise I will try and understand the CLI.

I will try it out and let you know how I get on.

Best wishes.

James.

tommytomato · 12-07-2003, 06:49 AM

Quote:

do "ls /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins"
see if theres a file called "libflashplayer.so".

if there is, then from your user home dir, goto ".mozilla/plugins" and do a "ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins".

now, if libflashplayer.so wasnt there, ...... umm, write back.

I tried it and it wont work...

OS is fedora core 1

[root@localhost mozilla-1.4.1]# cd plugins
[root@localhost plugins]# ls
flashplayer.xpt libflashplayer.so libnullplugin.so
[root@localhost plugins]# ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4.1/plugins
[root@localhost plugins]#

Please enter the installation path of the Mozilla, Netscape,
or Opera browser (i.e., /usr/lib/mozilla): /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4.1

----------- Install Action Summary -----------

Macromedia Flash Player 6 will be installed in the following directory:

Browser installation directory = /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4.1

Proceed with the installation? (y/n/q): y

Installation complete.

Perform another installation? (y/n): n

Please log out of this session and log in for the changes to take effect.

The Macromedia Flash Player installation is complete.

any other ideas please..

Foggy · 12-07-2003, 08:06 AM

Hi H/W,

Its me again.

Tried to do what you suggested, can you tell me what I have done wrong

[james@localhost james]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost james]# /home/james
bash: /home/james: is a directory
[root@localhost james]# rpm -Uvh apt-*
warning: apt-0.5.5cnc6-fr1.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID e42d547b
Preparing... ########################################### [100%]
1:apt ########################################### [ 50%]
2:apt-devel ########################################### [100%]
[root@localhost james]# apt-get install update
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package update
[root@localhost james]# apt-get install synaptic
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package synaptic
[root@localhost james]#

Best wishes

James

krissly1 · 12-07-2003, 11:13 AM

Foggy,
Try
apt-get update && apt-get install synaptic
do this in su, also known as root.
Hope this helps !

Foggy · 12-07-2003, 11:31 AM

Hi Krissly 1,

Many Thanks, that did it.

Best wishes.

James.

tommytomato · 12-08-2003, 07:38 AM

Hi i did get flash to work

by going here and downloading what i needed..

Macromedia Flash Player 6 for x86 Linux

Fedora Core 1
Red Hat 9
Red Hat 8.0
Red Hat 7.x
Mandrake 9.2
Mandrake 9.1
Mandrake 9.0
Mandrake 8.2
SuSE 8.x
Conectiva 8.0
Debian
Gentoo
Generic .tar.gz

http://sluglug.ucsc.edu/macromedia/site_ucsc.html

cheers TT