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[hide]Flash Plugin Installation
Most Mageia users will find the Adobe Flash Plugin is already installed when they first install Mageia, but some users will have to install it seperately, and a very few users will have to follow a more complicated procedure to install Flash.
- If Mageia is installed from a 'Live DVD' or 'Live CD' then the Flash Plugin will be automatically installed and the user will not have to do anything at all.
- If Mageia was installed using the Classic DVD installer, and the check box labelled 'NonFree Software' was left checked during installation, then the Flash Plugin will be automatically installed. (Mageia 3 or higher)
- If Mageia was installed using the Dual Arch CD without declaring an additional network source, then the Flash Plugin will not be installed, and must be added after installation.
- If the computer Mageia is installed on has a Pentium III processor, then the flash plugin installed will not work, and a manual procedure is required to install a version of the plugin that will work with a P III.
Flash Plugin Package
An RPM package called flash-player-plugin is provided in Mageia's 'Nonfree' software repository. This package does not contain the plugin itself. Installing flash-player-plugin will cause a download of the plugin from Adobe's server. Users should ensure that both the Nonfree and Nonfree Updates repositories are enabled in Mageia Control Centre>Software>ConfigureMediaSources. Whenever Adobe release a bug fix for the plugin a new package will appear in Nonfree Updates.
If using the Software Install GUI in Mageia Control Centre to install the plugin be careful to check the two drop down menus in the top left corner are both set to 'All' so the GUI will show packages without GUI's. Search on the word 'flash' and the plugin will be the first result. The second result is the package flash-player-plugin-kde which allows KDE's system settings to control the flash player settings.
Installing the Mageia package is quicker and easier than installing from Adobe's web site.
Installing on a Pentium III System
Users of older Pentium III computers will notice that even though the flash player plugin is installed, they are unable to play flash content. The reason is because starting with version 11.2, Adobe compiled the flash player plugin for CPUs with SSE2 capability. Older Pentium III CPUs with SSE cannot use it. However, the 11.2 flash plugin included in Google Chrome (not Chromium) for Linux was compiled for SSE, and that plugin can be used in Firefox or other browsers with older processors. The last version of Chrome to use the 11.2 plugin was v. 19. Newer versions of Chrome uses the Pepper versions of the plugin, and will not work with Firefox.
To get 11.2 capability for older processors, first uninstall the flash-player-plugin package, and then download Chrome 19 from the internet. Google do not maintain an archive of old versions of Chrome so it is necessary to hunt around the internet to find one. On source is here (Strange place to get it, I know. If anybody knows of another, please post it.) This link is a package made for Puppy Linux. To get at the plugin embedded within it, it has to be down loaded, and then the files extracted using an archiver such as Ark or File-Roller. Search for the file libgcflashplayer.so. Use Mageia Control Centre remove Flashplayer if you installed from the repositories, and remove any copies of earlier versions of libflashplayer.so from /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins, then copy libgcflashplayer.so there, and rename it to libflashplayer.so.
That will give you Flashplayer 11.2.202.235, which for now at least will eliminate the annoying warning messages Firefox gives you if you are using Flashplayer 11.1 or lower, and gives you somewhat better security than using those older versions. Unfortunately, further updates, for Firefox at least, aren't possible - unless Adobe relents and starts compiling for SSE again. For the latest, most up-to-date developments in Flashplayer for Linux, you need to install and use Google Chrome (not Chromium).
