Ubuntu 8.04, Firefox 3.6.17, Flash is installed but does not work

[Chris43068]

Ok guys, I am this close to becoming a Linux convert but the Flash issue is driving me nuts. My plug in list tells me Flash is installed but I cannot get videos to load/play in Firefox. I also tried to download Chrome as a quick fix but the install errored out with some dependency error. Help! And thanks in advance!

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

Ubuntu 8.04 has hit it's EOL. So may not be the best choice to cut your teeth, as you'll quickly run into problems where you need more up-to-date software.
I suggest trying a newer version.
10.04 Also a Long term Release) will be supported through April 2013. And you'll likely have fewer issues.

[Chris43068]

Jay:

I tried to upgrade to 10.04. Ran into problems again. Dependency issues once again and the install aborted. Any ideas there?

[rokytnji]

Back up whatever you have personal in /home to usb like music,pictures,movies,etc......

Download 10.04LTS and do a clean reinstall. Upgrade can be hit and miss for some users.

[jayd512]

Agreed.
I'm not sure what method you used to try the upgrade, but it's a crap-shoot sometimes.

[Chris43068]

OK. Did a clean install of 10.04.3. Still having the same problem. Need Flash Player. Download and install Flash Player, get the message that I still need Flash Player...ideas?

[coffeecat]

Purge whatever you used to install flash. Then open Synaptic (System -> Administration) and install the package flashplugin-installer. Even better, install the meta-package ubuntu-restricted-extras which will include flash, java, various multimedia codecs and MS core fonts. Installing ubuntu-restricted-extras is my routine every time I do a fresh install of Ubuntu.

By the way, when I say purge whichever flash you installed, I do mean purge. If flashplugin-installer doesn't give you working flash then it's possible that something got left behind from what you downloaded. If flashplugin-installer doesn't work, post details of what you did originally for flash.

[nixblog]

OK. Did a clean install of 10.04.3. Still having the same problem. Need Flash Player. Download and install Flash Player, get the message that I still need Flash Player...ideas?

As coffeecat said, just open up a terminal and type the following

sudo apt-get update && apt-get install flashplugin-installer

or,

sudo apt-get update && apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

which will install the stuff to give you a reasonable mutimedia/online experience. After that you can enhance the multimedia capabilites by using the medibuntu repositories.

If you want a ready to go system, you may wish to look at Linux Mint which has all those goodies (and more) pre-installed. If you are running older hardware then version 10 of Linux Mint or Linux Mint LXDE should be good for you.

[Chris43068]

As coffeecat said, just open up a terminal and type the following

sudo apt-get update && apt-get install flashplugin-installer

or,

sudo apt-get update && apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

which will install the stuff to give you a reasonable mutimedia/online experience. After that you can enhance the multimedia capabilites by using the medibuntu repositories.

If you want a ready to go system, you may wish to look at Linux Mint which has all those goodies (and more) pre-installed. If you are running older hardware then version 10 of Linux Mint or Linux Mint LXDE should be good for you.

I don't mind working a bit. And for the most part, I like Ubuntu. Just this little nagging issue...

Also, keep in mind that I am trying to become a reformed Windows user so I don't have the basic knowledge of "back dooring" anything in Linux. Yet.

If you told me to "get to the command prompt" I'm good. However, "System/Administration" gets me part way there but I don't know what I am looking for at that point to "open a Terminal". I have a feeling tht once I get to that point I'll be alright. Its just getting there!

Thanks again for the assistance you two!

Chris

[Chris43068]

Then I must ask how you "purge" anything in Linux? I am guessing it is less obvious that sending something to the "Trash"?

In terms of Linux and "crawl/walk/run", I am somewhere between "crawl" and "walk"!

Chris