Linux is made by and for clowns

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:00 am

I can only imagine the hell engine of demonic suffering that a Czech help desk could be.

Count Arioch the 28th · Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:32 pm

Right now I can't watch video on most sites. I need to upgrade flash to play the video. I tried to upgrade flash. I got back a note that said that I already had the latest version.

If I could afford an operating system right now, I would get an operating system. I am tired of having a long protracted battle getting anything to work on my computer (which ranges from simply "the designer didn't take linux into account" all the way to "we specifically made the product to not work with Linux and made it a felony to alter it to work with Linux, you're welcome.)

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a legit copy of windows for what I can afford to pay at the moment, so I just have to bull through it until better days come along.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:37 am

Sometimes the latest version doesn't work with the version of Linux you have. You may need to roll your Linux forward or roll back your flash player to a previous version that did work.

-Username17

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:48 am

If I recall correctly Adobe still refuses to release a 64 bit version of Flash on Linux. I had to install a wrapper intercepting and recoding the system calls around the 32 bit version to get it to work. If you are on a 64 bit Linux you may have to do the same. That said, flash seems to work without any voodoo on newer Ubuntus, 64 bit or not. What version of Linux are you running?

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:41 am

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy. 32 bit.

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:49 am

Flash should work fine on an 8.04 32 bit Ubuntu. That is going to make it harder, but if you want to play find-the-bug I am willing to help.

Which flash plugin do you use? (See here)

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:05 pm

I'm not sure how to tell what flash I'm using, and nothing in the link jumped out at me. It's entirely possible that I just missed the instructions.

I'm not a very skilled linux user, I am only using it because my desktop crashed three years ago, the ex threw away the backup discs when we got the computer (not maliciously, she just does that), and I needed an OS. I know that makes me not very relevant, but I am kind of backed into a rough place until I finish my classes and get a real job.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:16 pm

Go to Adobe and activate the second flash on this about page; it is to the right of the text, below the big flash banner. You can get more instructions (which aren't helpful) also at Adobe.

I find that sometimes my Flash player is rejected by websites as 'not the right version' even though it can play their flash because technically it's not Adobe Flash (it's ClickToFlash, actually) or because I'm using a browser the web designer didn't approve of.

-Crissa

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:33 pm

Tried the first link. The site tells me I have 9.0.262.0 installed, and to install 10.0.45.2. When I do that, my terminal tells me that's the version I have already. Reinstalling doesn't change that. I'm considering removing firefox entirely and reinstalling that when I get some time, right now I don't.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:53 am

Well, when I had that happen, what was wrong was that the installer was installing it where it thought it went, but the browser was reading an older copy somewhere else.

-Crissa

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 3:11 am

Crissa wrote:Well, when I had that happen, what was wrong was that the installer was installing it where it thought it went, but the browser was reading an older copy somewhere else.

-Crissa

I've had that problem as well.

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:45 am

Your firefox addon manager should have a separate tab for plugins. What does that tab say about your flash plugin?

Count Arioch the 28th · Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:24 pm

The tab has both the old and new flash. I tried to disable the old flash just now, and now it won't play the flash files that the old version could play

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:30 pm

Try to disable the new flash, then see if you can autoupdate the old one. If that does not work, uninstalling and reinstalling firefox sounds like a good plan. Or, if you absolutely can't go without or are scared of being stuck without a browser at all, install an additional browser.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:28 am

on a vaguely related issue.

i'm trying to get my laptop to let me boot from a usb drive so i can load ubuntu on it. But in the bios, it says that it usb memory and usb flash drives are the two excluded options. anyone know how i can get this to be included.

edit: i bypassed the issue by getting pendrive linux's usb installer software and using it for ubuntu instead. it worked like a charm.

I also called fujitsu to see if they had anyway to bypass their own bios. apparently they restrict usb flash access for security reasons. WHich is rather retarded but I didn't feel like getting mouthy with a CSR at 1230am

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:52 am

Cynic wrote:I also called fujitsu to see if they had anyway to bypass their own bios. apparently they restrict usb flash access for security reasons. WHich is rather retarded but I didn't feel like getting mouthy with a CSR at 1230am

That actually sounds somewhat reasonable. BIOS master passwords are easy to find on the internet, so pretty much everyone can get into the BIOS at will. If you don't want everyone with access to the computer to be able to run arbitrary software you pretty much need to disable booting from usb drives. Of course you could always open the case and install another hard drive, but that is a tad more obvious than inserting a pen drive

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:02 pm

when the bios still has an option for a floppy drive boot start, i think it's a little silly to say no to the flash drive.

yes, a floppy or a cd doesn't hold as much space, but the same result can be achieved without opening up a comp. I mean it's a smaller scale but the damage can be just as complete.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:30 pm

Murtak, if you are operating under the assumption that anyone at all can get into your bios and fuck with your boot order...

Are you aware that boot from CD is in every BIOS in the universe?

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:35 pm

You can built computers without CD drives just fine. It is substantially harder to build them without USB-ports.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:49 pm

Murtak wrote:You can built computers without CD drives just fine. It is substantially harder to build them without USB-ports.

Except... Either it's your personal computer, in which case you should just not let other people stick usb drives in it, or take it from you, or it's a company computer, and it automatically has a CD drive because you need it, and Dell refuses to provide contract deals for computers without CD drives and so people can still boot from CD.

So which is it, are you wrong, or are you wrong.

I mean, are you seriously arguing that BIOS manufacturers should take into account the niche market of people who have publicly accessible PCs without CD drives at all? Much less over the market of people who want to boot from a USB drive, which by the way, includes every computer technician ever. I've never met an ITS specialist who didn't have a bootable USB specifically for when other people fuck up their computers in an easy to fix way (IE, delete a couple OS mandatory files/virus/ect).

I've also never met anyone who had a computer without a CD drive, but who had it in a publicly accessible space.

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:12 pm

Kaelik wrote:
Murtak wrote:You can built computers without CD drives just fine. It is substantially harder to build them without USB-ports.
Except... Either it's your personal computer, in which case you should just not let other people stick usb drives in it, or take it from you, or it's a company computer, and it automatically has a CD drive because you need it, and Dell refuses to provide contract deals for computers without CD drives and so people can still boot from CD.

So which is it, are you wrong, or are you wrong.

Or perhaps it is a company computer and you actually ordered it without a CD drive. Or removed it. Are you seriously retarded enough to believe that there is no source of computers except Dell? Or are you just building a strawman?

Kaelik wrote:I mean, are you seriously arguing that BIOS manufacturers should take into account the niche market of people who have publicly accessible PCs without CD drives at all?

No. And I never said I was. I am saying that it is not unreasonable. Is it a niche consideration? Sure. Should they just tell their customers who want this to truecrypt the HD and stop worrying? Probably. But it is not utter bullshit.

Kaelik wrote:I've also never met anyone who had a computer without a CD drive, but who had it in a publicly accessible space.

All library and university computers I have personally seen for instance (about 100 total, give or take).

Arioch: How is your flash coming along?

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:19 pm

Murtak wrote:
Kaelik wrote:I've also never met anyone who had a computer without a CD drive, but who had it in a publicly accessible space.
All library and university computers I have personally seen for instance (about 100 total, give or take).

And what country do you live in?

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:19 pm

Germany.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:34 pm

Murtak wrote:Germany.

Fair enough.

The US government, and various state ones apparently all use exclusively dell, I have never seen in a government office, library, ect, a PC without a CD drive.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:24 pm

Kaelik: i had read an article a year ago that most of the government's comp purchases was done using a no-bid contract with dell. Of course, I kinda tossed this aside because I couldn't find any other information backing this up.

I might try to find some more information about this.