Adobe Flash

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  For the general public
This page is part of the XO Support FAQ.     Support Index | Print This Page
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This page is about Adobe Flash, a proprietary player for Flash media. For the free software player that comes with each XO, see Gnash.

Overview

This page describes third-party software that does not meet the OLPC standards for software freedom. The use of such software is unsupported; OLPC does not endorse or encourage its use.

Adobe Flash 9.x, a Restricted Format can be installed for both the Browse Activity and the Opera activity. This installation must be repeated after any Update.

To install the latest version of Adobe Flash, which plays a larger variety of Flash pages, follow the installation instructions.

To check which version of Adobe Flash is installed for your browser, take the Adobe Flash Browser Version Test. The version should show LNX not GSH.

Flash files are not played by default when a website is opened; you need to click on the flash window to load flash. The Click to Play can be disabled.

Flash-intensive Sites

The XO Browse Activity is loaded with Gnash, a Free and Open Source Software that is compatible with Flash Applications to version 8.x, but sites like Webkinz requires at least Adobe Flash version 9.0.

Webkinz.com and other Flash-intensive sites can be accessed with the XO Browse activity after some careful modifications to the XO's Sugar environment. These modifications must be repeated after every upgrade.

Please note that Webkinz.com, Disney.com and other popular children's websites generally require browser computers to have more than 1GB of free disk space, while the XO has a total of 1GB. Please be aware that successive uses of these sites may quickly fill up your free storage.

Also, visting sites like Papervision3D.org which use software 3D engines on Adobe Flash 9 may freeze your browser and your machine. Avoid CPU & memory intensive sites such as those that run on software Flash 3D Engines.

To successfully access sites that require Flash 9:

  1. Close all Activities
  2. Ensure that the XO is connected to the internet
  3. Install Adobe Flash, and follow the advanced instructions to disable Click to Play
  4. Disable Gnash
  5. Reboot the XO

For best performance, wait until the Flash module is fully loaded before using the module.

Installation

Browse Activity

1. Make sure you are connected to the Internet

2. Open the "Terminal Activity". Note: there are ways to cut-and-paste the text commands on this page from a web page into the Terminal activity. See Pasting Text from a web page into the terminal (Note: this likely requires an external 3-button mouse.).

3. Retrieve and install latest working version (version 9,0,124,0) of Adobe Flash for the Browse Activity. Version 9,0,124,0 does not work with Opera 9.12 OLPC edition on the XO, but runs perfectly well with Opera 9.52 desktop version. 

su -l
wget flash90124.notlong.com
rpm -i flash-plugin-9.0.124.0-release.i386.rpm
exit

Alternatively, you may also install the latest release candidate of the Adobe Flash 10 plugin: 

su -l
wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/flashplayer10_install_linux_091508.i386.rpm
rpm -i flashplayer10_install_linux_091508.i386.rpm
exit

4. Check to ensure that Flash is installed properly.

Browse to the Adobe Flash Browser Version Test.

The Version should be LNX not GSH.

See http://www.abdulqabiz.com/blog/archives/flash_and_actionscript/flash_player_trust_f.php for hints on how to disable security questions popping up when using content from the drive rather than the internet.

Alternative: an automatic script

Alternatively, you can also use an installation script to install Adobe Flash v. 9.0.48.0 on your XO. However, this has not been thoroughly tested, and will not install the very latest version.

Uninstallation

Linux RPM removal:

  • As root, enter in terminal: # rpm -e flash-plugin
  • Click Enter and follow prompts

Advanced options

  For Developers

Opera

The latest version of Adobe Flash is not fully compatible with the Opera 9.12 OLPC Edition activity but runs fine with Opera 9.52 desktop edition. To install Adobe Flash for Opera 9.12, follow the standard installation instructions for the Browse Activity replacing 124 in the file names with 48 to use the older version.

Webcam Support

Support for the XO's built-in camera seems to be problematic.

In both the Browse Activity and Opera 9.52:

  • Browsing Flash apps that use the webcam will turn on the indicator light above the webcam
  • Flash 9.0.124.0 shows just a black screen
  • Flash 10 Beta shows red and green static which reacts to motion. This means the camera is working, but isn't talking quite correctly with Flash.
  • Tested on Update.1 711

More information may be found here: http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3676.0

Click to Play

To avoid the Click to play prompt when playing flash in the browser, remove two files by typing the following in the Terminal (PDS Note in build 703 /usr/share/activities looks like it's moved to /home/olpc/Activities)(Note in build 711 it looks like it's /home/olpc/Activities/Web.activity): 

su -l
# for older systems:
# cd /usr/share/activities/Web.activity
# or for newer systems:
cd /home/olpc/Activities/Browse.activity
mkdir bak
mv agent-stylesheet.css bak
mv clickToView.xml  bak
exit

undo using Terminal: 

su -l
cd /usr/share/activities/Web.activity/bak
cp agent-stylesheet.css ..
cp clickToView.xml ..
exit

NEWBIES (like me): This works like a charm to get rid of the double Flash elements on each page, but remember: text entered in the terminal is CaSe SEnsITiVe.


  For Developers

Older versions of flash are available here: 

http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/installers/archive/fp9_archive.zip

Information about how to load other restricted formats is found here.

Gnash

See the Gnash article.

Adobe Flash has been reported to conflict sometimes with Gnash; but this has not been reproduced. If you have a site that works for you with Adobe Flash installed but not with both Adobe and Gnash installed, please describe this in detail on the talk page here (after doublechecking the version of flash your browser seems to be running).

What's happened to me is still more different. After re-installing Adobe Flash which seemed to be overridden with gnash after uploading to 653, when I tested the flash version it continued to show GSH. I uninstalled gnash, then no response when I clicked on a flash element. I then reinstalled gnash and verified that Adobe flash still appeared to be installed, but the same effect -- no flash capability at all.

  • Gnash that comes with 656 has rendering errors with Actionscript-driven dynamic color changing
  • Gnash 0.8.2 that comes with 711 has problems with AS-driven dynamic text rotation/positioning
  • Gnash 0.8.3 that comes with 8.20 builds the above problem, but still has some Adobe Flash 7 & 8 sound bug incompatibilities.
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