Flash on Ubuntu

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Starting a new thread cos I asked about this in the Best OS thread and I don't want it to be part of that thread as I don't want it to detract from my praise of Linux. (This is pretty much the only thing I ever use that I can't easily get working on it - whereas I can't spend 3 minutes on a Windows box without wishing I could do something that Windows doesn't let you do. I only go on them to mend them!)

Thanks Fuzzy and Orwell - however I already have all the restricted extras as well as flash itself:

anomie@mybox:~$ sudo aptitude search ubuntu-restricted-extras
i ubuntu-restricted-extras - Commonly used restricted packages

anomie@mybox:~$ sudo aptitude search flashplugin-nonfree
i flashplugin-nonfree - Adobe Flash Player plugin installer ...

It didn't work when I had just the restricted extras, so I installed the flashplugin, and it still doesn't work.

The problem is weird, as I can view some things in flash (e.g.this), but not others, e.g. this.

It's not a bandwidth thing. I see no buffering. Just a blank screen.

????

Just to add info,

I used to have Flashblock (firefox addon) installed (I automatically stick it on every box I configure and it's always done it's job well. It replaces the every movie with a play button that you can click on if you want to view it).

I have uninstalled it now but perhaps it's possible it might have caused the problem? Anyone else had this experience with Flashblock?

I'd be surprised if it does cause this sort of problem. I heartily recommend it in fact, along with Adblock - I love adblock. And no, I haven't adblocked youtube by mistake - I tested that just now to make sure!

I use NoScript instead of FlashBlock. It covers all the same functionality and more, though it requires a little more care in configuring if you want videos to play. I keep adblock active on youtube as well.

What is the output of "uname -a"? (ie, which version of Ubuntu and which CPU architecture are you using)

Hmm. I am not sure what to tell you. Those both work for me.

Try my friends solution.

http://linuxinnovations.blogspot.com/20 ... olved.html

Leave a note thanking him if it works. He'll appreciate that.

Is it possible to view these sites in another browser, e.g. Epiphany? If so, then it might be worth clearing out your .mozilla folder (if there isn't anything important in it).

Have you tried downloading directly from adobe's website? Somehow the non-free flash in repository always have one problem or another.

btw have a look at the link Fuzzy provided, that's also a common reason why flash doesn't work.

Thanks everyone.

I did a combination of things - first I followed the instructions on the link that Fuzzy posted, and this left me with Firefox thinking BOTH versions were installed (despite having tried my best to remove all the files of the old version), and youtube still not working.

Disabled the old version - still not working.

Purged ubuntu-restricted-extras - still not working.

Eventually I took StuartN's advice and found that it WAS working in epiphany so I emptied the .mozilla folder (apart from the subfolder containing the new Flash I'd just installed), and that did the trick. I restored the bookmarks and the problem has not come back.

I think that probably both things needed to be done because I suspect that references to the 32-bit version were hanging around in the .mozilla folder. I will leave a comment on the linuxinnovations website to thank him and also to suggest clearing out the .mozilla folder afterwards if it still doesn't work.

Hm. Youtube works fine, but other flash objects (ie the board for live coverage of the Anand-Topalov match) are quite flaky.