Linux Lite Forums

Software - Support => Installing Linux Lite => Topic started by: raysr11 on March 21, 2014, 10:47:55 PM

Title: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: raysr11 on March 21, 2014, 10:47:55 PM
I installed Linux Lite 1.0.8 on a Emachines T2341.  I can't get any videos to work.  No YouTube or embedded videos.  I'm thinking that maybe the computer itself.  The video will start to work, a black screen, then will quickly disappear.  The old computer is very hard to find a video card that will work, ddr.  I installed Lite on a brand new 160 G HHD.  It was very speedy at first then I let Lite upgrade and it became very slow and sticky after that.

I have Lite installed on and older Acer small laptop and it works great on it.  Does anyone have any ideas how I can get Lite to work better?
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on March 21, 2014, 11:41:57 PM
It will just be that the pc won't be able to handle video under linux, can you post some details about your video chipset.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: gold_finger on March 22, 2014, 07:42:09 AM
Adobe discontinued support for older hardware under Linux in its newer versions of the flashplugin.  To get flash videos to play on those systems, you need to revert back to using an older version of flashplugin.

First you need to confirm that that is the problem in your case.  (Did quick lookup on your system and looked like it may have Athlon 2200+ processor.  If that's the case, then this will apply to you.)  Open a terminal and run the following command:
Code: [Select]
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep flags
Look in the output for anything with "sse" in it.  You are looking specifically to see if "sse2" is listed?  If it is NOT listed and you only see "sse", then you need to use an older version of the flashplugin.

*  Open Synaptic Package Manager (Menu -> System -> Install/Remove Software).
*  Click "Status" along lower left, then "Installed" in upper left section
*  Let the search box along top finish indexing itself.
*  When it's done, type in the "Quick filter" box flash
*  One of the listings will likely be "flashplugin-installer"
*  Click the green box next to that and select "Mark for Complete Removal", then hit "Apply" up top.

##UPDATE##
NB: You can now do (only on Linux Lite 2.0 and above):

Code: [Select]
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-legacy
in a terminal AFTER you have removed flashplugin-installer.

For versions 1.0.8 and below of Linux Lite, download flashplugin-legacy from here - http://repo.linuxliteos.com/linuxlite/pool/main/f/flashplugin-legacy/flashplugin-legacy_11.1.102.63-linuxlite_i386.deb 64bit from here - http://repo.linuxliteos.com/linuxlite/pool/main/f/flashplugin-legacy/flashplugin-legacy_11.1.102.63-linuxlite_amd64.deb

Now go to this tutorial and skip down to section labeled "For latest flashplugin from Adobe's site:" and follow instructions for getting and installing old flashplugin.
How to Fix Flash Video Problems on Older Computers (http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1491)

Read "Additional Note" and "Edit" near bottom of tutorial page for additional info. when done.

Older systems will still struggle a bit to play flash videos, especially high quality and/or in full-screen mode -- so just be aware of that.

Another option for getting better viewing performance from your older hardware when watching videos on youtube (only youtube) is to use a program called SMTube.  It will stream the video from youtube to play through one of your video players (bypassing flash completely).  Follow simple instructions here for installing it:
http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/en/smtube (http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/en/smtube)

It will show up under Menu -> Multimedia.  When you first open it, look along the bottom of the interface and click the settings button.  Change the default player it uses to VLC; otherwise it will try to use MPlayer, which is not installed in Linux Lite.  Once that is done, just double-click a video to play it; or right-click and choose "Play".  The very first video will take 10+ seconds to start because program is accessing and starting the VLC player first.  After that, rest of them will start more quickly.  Think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well videos play with this -- even higher quality videos in full screen mode!
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: raysr11 on March 23, 2014, 03:36:38 PM
Thank you for the help.  I'll try it tomorrow.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 07, 2014, 06:52:14 PM
Solution stickied, cheers gold_finger :)
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 24, 2014, 08:02:14 AM
I'm thinking of creating a 'flashplugin-legacy' package that would take care of playing flash on older machines. But for this to happen I need a volunteer to test on a machine that only has the 'sse' cpu flag. Hope to hear back from someone.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: gold_finger on April 24, 2014, 08:40:52 AM
I've got one to test it on whenever you're ready.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 24, 2014, 09:15:25 AM
Thank you gold_finger.

Please completely remove the shipped plugin first.

The file is here - https://www.linuxliteos.com/files/flashplugin-legacy_11.1.102.63-linuxlite.deb

Please read the warning before installing, and when you go to youtube to test, you will see a warning like this:

(http://i.imgur.com/0kY2Fgj.png)

Click on 'Activate Abobe Flash' to continue the test.
Look forward to your feedback :)
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: gold_finger on April 24, 2014, 09:22:23 AM
I should have asked this before, but it didn't cross my mind until now.

Does it matter which LL version I test it on?

I can install and test on both 1.0.6 & 1.0.8 if necessary.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 24, 2014, 09:27:50 AM
1.0.8 is fine thanks, don't forget to completely uninstall the shipped flash version first :)
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 24, 2014, 09:32:03 AM
Updated deb readme:

(http://i.imgur.com/cLC3gwS.png)
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: gold_finger on April 24, 2014, 09:33:47 AM
Alright.  Machine doesn't currently have LL on it, but has spare partition to install it on.  Will do test sometime within next few hours and report back.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 24, 2014, 09:35:02 AM
Cheers, I've uploaded an updated deb package with a better readme (see my previous post)
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: gold_finger on April 24, 2014, 02:23:30 PM
Just finished testing.

Installed the deb package without a hitch and everything worked fine on youtube.  Good job Valtam!

If you're interested, here are the specs of machine I used it on:

Code: [Select]
bill@Kitchen:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: Kitchen Kernel: 3.8.0-34-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.6.3) Desktop: Xfce 4.8.3 (Gtk 2.24.10)
           Distro: Ubuntu 12.04 precise
Machine:   System: MICRO-STAR product: KM400-8235
           Mobo: MICRO-STAR model: MS-6734 Bios: Phoenix v: 6.00 PG date: 01/16/2004
CPU:       Single core AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (-UP-) cache: 512 KB flags: (pae sse) bmips: 3829 clocked at 1914 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA NV44A [GeForce 6200] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.11.3 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: [email protected]
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 6200/AGP/SSE/3DNOW! GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.116 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card VIA VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller driver: snd_via82xx port: e400 bus-ID: 00:11.5
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.8.0-34-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82541PI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: e1000 v: 7.3.21-k8-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 00:06.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: VIA VT6102 [Rhine-II] driver: via-rhine port: e800 bus-ID: 00:12.0
           IF: eth1 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 40.0GB (9.3% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD400BB size: 40.0GB temp: 40C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 7.8G used: 3.5G (48%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 1.06GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/zram0
           ID-3: swap-2 size: 4.29GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:59C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 122 Uptime: 19 min Memory: 251.1/2016.5MB Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.6.3
           Client: Shell (bash 4.2.251) inxi: 2.1.20
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on April 24, 2014, 07:15:09 PM
Thank you gold_finger, do you think I should add this to our repo's when 2.0 is released?
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: gold_finger on April 25, 2014, 12:43:17 AM
Thank you gold_finger, do you think I should add this to our repo's when 2.0 is released?
If that means it will show up in Synaptic then sure, that would probably be a good idea.  (Or you could just add it to the custom install scripts you have listed under "Install Additional Software" in the Menu.)  Depending on how many Win XP users keep their old machines for LL, this could be very useful for some of them (along with everyone else using older machines).  Certainly makes reverting to older flash a lot easier then following all of the steps in the tutorial.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: Jerry on June 11, 2014, 01:46:34 AM
UPDATE: Now available for 64bit.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: delmar on November 30, 2014, 08:39:48 PM
I installed Linux Lite 1.0.8 on a Emachines T2341.  I can't get any videos to work.  No YouTube or embedded videos.  I'm thinking that maybe the computer itself.  The video will start to work, a black screen, then will quickly disappear.  The old computer is very hard to find a video card that will work, ddr.  I installed Lite on a brand new 160 G HHD.  It was very speedy at first then I let Lite upgrade and it became very slow and sticky after that.

I have Lite installed on and older Acer small laptop and it works great on it.  Does anyone have any ideas how I can get Lite to work better?
I hope I am not out of line for talking about other versions of linux on this forum, but if you want something that will run on a really old clunky machine, I have had a lot of luck with puppy precise retro. It is sort of limited, but I have been watching youtube videos on machines with as little as 512 RAM. Adding a swap file helps. I don't think too many people have managed to run Netflix on puppy though. That is what got me trying Linux lite. Netflix is running smooth as butter for me!
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: GatesHater52 on December 31, 2014, 01:30:26 PM
I've tried this three times, and it woks fine until I reboot, which ends with a completely black logon screen. The first two times reinstalled LL(2.0). the last time, I exited x, and reinstalled flashplugin-installer from the command line & restarted x. I did not uninstall -legacy. The longin screen came back, and flash works only on youtube. I am leaving well enough alone, thought you may find this interesting.The processor is an AMD Athlonxp 2000.
Title: Re: Using Youtube on Older Machines
Post by: TheDead on June 02, 2019, 10:49:02 AM
Just a heads up... an old heads up ;)
YouTube hasn't used Flash since 2015https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7926001/youtube-drops-flash-for-html5-video-default (https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7926001/youtube-drops-flash-for-html5-video-default)
This sticky isn't relavent anymore. ;)