I signed up for some online courses and I need Flash in order to watch the lectures. I was very surprised to learn that Adobe finally updated Flash for Linux, but I can’t get it working.
*** My System ***
openSUSE 42.3, 64 bits, GNOME, Chromium browser, Adobe Flash version 29.0.0.140
*** How I installed Adobe Flash ***
I went to https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ The website automatically detects everything, so I downloaded the correct 64-bit, PPAPI version for Chromium (version number 29.0.0.140). After the download was complete, I installed the RPM file using the Terminal (zypper install flash-player-ppapi-29.0.0.140-release.x86_64.rpm).
*** Flash does not work in Chromium ***
After I installed Flash and restarted my computer, I tried to play a Flash video in Chromium, but it didn’t work. I then typed “Chrome://flash” into the address/search bar and it says “Flash plugin: Not installed”.
*** What I did to try to fix the problem ***
When Flash is installed it puts files in the following areas: /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin and /usr/lib64/flash-plugin. I noticed there is a folder for Chromium plugins (/usr/lib64/chromium/plugins), but there was nothing for Flash in it, so, using the Terminal and the “cp” command, I copied the file libpepflashplayer.so to the Chromium plugins folder. I was very excited thinking I had solved the problem, but when I opened Chromium again, Flash still didn’t work and it sill says it’s not installed.
Any help would be much appreciated. I am aware that I could download and install Chrome (which comes with Flash built-in), but I prefer not to do that unless I have no other choice.
I installed “flash-player-ppapi” from the packman repo, currently at 20.0.0.140-1.1. As far as I know, it is the same as you get from Adobe, just repackaged for opensuse users.
When I tested a few minutes ago (before starting this reply), I was prompted to allow flash for that page. So apparently the defaults are to always ask before using. I tested with “http://www.uclick.com/client/isn/sudoc/” (a sudoku daily puzzle).
both npapi and ppapi flash work for me under firefox and vivaldi but as wolfi323 said get it from packman if you have the packman repo just do
zypper in flash-player-ppapi
you should remove the adobe rpm first
but are you sure it’s a flash issue it could be a restricted codecs issue as a lot of sites now use html5 for media and by default opensuse comes with restricted codecs to get multimedia working in browsers (both chromium and firefox) you need to add the packman repo and do a full vendor change to it if not the system ffmpeg (which browsers use) just can’t handle h264 video
to add packman and do a full vendor change to it do
zypper ar -f ftp://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_Leap_42.3/ packman
zypper dup --from packman
When I installed the RPM file from the Adobe website, it didn’t create the “PepperFlash” folder and put the “libpepflashplayer.so” file in it (and I’m assuming the Pacman installation put the manifest.json file in that folder as well). I created a folder called “PepperFlash” and copied and pasted those two files in there. When I type “chrome://flash” into the address/search bar in Chromium, it says that Flash is installed, but it still won’t play videos—odd. So it seems like the RPM file from the Adobe website doesn’t put the files in all the correct places (at least in openSUSE). Three “Global Moderators” have endorsed installing Flash from the Pacman repo, so I’ll check that out. Thanks for your responses, guys.
AFAIK, Chromium uses the system’s ffmpeg meanwhile.
So it is important to do a full switch to Packman to replace openSUSE’s limited ffmpeg/libav* with the full-blown versions from Packman.
As explained here e.g.: http://opensuse-guide.org/codecs.php
(note that you do not need to use the 1-click install if you already added the Packman repo, just do the switch)
chromium-ffmpeg-extra should not be needed anymore for Chromium I think, it is used by Vivaldi though (which is a proprietary browser from the original Opera authors, based on Chromium).
Although it might be worth trying to install it if the above doesn’t help.
afaik chromium-ffmpeg-extra is needed for Chromium based browsers (like vivaldi) not on Chromium itself @OP what’s your repo list?
have you done a full vendor change to packman where does ffmpeg come from?
zypper lr -d
zypper se -si ffmpeg*
zypper se -si libav*
I’m using Leap 42.3, 64 bit, Chromium 67.0.3396.62
Yesterday Flash was working. Today it is not and I get error messages, for example from anything at cnn.com. (“There appears to be a playback issue.”) My flash-player is 29.0.0.171-1.1 (not the version in the subject line of this thread) and same for the flash-player-ppapi, both just re-downloaded from the packman repo per the urging of others here on this discussion.
I did go to this URL http://www.uclick.com/client/isn/sudoc/ suggested by nrickert and found as he did that I was prompted to click, and then the Flash video did play at that website. And I am getting similar prompts on a few other websites with videos then playing.
But I am not getting the prompt at all websites (example, cnn.com as noted above).
I tried to find chromium-plugin-widevinecm as suggested by nrickert, but I got no results when I searched for it in Yast. However, I did find chromium-plugin-widevinecdm (typo, nrickert?) and installed that.
I also installed chromium-ffmpeg-extra.
Still no videos on most websites.
I do not get any videos when I go to various “test flash video here” web sites. I’m only prompted to download the latest version (which apparently I already have) or I’m told that Flash is not enabled on my computer. That seems strange, and if it is true how do I enable it in Chromium?
So I’m stumped as to why it worked yesterday but not today. All I’ve changed are the updates that Leap prompts me are available. Maybe one of those screwed up my flash? Maybe this version of flash I have is the problem and I need to go with an earlier version?
Thoughts? Suggestions? Have I missed an important step to “fixing” flash?
I’d really like to get cnn,com videos playing again.
Hmm, I’m now on Leap 15.0, so I can’t really check what is happening with 42.3. There was a recent chromium update. I suppose that could have broken something.
With Leap 15.0, I get a “something went wrong” when trying to play a CNN video.
as far as I can tell cnn does not use flash and widevinecdm is only used for sites that use DRM like netflix but as others have pointed out there seams to be a chromium bug
the only site I’ve noticed still uses flash is bbc and that’s a mix-match of flash and html5
until the chromium issue is resolved you could use Firefox or Vivaldi which is Chromium based (Vivaldi needs chromium-ffmpeg-extra or it won’t play anything except webm media)
Thanks. I went to Firefox and found exactly as you said. The videos play from several sites that would not play in Chromium. So I guess I’ll wait for the Chromium bug to be fixed and in the meantime use Firefox when I need to see video.
Thanks to everyone who announced this Chromium bug.
bosdad
at the time of your original post there was a bug in chromium that prevented video’s from being played afaik it has since been fixed have you ran an update
