So Linux is not as easy to administer as Windows April 2, 2006
Posted by samdenby in Linux, Preparation.trackback
Using Firefox on my new Ubuntu desktop, I loaded www.designer-info.com, Tom Arah's very useful site. First snag – he uses Flash, and Ubuntu does not load the Flash plugin for Firefox. So I found out how to install a Firefox plugin (quite like Windows), and downloaded Flash. But this is where the big diffference comes: Flash will not self-install under Linux. I had to open Terminal and "navigate to the folder where flashplayer-installer has been stored". After a quick crash course on the cd command, I got there and managed to run the command which installed Flash. But there was another sting in the tail: "please ask your administrator to remove the file xpti.dat from the Firefox components folder". I have no idea what would happen if I ignored the request, but I decided to play safe and renove the file. So I used the File Browser to find the path to Firefox components. I could not delete the file in the Browser because I did not have the authority, so back to Terminal and more use of cd. A quick look in my Linux Bible to learn the rm command, and xpti.dat was gone. Back into Firefox, and the designer-info site was now flashing away.
Windows has still got quite an edge for the home administrator… but I'm learning.
One of the best things you may want to do is install Automatix. It’s a great script that will handle tons of stuff for you, like installing opera, or upgrading firefox and thunderbird. It also handles installing all codecs and a ton of other stuff. This includes Flash, java, etc.
To install it, type or cut/paste the following two lines of code:
wget http://beerorkid.com/automatix/automatix_5.7-3_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i automatix_5.7-3_i386.deb
Once you’ve done that you can either run it from a terminal by typing ‘Automatix’ (capital A there). Or go to your Applications menu, and then System Tools -> Automatix.
I hope this makes Ubuntu a bit easier for me. Feel free to shoot me a mail, or check out my blog if you have further questions.
B
http://arsgeek.wordpress.com
Thank you for a very constructive comment. I will certainly try Automatix.
No problem! I’m something of an Ubuntu junkie, so if you have any other questions, shoot me a line.
hi! could you tell me where to find the folder with “xpti.dat”?
i know how to use cd and rm, and i was able to follow Adobe’s instructions and i think it installed Flash 9 properly, however, i want to play it safe and follow all its instructions. i also got the
NOTE: Please ask your administrator to remove the xpti.dat from the
components directory of the Mozilla or Netscape browser.
note, so i would like to delete it, but i have no idea where the components directory is in Ubuntu. Thanks!
gem: on my box its in ~/.mozilla/firefoxliham0vz.default