Just like Windows, Linux ships without support for the Adobe Flash player. Flash may be free as in no cost, but it is not Free as in Free Software so should not be redistributed. (A few early webbooks may have escaped the factory with Flash installed though.) The good news is that installing Flash on Ubuntu Linux is a lot easier than installing it on Windows. In fact installing pretty much anything you could ever want is easier on Ubuntu than Windows.
Start by going to System-Administration-Synaptic Package Manager. Because you are installing or removing applications that could impact other users of the webbook you will need to put in your password to get superuser priviledges (so you have to be the primary user or a user given administrator rights by the primary user).
There are a few ways of finding what you want, you can simply scroll down the list of packages or start typing the first few characters of the package you want and it will jump down to the right place, or hit the search button and it will find what you want even if you don’t know the package name.
For Flash you want the flashplugin-nonfree package. Feel free to mark anything else that looks interesting, then hit the Apply button to have the system automatically download and set everything up for you. Restart Firefox and you can see YouTube, BBC iPlayer, games and stories on the Cbeebies website and a whole lot more irritating adverts than before.
If Flash adverts annoy you then you could give the flashblock package a try, it is just above the flashplugin-nonfree package.
Hi I’ve followed everything so far and still can’t get firefox to let me watch flash videos. Almost formatted and put windows on the webbook, but I’m not quitting yet.
Demi
don’t give up yet! I missed your last comment on the other blog, the story so far is that you have some missing parts to your flash installation, most notably the link in the plugins directory. What happens if you try reinstalling the flashplugin-nonfree package?
I am having difficulty downloading BBC TV programmes using the BBC iPlayer – a message appears onscreen saying that the iPlayer detects that I am outside the UK and therefore I can download radio programs but not TV programs.
In fact, I am in the UK, but perhaps the iPlayer is misled in some way by the Orange dongle attached to the Webbook.
Is there a way of resolving this problem without using the Webbook on my wireless home network?
Any advice would be very welcome.
I love the Webbook – it’s a great little laptop. Incidentally, it runs on Ubuntu.
Sue
I think I have answered my own question (see posting above). There seems to be a problem with the BBC iPlayer, which sends an incorrect “out of the UK” error message. The BBC have been working on it and have solve the problem for Windows users, but not for those of us using LInux or Mac operating systems.
Sue
well done, I haven’t had a chance to try it on Orange recently. It did work fine last month.
does the web book have a video or graphics card capable of playing games such as the new football manager?
no idea, what is the new football manager? Do you have a link to it’s requirements? I am not really into games, I did have some football manager game on the Amiga about 15 years ago, that was more of a strategy game moving money and player statistics about. It wasn’t particularly graphically intensive (or fun). If this game runs on Linux and doesn’t require OpenGL then it might well work. If it does require OpenGL (if it has any moving 3D bits it might) then it might not work without the VIA drivers, which in turn only work on certain versions of the Hardy Heron kernel.
it is a stragegy game but it now has 3D moving bits during the matches, how do i get he VIA drivers? I have xp on my web book though
You’d be better off posting this on the FM 2009 forums. There’s a few posts already on there about the Game crashing.
Taken from my box: Min Requirements:
* MAC:
– Intel Processor,
– OS X 10.5.5
– Nvidia GeForce 7300 / ATI X1600 Radeon,
– 1GB Ram,
* Vista / XP
– 2.0 / 1.4 Ghz
– 1GB / 512 MB Ram
– 2 GB HDD
– 1.28 Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra. ATI Radeon 9800. Intel 8291G/82910GL or greater
Min Screen Res: 1024 * 768
the specification for the football manager game has to have a screen resolution of 1024 * 768, but the web book has a top resolution of 1024 * 600, does this mean that the game wont play? if i link a monitor up the laptop will it work then?
I think the answers to your questions are “possibly, or some bits of the screen might be cut off” and “probably”. The only real way to find out is to try it.
right i need saving … i just got a webbook and i love it but i am not loving linux or whatever it is! how the devil do i get flash installed on this thing i tried all the suggestions given it dont work!!! im going to put xp on it as thats what im used to… but linus looks cool so wanna give it a chance!! how do i get flash on it???? any idea?? thanx sam
@sam, give me some actionable information! what went wrong? which instructions were you following? what step didn’t work? do you have any error messages you can paste here?
Hi I’ve had a webbook with linux but I’m used to windows, I’m getting messages to install flash but I can’t get any downloads to install once saved. I’ve read a message above about getting into the administrator settings but there aren’t any on my webbook? Any advice for this linux novice?
well I can’t help much without specific error messages and some background information. How precisely did you try to install flash? what error messages do you get?