Ubuntu 9.04 and Aborted SWF Codec Install

[Cluttermagnet]

I regret that I tried, for the first time in a very long time, to allow an OS/ browser (Firefox) combo to install missing codec software needed to view one of these obnoxious shockwave flash videos. I had a drop down 'toolbar' which offered to find and install the codecs. I clicked my way through seeing a window offering 3 different flash viewers. I chose the first (default?) one called "swfdec". Long story short, this newly installed player doesn't work. BTW the other 2 player offerings were by Adobe and another one by GNU(?)Next I opened Synaptic and attempted to uninstall swfdec. I tried to do this, but noticed that it apparently wanted only to uninstall the main executable. I didn't see it also uninstall any dependencies. Anyway, my wounded OS now thinks it has a working flash player installed. It doesn't. I do think it uninstalled just the swfdec executable(?)Meanwhile, any time I'm running Firefox and I come across a page which has a flash video, it starts trying to buffer and run instead of giving a 'missing codecs' message. Previously, before the install, I would get the drop down 'toolbar' that offered to install the codecs. So Firefox (or my OS) thinks I have the necessary player software installed.I'm wondering what to do. Specifically, I'm wondering if it might be best just to reinstall 9.04 over itself to assure I have returned to my prior status? What would you guys suggest? Thanks!P.S. In the past, I have been perfectly content to fire up a live CD session of Mint, or else get on a machine that has Mint installed to view stupid videos (what a time waster!) I really don't need that much to have a video player in Ubuntu- though, frankly, I wouldn't mind if Canonical put some in. But politics and proprietary software being as they are, I really don't care whether the codecs are in Ubuntu or not. I might put them in if it were a safe, easy operation, but clearly it isn't! There is a reason why it has been so long since I last tried this stupid stunt! And besides, these stupid players are just a great vector for hackers, anyway. Just try leaving a few of the outdated software packages on an XP machine for a while, and see how fast you have hackers living on your drives!

Edited June 15, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[securitybreach]

It actually is pretty simple. Just follow this guide:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MedibuntuIt will walk you through installation of dvd playback and all codecs,Hope this helps..And they say Ubuntu is simpler, in Archlinux one command does it all:

# pacman -S codecs gstreamer0.10-bad gstreamer0.10-ugly gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-ugly-plugins

Of course, vlc will play everything in any distro. You just need libdvdcss for dvd playback.Thanks

Edited June 15, 2009 by securitybreach

[Urmas]

And they say Ubuntu is simpler, in Archlinux one command does it all:

# pacman -S codecs gstreamer0.10-bad gstreamer0.10-ugly gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-ugly-plugins

Well... in Ubuntu, one metapackage - ubuntu-restricted-extras [or, depending on your flavor, xubuntu-restricted-extras or kubuntu-restricted-extras] - contains pretty much all the proprietary bells & whistles.

I didn't see it also uninstall any dependencies. Anyway, my wounded OS now thinks it has a working flash player installed. It doesn't. I do think it uninstalled just the swfdec executable(?)

Hmm... make sure the following packages are NOT installed: swfdec-gnome, swfdec-mozilla and ALL libswfdec packages. That ought to stop the haunting.

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks, guys. Some great info. Well, I did all that. Synaptic wanted to uninstall 2 items and install several dozen. I did all that ("ubuntu-restricted-extras"). Then I went back to one of those flash infested pages and- guess what? That's right, I get the 'toolbar' drop down offering to fetch codecs or whatever. Siiiiighhhhh! :wacko:P.S. Clearly removing a "libswfdec" package first using Synaptic worked- because the 'haunting' went away. I was once again getting the dropdown toolbar offering codecs. Then, after that, I used Synaptic to install ubuntu-restricted-extras. And after that, still no playing of flash animations/videos.

Edited June 15, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

Then I went back to one of those flash infested pages and- guess what? That's right, I get the 'toolbar' drop down offering to fetch codecs or whatever. Siiiiighhhhh!

Have you closed/reopened your Firefox after the install?

[Cluttermagnet]

It actually is pretty simple. Just follow this guide:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MedibuntuIt will walk you through installation of dvd playback and all codecs,Hope this helps..

I'll take a look at that...

And they say Ubuntu is simpler, in Archlinux one command does it all:

# pacman -S codecs gstreamer0.10-bad gstreamer0.10-ugly gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-ugly-plugins

Of course, vlc will play everything in any distro. You just need libdvdcss for dvd playback.Thanks

Hmmm- I have successfully used VLC before, but where? Was it in Linux or was it back in my Win98SE days?I don't remember. I guess I ought to try it again. Edited June 15, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Cluttermagnet]

Have you closed/reopened your Firefox after the install?

No BRB...

[Cluttermagnet]

Yay! Thanks, Urmas! So I restarted Firefox. Still not working. But then I realized I had given only temporary permission through NoScript for a helper site to the website I was trying to view. Called viddler.com, permitting this site to run scripts in my browser did the trick. The root site I was trying to view, BTW is the mercola.com complex- a specific page on his site. This is a great naturopathic medical site with good natural health advice by Dr. Joseph Mercola. I've learned a lot of good stuff from that guy. He's a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) and is not much of a fan of today's western medicine with all their emphasis on strong pharmaceutical medicines and surgeries, etc.

Edited June 15, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

So it works now? Good!

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks, kind Linux dude! :thumbsup:I just watched a few old .wmv videos also.

[Cluttermagnet]

I have now come across one other puzzle about this ubuntu-restricted-extras package. I successfully installed it to two Pentium 4 platforms running Ubuntu Hardy. On the machine belonging to my friend, I have multiple users set up. I can get a particular flash video playing 100 percent with me as the user. But the same video under her user displays moving video but no sound! Weird. I tried everything. Her audio isn't muted or turned down. I'm a little stuck here. Suggestions?

Edited June 16, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

Does the sound in other Flash videos (YouTube, for example) work OK? If they do, can you post the linky to that misbehaving vid?

[Cluttermagnet]

Does the sound in other Flash videos (YouTube, for example) work OK? If they do, can you post the linky to that misbehaving vid?

I will try that in the next day or two- the affected computer is at my friend's house. We had a Comcast internet outage later that evening, so I didn't get to work any more on the problem.But again, the problem is strange because the very same computer works OK on the flash website in question- but under another user. Change the user, and the audio only goes missing- on the very same flash web page. The video is OK. And I did check the obvious- Mute is off, not engaged, and Volume is set at max- volume both on the player and in Ubuntu are at max. I also checked the Volume control panel, and every source was set at some volume level, mostly max. I tried toggling Mute both ways, no difference- but I already knew that muting was not set to on.The user that works fully OK is myself, clutter. Clutter is admin, if that matters. The other user betty has video but no audio. Weird. Oh, and I also tried jumping back and forth between users- results are consistently the same. Audio under clutter, no audio under betty- on the very same site/video. Edited June 16, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

For clarification: under user "betty", do you get sound with OTHER Flash videos? Do you get sound at all (system sounds, mp3s etc)?

[Cluttermagnet]

For clarification: under user "betty", do you get sound with OTHER Flash videos? Do you get sound at all (system sounds, mp3s etc)?

If she boots Ubuntu as user betty, the music thingie that normally does play at bootup does indeed play. I have only tried a few videos so far tonight. So far, none of them work on audio, all of them show moving video. I tried tonight under user clutter and I did hear audio when running a flash video. I will keep trying other videos...Hoo boy- now Betty tells me that she did hear some audio from a mercola.com flash video earlier today. :"> So far I have not heard any audio on this machine as that user. Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[sunrat]

Probably a silly question, but is the volume up in the flashplayer itself?

[Urmas]

Hoo boy- now Betty tells me that she did hear some audio from a mercola.com flash video earlier today.

Smells like - ooh boy, Clutter, you owe me one; I must've watched that mercola.com hemorrhoid vid one time too many :"> - Pulseaudio issue.Try this: logged in as "betty", delete the /home/betty/.pulse folder (it's a hidden folder, so, in Naughtilus, do View --> Show Hidden Files). Switch user to "clutter"... just for kicks, do the same with the /home/clutter/.pulse folder.Next, open Synaptic and REINSTALL the "pulseaudio" package.Swith back to user "betty" and see if you have hemorrhoids audio.

[Cluttermagnet]

Probably a silly question, but is the volume up in the flashplayer itself?

Yes, 100 percent.

[Cluttermagnet]

Smells like - ooh boy, Clutter, you owe me one; I must've watched that mercola.com hemorrhoid vid one time too many :"> - Pulseaudio issue.Try this: logged in as "betty", delete the /home/betty/.pulse folder (it's a hidden folder, so, in Naughtilus, do View --> Show Hidden Files). Switch user to "clutter"... just for kicks, do the same with the /home/clutter/.pulse folder.Next, open Synaptic and REINSTALL the "pulseaudio" package.Swith back to user "betty" and see if you have hemorrhoids audio.

Well, it seems I still have hemorrhoids. Still works perfectly under user clutter, but only video/no audio, under betty.I did 'delete' the home/(user)/.pulse folder in both home folders. Next, under Clutter, marked

gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio 0.9.7-2

for reinstallation and that successfully executed. But seems to not have corrected the missing audio just yet. BTW when I say 'deleted', I mean right clicked and sent the folders to the trash. Hopefully that constitutes 'deleting'. I would think it would. I saw that file disappear from the listings in Nautilus instantly. Probably that part went OK.Now I have to leave this machine for a day or 2. I'll try some more things on Wednesday or Thursday. Fortunately, this is not the sort of thing we would class as any major problem. It's more of a minor annoyance, and also a learning opportunity, of course. So I'm perfectly content to keep working on it until we figure out the problem.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

Then under Clutter, marked

gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio 0.9.7-2

for reinstallation...

Ahem... wrong package... "pulseaudio" - straight, no chaser. :"> Repetitio est mater studiorum... delete the .pulse folders again, reinstall "pulseaudio"... report back to HQ.

[Cluttermagnet]

Ahem... wrong package... "pulseaudio" - straight, no chaser. :"> Repetitio est mater studiorum... delete the .pulse folders again, reinstall "pulseaudio"... report back to HQ.

Hmmm- OK. Well, I know the 'shortcut way' of not deleting the folders again but reinstalling pulseaudio does not work. :">Now I'm going to go through the whole process once again and delete the folders in both users, etc. BRB...

[Cluttermagnet]

I went to delete the .pulse folder under betty. It was not in the listing.I think I'm stuck, i.e. I thought reinstalling pulseaudio would have put that folder back in /home/betty.Just for full disclosure, I noticed back when I did originally delete the .pulse folders from the 2 users, they were noted as having 2 sub-folders. I hope I was correct in deleting the entire .pulse folders first encountered after switching to 'show hidden files'. I hope it was not some sub-folder I should have deleted instead? :">

Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

I went to delete the .pulse folder under betty. It was not in the listing.

It's a hidden folder, remember? OTOH maybe you haven't played any audio under "betty" after deleting it the last time. Try playing that hemorr.... ooohnoo... not THAT video! :">

[Cluttermagnet]

It's a hidden folder, remember? OTOH maybe you haven't played any audio under "betty" after deleting it the last time. Try playing that hemorr.... ooohnoo... not THAT video! :">

Oh, yes, I remembered the concept of 'hidden'. A lot of invisible stuff comes up that way. But now the 'pulse folder is still missing- it's in the Trash.The audio is still missing, video is fine.There is a file called 'pulse cookies', but no .pulse folder any longer. As I say, I was guessing that folder should have been replaced? But it is not there. Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

You mean it doesn't get recreated when you play something - a YouTube vid, for instance?EDIT: Here's an idea... if audio is OK under clutter, copy/move the .pulse folder (with its contents...mine has three files in it) from there to /home/betty!

[Cluttermagnet]

Try playing that hemorr.... ooohnoo... not THAT video! :">

One gets the impression that pulseaudio can be problematic, i.e. pulse and hemorrhoids actually have quite a lot in common? :hysterical:BTW his last video was a lot less embarrassing- just something about cholesterol. We picked a bad week, I guess. Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Cluttermagnet]

You mean it doesn't get recreated when you play something - a YouTube vid, for instance?EDIT: Here's an idea... if audio is OK under clutter, copy/move the .pulse folder (with its contents...mine has three files in it) from there to /home/betty!

I haven't tried another YouTube video yet. I will. Then will try copying the folder- but...Waidaminnit! How the heck I do that? I don't think I have ever moved a file in that way. Do I need to bring up 2 instances of Nautilus so I can drag drop? Or maybe a little command line magic? Here is where my still primitive file management skills in Linux are going to surface...

[Cluttermagnet]

You mean it doesn't get recreated when you play something - a YouTube vid, for instance?

No, the folder was not recreated after trying to hear a working YouTube video. Only get moving video. I have even tried closing/reopening Firefox at various points. So next thing I need to try is to 'borrow' the working folder from home/clutter? Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

To do it the GUI way you need a temporary promotion... under "clutter", open the terminal and do

gksudo nautilus

That'll open a "root Nautilus session"... first, go to /home/clutter and copy the folder; navigate to /home/betty, and paste it there. :">

[Cluttermagnet]

To do it the GUI way you need a temporary promotion... under "clutter", open the terminal and do

gksudo nautilus

That'll open a "root Nautilus session"... first, go to /home/clutter and copy the folder; navigate to /home/betty, and paste it there. :">

Now this is interesting- under home/clutter, there is also no folder named .pulse right now.(I've got a file '.pulse-cookie' but no folder)BTW I just looked in Trash and the folder .pulse is not in there. :wacko:Note: I have not yet elevated my privileges with

gksudo nautilus

if that would make any difference. And yet- YouTube videos have audio, and the mercola.com flash videos work, too (under clutter).

Edited June 17, 2009 by Cluttermagnet