How do I watch Flash video in RetroPrecise 5.4.3?

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summersolstice
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How do I watch Flash video in RetroPrecise 5.4.3?

#1 Post by summersolstice »

Hi to all with a newbie question.

Using RetroPrecise Puppy 5.4.3 on my vye-S18 but Youtube video does not show/play and wondered if it was because I needed the Vye Linux drivers installed, one is a "Graphics_Video4Linux". I would like to install them anyway. The Vye has an AMD geode LX.

How do I go about installing them once they are downloaded? They are .tat.tar files.

Thanks in advance

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Semme
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#2 Post by Semme »

:D Welcome to Pup Summersolstice. << Puppyluvr style greeting

Can you tell us with which browser YouTube doesn't play?

Go into the menu and find *Pfind* under filesystem.

Tick it for system and search: libflashplayer.so

Is it onboard?

==

For the video part, rt-clk your desktop >> system >> pupscan.

Clk the PCI interface tab and look for vga under results.

Highlight that section alone, then copy'n paste here.

Description | vendor | device | kernel module.

summersolstice
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#3 Post by summersolstice »

Hi,

The browser is seamonkey version 2.1.3.1

libflashplayer.so = No files found

This is ALL of the code from pupscan PCI search -

DESCRIPTION: Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Host Bridge
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2080

DESCRIPTION: VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX Video
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2081

DESCRIPTION: Entertainment encryption device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2082
KERNEL DRIVER (builtin): AES
KERNEL MODULE: geode-aes

DESCRIPTION: CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
VENDOR: 104c DEVICE: 8039
KERNEL DRIVER (builtin): yenta_cardbus
KERNEL MODULE: yenta_socket

DESCRIPTION: Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
VENDOR: 104c DEVICE: 803b
KERNEL MODULE: tifm_7xx1
KERNEL MODULE: tifm_7xx1

DESCRIPTION: SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
VENDOR: 104c DEVICE: 803c
KERNEL MODULE: sdhci-pci
KERNEL MODULE: sdhci-pci

DESCRIPTION: Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
VENDOR: 10ec DEVICE: 8139
KERNEL MODULE: 8139too
KERNEL MODULE: 8139cp

DESCRIPTION: ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2090

DESCRIPTION: IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] IDE
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 209a
KERNEL DRIVER (builtin): pata_amd

DESCRIPTION: Multimedia audio controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2093
KERNEL MODULE: snd_cs5535audio
KERNEL MODULE: snd-cs5535audio

DESCRIPTION: USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2094
KERNEL DRIVER (builtin): ohci_hcd

DESCRIPTION: USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC
VENDOR: 1022 DEVICE: 2095
KERNEL DRIVER (builtin): ehci_hcd


Thanks for your help so far :-)

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Semme
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#4 Post by Semme »

Hold that thought..

summersolstice
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#5 Post by summersolstice »

If it is any help, the Linux drivers for the VYE are all here http://www.vyepc.com/downloads/index.ph ... s%2FLinux/ although they are old now, 2009 they are dated and guess they are generic linux.

Hogweed
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#6 Post by Hogweed »

If you really don't have libflashplayer.so then no amount of updating video drivers will get flash video to work. Do you have Get Flash Player under Menu Internet? If so use it to get the latest Flash and then try playing some youtube videos.

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Semme
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#7 Post by Semme »

Yes, I've already dwnldd and....
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#8 Post by Semme »

Summersolstice- as Hogweed suggested, go into your menu and open GetFlash under internet.

Now even though you're AMD, choose the latest FlashPlayer and surf to your favorite video..

Let us know is she plays. We can adjust things if she doesn't.

==

I notice too there was no module spec'd.

Did you have to settle for Xvesa?
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summersolstice
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#9 Post by summersolstice »

Yes, using xvesa

What I have done is changed the flashplayer version, removed the newer one and installed an older version in the list that comes up, this has improved it .

The video actually loads a video view now on youtube, extremely slowly buffering all the way on playback. 1gb ram on this Vye s18. I have turned of acceleration in the flash "settings" while playing back too but no improvement in playback.

Semme - What did you learn from the downloaded file, nothing worthwhile I guess?

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#10 Post by Semme »

Oh good. If you went with ten, here's the latest version.

Clk to open in XArchive and highlight libflashplayer.so.

Hit extract >> choose location >> navigate >> /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins >> hit open >> OK.

Without prompting it should overwrite the old file.

==

About the driver- it has to be built, or, compiled. The old one I think was amd_drv.so. The newer one, I'll have to check, should be the xf86-video-geode driver. I kinda sense it supersedes the pkg from vyepc.

I also suspect it has to be compiled on a system with said hw- namely yours, not mine.

No guarantees any of this'll work mind you, but you'll need two pkgs in particular..

Both I think over a hundred mb's each, so, it depends on how adventurous you wanna get.

For curiosities sake, I've attached a copy of the drivers readme.

Still- I have yet to investigate on Precise..

==

Can you tell us, did you attempt to use Xorg?

Sometimes it takes a few tries to get a working combo..
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#11 Post by Semme »

On closer inspection- it would appear you have support.

This lower file here spec's your device >> 1022:2081.
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summersolstice
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#12 Post by summersolstice »

I have the libflashplayer.so on the Vye.

Have tried using the Opera browser via the youtube html5 because I thought that would load video more quickly but still lags/buffers/choppy etc.

I am using Puppy via a usb flash drive, should I install it onto the HD or does it not make that much of a difference?

Anything else worth a try?
I also have windows xp tablet on the Vue, even with that Youtube video is similar and unplayable.

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#13 Post by Semme »

To reiterate- did you attempt to use Xorg?

Pup on flash via Windows or cd bootdisk?

summersolstice
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#14 Post by summersolstice »

I have tried many linux distros on the Vye S18 and not one has worked without using xvesa.

Even with xvesa I had to drag boxes to the left so that they were legible, I was able to get the screen still (kept jumping around on the right side) and set the correct resolution.

Xorg does not let me set the correct resolution, far too big. When looking in the xorgconf file, it actually states 800x600 but seems not to take any notice of that. This is what ormally happens on this computer with linux.

Pup is on external usb stick, boot set for usb stick.

I am actually getting nearer being able to play youtube videos on XP than on Puppy at the moment. XP runs the video slightly more smoothly than Puppy although it is still nowhere near watchable.

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#15 Post by Semme »

I was hoping you'd have been more Pup specific concerning Xorg.

And I already know Pup's on flash.. I wanted to know how it got there?

That you made no further reference to the Vye driver..
you can try this or not, and report what happens..

==

Next boot, when the boot splash appears- you type: puppy pfix=nox

When the prompt arrives: xorgwizard << You may have to enter this twice.

Hit probe and choose your resolution along with the correct frequency.

Choose your color mode >> 16 or 24. Whichever you go with, try the other next round.

Make sure you select *test* in the screens that follow.

Failing any of these, you should have an option to choose a driver.

Here's the part we'd like to know >> IS the geode available?

==

If no joy with any of the above, maybe take this Pup (Geode included) out for a stroll.

Perusing, this PCLinuxOS based spin was touted to work on your box. More here.

Then, there's even MiniMe >> for when functionality counts. Good hw support.

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#16 Post by Hogweed »

Just as a little note...

While attempting to figure out the performance difference of Flash on various Puppy variants I have noticed that if colour depth is set to 16 then recent Flash variants perform very poorly at least with the Intel video driver on this old laptop. Changing colour depth to 24 results in perfectly acceptable full screen video in standard resolutions. Don't expect HD though.

The colour depth setting is counter-intuitive. At first thought it would seem that 16 would be better than 24 but it isn't. At least in the config I have been testing RetroPrecice 5.4.3 and 5.4.91

The recommendation from xorgwizard will be to use 16 depth unless you are sure you can use 24. That will result in very, very poor Flash video full screen performance with current Flashplayer in some, if not all, hardware configs.
Last edited by Hogweed on Mon 18 Feb 2013, 15:35, edited 1 time in total.

summersolstice
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#17 Post by summersolstice »

As I said, somewhere here, xorg does not work, only xvesa makes the vye useable.

I will try the other distros.

Hogweed - I have always had it set to 24 colour depth but thanks for the suggestion.

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#18 Post by Hogweed »

summersolstice wrote:As I said, somewhere here, xorg does not work, only xvesa makes the vye useable.

I will try the other distros.

Hogweed - I have always had it set to 24 colour depth but thanks for the suggestion.
You might want to try as an experiment setting it to 16 just to make sure that doesn't improve things in your config. Hope you can get your driver issue sorted as that's the real underlying problem.

summersolstice
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#19 Post by summersolstice »

Thanks Hogweed. I have tried all available colour depths. The driver is the real pain in the butt I am sure.

Trying Semme's suggestions -

lupu-528.005.iso seems to load but backgrounded, as in, puppy barks but black screen. So I have no idea as to the resolution or visuals.

pclinuxos-kde-minime-2013.02.iso seems to load with a black screen with whire cursor, aks what keyboard language and the screen remains black with white cursor.

So far, at least, RetroPrecise Puppy 5.4.3 is very useable as an OS, simply the video playback on youtube that is the problem and I guess if that is the driver, there is not much I can do about it. What is strange to me is that I can download the videos on youtube without trouble and play them back fine, I wonder if it is simply the amount of data and info on the youtube pages that stop better playback?

The Vye suppied drivers I linked to are installed on the windows xp OS and they seem to make it a little better, still not watchable though.

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#20 Post by Semme »

Did you go through my xorgwizard routine in Precise? The routine's the same on Lucid: puppy pfix=ram..

If YouTube's the deal-breaker, install this. YouTube itself, along with their horrid choice of delivery's a joke!

One other thought that may help your situation..

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