No sound from Firefox 66 in Trusty Tahr

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Mr Henderson · #1 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Fri 05 Jun 2020, 14:20

I have Firefox 66.0.3 running under Trusty Tahr on an old Acer Aspire 3500 laptop. There is no sound at all from Firefox. Video playback in Firefox is stuttery and keeps freezing, though YouTube is much better than the BBC (for example) in this respect. Downloaded files or DVDs play without problems.

Other browsers simply give me a message saying that I need Flash or that the video can't be played.

I have read rocas58xx's post but 'apulse firefox' doesn't work - in fact it's possibly made the video worse.

Any suggestions?

OscarTalks · #2 Post by **OscarTalks** » Fri 05 Jun 2020, 16:03

If the hardware is old it may not be powerful enough for reliable playback. What are the main specifications?
Has apulse been installed?
How did you install firefox and where is the main firefox directory located in the file system?
You may need to use the full path to the firefox executable eg apulse /opt/firefox/firefox
apulse will fix the sound if run correctly
Alternatively, try upgrading Palemoon to latest and try that as it does not need apulse and should be a bit lighter than firefox.

Mr Henderson · #3 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Fri 05 Jun 2020, 17:56

Thank you, but no luck as yet.

Hardware: SiS 7012 AC'97 sound controller; SiS 6661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 661/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter.

The Puppy Package Manager reports apulse as installed.

Judging by the file size (assuming the file we're after is the largest) Firefox is installed at /usr/lib/firefox/firefox. Typing in the console apulse /usr/lib/firefox/firefox launches Firefox, but still with no sound.

I installed Firefox from the Package Manager. It's not the most recent version of Firefox, but it's not showing any inclination to update itself (I've given it permission in Firefox's Options).

I tried installing the latest Palemoon (27), and Puppy reported it as installed, but it would not launch from the menu. I've now supposedly uninstalled it, but a search in the package manager reports it as still installed. However, searching with the Uninstall facility brings up a box saying that while Palemoon 27 is found as a package, Palemoon 25 is installed. pFind discovers 20 Palemoon files, though none looks like the actual programme to my untrained eyes. I hope you can follow this.

Thank you again for your suggestions. I realise how frustrating it must be not being able to actually get your hands on the obstinate machine.

bigpup · #4 Post by **bigpup** » Fri 05 Jun 2020, 19:06

running under Trusty Tahr

Are you talking about Tahrpup 6.0.5 (32bit) or Tahrpup 64 6.0.5 (64bit)?
If yes to one of these.
Which one?

Tahrpup 6.0.5 has the program Quickpet
First run Quickpet->Info->Tahrpup updates.
Reboot so all the changes are saved and now being used.

Use Puppy Package Manager(PPM)
Uninstall Firefox and Pale Moon browsers.
Reboot so the changes are saved and are cleared out of the file system.

Firefox is just going to constantly have sound problems.

Pale Moon will never have sound issues. Well, so far it has not.

I could give you a link to a Pale Moon version to try, but I do not know if you need the 32bit or 64bit one.

Mr Henderson · #5 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Sat 06 Jun 2020, 14:54

Thank you, bigpup.

It's 32-bit.

I have run the Tahrpup updates.

I have run the PPM to uninstall Palemoon. Uninstalling Firefox is refused - PPM reports that other files depend on Firefox.

Should I reinstall Puppy and start from scratch? I don't have any data to lose as yet.

Mr Henderson · #6 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Sat 06 Jun 2020, 16:43

Update: I have successfully run Pale Moon, by following the instructions on the Pale Moon website and unzipping the tarball. It does indeed give me sound, so thank you, bigpup and OscarTalks.

bigpup · #7 Post by **bigpup** » Sat 06 Jun 2020, 19:07

Uninstalling Firefox is refused - PPM reports that other files depend on Firefox.

Usually when PPM gives that kind of message.
Something else needs uninstalled first.

But not knowing what PPM is specifically saying.
You may be better off to do nothing about Firefox.
Just do not use it.

Pale Moon has an internal updater.
You can set in Pale Moon preferences how it works.
Pale Moon->Help->Check for updates... you can run anytime.

Mr Henderson · #8 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Mon 08 Jun 2020, 14:07

Unfortunately I did a clean install of Puppy before I read your last post, bigpup. I now have up-to-date Pale Moon and no Firefox. I get sound OK, but now some online video won't run and gives an error message (not YouTube, fortunately). I'd particularly like to be able to see the BBC's video, but it briefly shows a message saying that I need Flash, before showing a more general message. I think that the BBC uses the H.264 or H.265 codecs.

So, are there any codec libraries I could install? Or should I simply install Firefox again?

(The routes to Flash installation offered by Puppy Tahr don't work - presumably they're out of date.)

By the way, I'd like to stick with Trusty Tahr rather than a more recent Puppy because it supports the 1280x800 resolution of the laptop screen.

bigpup · #9 Post by **bigpup** » Mon 08 Jun 2020, 16:31

Try using this version of Getflash
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 3&start=34

Can you post a link to video that does not work, so we can try it.
Also a link to one that gives "Video not supported"

Pale Moon>Preferences>Content>Video
Just have all options checked.

OscarTalks · #10 Post by **OscarTalks** » Mon 08 Jun 2020, 16:58

One thing you can try which might help to get more videos to play
In Palemoon in about:config
Search for media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete
Set the value to true
This should allow Palemoon to make use of the codecs in libavcodec which it would otherwise reject (if the value is set to "false") since the libavcodec will be an older version since Tahr is getting old now.

Mr Henderson · #11 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Mon 08 Jun 2020, 17:24

Bigpup, that new Getflash worked. Thank you! I believe that Flash is scheduled to reach its end of life this year, but I'm hoping another solution can be found before then.

Any video on the BBC website was previously unplayable: bbc.co.uk/news/world will have several. However, I'm not sure whether they can be viewed at all outside the UK, so I'm sorry if this isn't much use.

I had already checked the options in Content>Video.

OscarTalks, I can't find about:config. I'm now running Pale Moon 28.10.0. Help>About just gives me a window with links to release notes etc. Should I be looking elsewhere?

OscarTalks · #12 Post by **OscarTalks** » Mon 08 Jun 2020, 17:34

Type about:config into the address bar and press enter.
Don't worry about any warnings.
It is a big long list of all the settings, so use the search at the top of that page to find the one I mentioned.

OscarTalks · #13 Post by **OscarTalks** » Mon 08 Jun 2020, 19:34

Quick test in 32bit TahrPup 6.0.5 fresh virgin boot
Installed Palemoon 28.10.0 by downloading tarball, delete /opt/palemoon folder and contents, extract new tarball into /opt to replace the old deleted one.
Did TahrPup updates via QuickPet (don't think this helps this issue, but you should do it anyway).
BBC videos do not play
Made the change in about:config
Close and restart Palemoon
BBC videos now do play
This is without flash player needing to be installed.

Mr Henderson · #14 Post by **Mr Henderson** » Wed 10 Jun 2020, 16:59

I have done as you instructed, OscarTalks, and as you said, Flash is not necessary, at least on the sites I've tried.

At the same time, it's reassuring to have the new Getflash available, so thank you, oldpup.

Video doesn't always run as smoothly as it did under Windows XP, but... it was XP, and it's as well to be free of it. Also, it took forever to load.

So the problem is now solved.

(OscarTalks, apologies for not noticing that you're in London.)

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No sound from Firefox 66 in Trusty Tahr

No sound from Firefox 66 in Trusty Tahr