Klaus Knopper answers your Linux questions
Ask Klaus!
Klaus Knopper is the creator of Knoppix and co-founder of LinuxTag expo. He works as a teacher, programmer, and consultant. If you have a configuration problem, or if you just want to learn more about how Linux works, send your questions to: klaus@linux-magazine.com.
Klaus Knopper
Klaus Knopper is the creator of Knoppix and co-founder of LinuxTag expo. He currently works as a teacher, programmer, and consultant. If you have a configuration problem, or if you just want to learn more about how Linux works, send your questions to: mailto:klaus@linux-magazine.com.
Flash Alternatives
Klaus: Flash doesn't work well, so what is a person to do? Could you use the Wine program and download a Windows browser version; install SeaMonkey, Chrome, or something else? What about Lightspark? Does it work?
Thanks, Joe
Answer
It seems that, probably, because of its proprietary nature and frequent security problems, many vendors are abandoning Flash as a browser plugin or video player for their browsers lately. But, there are still fields of application for Flash:
- videos, especially the Flash player-optimized
.flv
video format, - interactive games or programs written in Adobe's Flash programming language ActionScript, and
- interactive and multimedia elements in some websites.
The original Flash Player is not really needed anymore for just playing videos because MPlayer or VLC can play .flv
files with much better performance. Also, YouTube offers an alternative HTML5-based view for many videos, especially the newer videos. So, if you go to the so-called "experimental" HTML5 version of YouTube [1], you might be able to say goodbye to the Flash plugin and use the browser's internal video player support.
About Wine: Most Flash problems are not related to Windows or Linux, so running Windows programs in the Wine emulator and installing the Windows version of Flash Player there will most likely not give you a more stable or faster Flash experience than running Flash natively on Linux.
Lightspark [2] is a quite new and interesting replacement project for the Flash-based video player. It aims to be faster and more stable than the original player, yet it is open source and does not contain proprietary modules. The project is located on GitHub, and an official Debian package is available: browser-plugin-lightspark [3].
If you still need proprietary Flash support in Debian, you can download and upgrade the Flash plugin by installing the newest flashplugin-nonfree package. Then, run
sudo update-flashplugin-nonfree
to check for and install the newest versions of the Flash plugin for Firefox/Iceweasel.
A TrueType Font How-To
Is there an easy way to install a TrueType font in Linux?
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
LibreOffice 7.5 has Arrived and is Loaded with New Features and Improvements
The favorite office suite of the Linux community has a new release that includes some visual refreshing and new features across all modules.
-
The Next Major Release of Elementary OS Has Arrived
It's been over a year since the developers of elementary OS released version 6.1 (Jólnir) but they've finally made their latest release (Horus) available with a renewed focus on the user.
-
KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta Is Ready for Testing
The latest beta iteration of the KDE Plasma desktop is now available and includes some important additions and fixes.
-
Netrunner OS 23 Is Now Available
The latest version of this Linux distribution is now based on Debian Bullseye and is ready for installation and finally hits the KDE 5.20 branch of the desktop.
-
New Linux Distribution Built for Gamers
With a Gnome desktop that offers different layouts and a custom kernel, PikaOS is a great option for gamers of all types.
-
System76 Beefs Up Popular Pangolin Laptop
The darling of open-source-powered laptops and desktops will soon drop a new AMD Ryzen 7-powered version of their popular Pangolin laptop.
-
Nobara Project Is a Modified Version of Fedora with User-Friendly Fixes
If you're looking for a version of Fedora that includes third-party and proprietary packages, look no further than the Nobara Project.
-
Gnome 44 Now Has a Release Date
Gnome 44 will be officially released on March 22, 2023.
-
Nitrux 2.6 Available with Kernel 6.1 and a Major Change
The developers of Nitrux have officially released version 2.6 of their Linux distribution with plenty of new features to excite users.
-
Vanilla OS Initial Release Is Now Available
A stock GNOME experience with on-demand immutability finally sees its first production release.