How to get NetFlix running in FireFox 49.....

[Mike Walsh]

Evening, all.

As y'all know, I'm not the biggest fan of Firefox; Chrome's my main 'squeeze', and has been for the last 8 years. But I'm well aware that many of my fellow Puppians abhor the incessant 'nosiness' that comes with the big G's flagship browser, and have been anticipating the much-hyped inclusion of the Widevine modules into FireFox 49.....which will enable the playing of, among other things, NetFlix.

I've been experimenting with the 64-bit version in Tahr64 earlier this evening, although there's no reason why this workaround shouldn't work just as well in the 32-bit version (though I have reservations about this, which I will explain later.)

So, without further ado, let's get to it!

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Obviously, you'll need FF 49 installed. There's not much to this 'workaround', although there's a bit of 'faffing-around' to perform.

1) Go into Preferences>Content, and check the box for 'Playback of DRM content'.

2) Then, from the Add-ons store, you'll need to install 'User Agent Overrider'. We've gotta make NetFlix think we're running Chrome for now, till they get their act together.....

3) Then, we need to go into Add-ons>Extensions>User Agent Overridrer>Preferences. A window will appear, containing the installed user-agent strings. You'll need to leave this box open for a few moments.

4) Courtesy of the askubuntu.com site:-

http://askubuntu.com/questions/828286/n ... ch-netflix

.....we need to copy the following string:-

Code: Select all

Linux / Chrome 53: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/53.0.2785.34 Safari/537.36

.....then paste it at the bottom of the list of strings in the Preferences window you opened a coupla minutes ago. Leave a line between this entry and the previous one, since the other entries have been listed the same way. When this is done, just close the window.

Left-click on the 'User Agent Overrider' button on the toolbar. You should have an entry at the bottom for 'Linux / Chrome 53'. Click the radio-button for this entry.

That's it!

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The only reason I have reservations about this working in 32-bit FF 49 is because of this very user agent string. Chrome hasn't been supported under 32-bit Linux since version 48, so I'd be dead curious to see if this workaround applies there, too. I haven't yet had a chance to try it myself.

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Now, if you go to NetFlix, sign in, and choose summat to watch, you should, all things being equal, be able to watch NetFlix in Linux Firefox for the first time.

You may find that you have to refresh the page, when you choose to resume anything you're in the middle of watching before you get the big red 'spinner', followed by the movie starting to play. This is mentioned in the Askubuntu.com workaround. It does work.

Anybody who wants to try this, let me know how you get on with it, please. I can't be the only one to be able to get this working..!


Mike.

[Semme]

Maybe tmrw Mike, on my clients machine. My old dog ain't got the hp..

[Mike Walsh]

^^^

Touchè, Semme; same here. It all runs fine on the 'big' Compaq PC, 'cos she's got the grunt. My favourite (the old Dell lappie) hasn't. NetFlix kinda plays.....but there's bags of hesitation and stuttering. Whadd'ya expect from a P4 and a gig of RAM? Curiously, despite that awful Intel 'Extreme' graphics adapter, there's no tearing...

Weird.


Mike.

[Semme]

Yo Mike, by creating a "user.js" file in FF's profile folder, you can load your preferred user agent like this:

Code: Select all

//
// user.js: Personal prefs which mozilla shouldn't overwrite.
//

// Override the default user-agent string:
user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Linux / Chrome 53: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/53.0.2785.34 Safari/537.36");

PS -- I'll be back before my carriage turns into a bumpkin!

[Semme]

Hey, how about that.. She (T)ROLLS!

[Mike Walsh]

Hey, ya got 'er working... Nice one.

You're on 32-bit there, aren't you? I didn't get it working in Tahr32; the WideVine module keeps crashing. Whether it's because of summat you have installed, and I don't.....well, can't really say. But it does at least prove the principle is sound.

Did you find, like I said, that you have to refresh the page to actually get things going..?

I guess when NetFlix start to co-operate and actually provide a workable stream for FireFox, it'll all fall into place (hopefully!) Should keep the FireFox fans happy.....like your good self!


Mike.

[Semme]

Yep, 32bit Tahr on a 64bit box. Fast connects aside, cable here, me thinks your video card's gotta be up to snuff.

Again, with my friends great card, no refresh, simply hit play.

[anotherpuppyfan]

Got a really old Gateway single core laptop last weekend for $10US. Added a 60GB IDE HD, Tahr 6.0.5 (no PAE), Firefox 32 which updated to 49. Saw your how-to and did it. Very cool to be able to view Netflix on Puppy, Linux in general, and this ancient laptop. Thanks!

[Mike Walsh]

Got a really old Gateway single core laptop last weekend for $10US. Added a 60GB IDE HD, Tahr 6.0.5 (no PAE), Firefox 32 which updated to 49. Saw your how-to and did it. Very cool to be able to view Netflix on Puppy, Linux in general, and this ancient laptop. Thanks!

You're very welcome! Have fun (oh, and BTW; 'Welcome' to the kennels, if I haven't already bid you such!)


Mike.

[TeX Dog]

does this work on Raspberry Pi

[Semme]

Have you attempted to make it work?

[TeX Dog]

lol, I am no trailblazer. I am lucky to find my car keys. My cable company will start charging for the digital converters they where forced by Government to make free for allowing conversion to digital only format, can login to chrome or other mixed browsers with DRM to play netflix also plays the cable TV stuff on my computer. Would like to have this work to replace one TV rooms box.
If You got those freebie converters they will not be free with Decembers bill for January service.

[TeX Dog]

OK before working on the raspberry I was able to update fatdog64 to v49.0.2 is that compatible also user.js is it automatically loaded if exists?

[edited minutes later]
Never mind FF49 is broken with FD64

Code: Select all

# firefox
XPCOMGlueLoad error for file /usr/lib64/firefox-49.0.2/libmozgtk.so:
libgtk-3.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Couldn't load XPCOM.
# 

[Semme]

So open Gslapt and install what looks like gtk3-3.18.7-x86_64-1.txz and any additional dependencies that go along with it.

As for the rest of the tweak, stick to Mike's recipe.

[TeX Dog]

Ouch 80Mgs later, this defeats why I was going to give up Chrome!!! thanks for the tip. Does make FF work

[TeX Dog]

Finished up with more info from here.
http://www.howtogeek.com/113439/how-to- ... xtensions/

thats to setup user agent without user.js editing or installing any helper add-ons.

Now watching Stranger things..

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, TexDog.

Ouch 80Mgs later, this defeats why I was going to give up Chrome!!! thanks for the tip. Does make FF work

TBH, it doesn't much matter which one of them you use nowadays. Compared to their humble (and very nimble) beginnings, they've both morphed into heavy, lumbering 'super-tankers'.....due in large part to the need for extra security (sandboxing, etc.), in today's online jungle.

You 'pays your money and takes your pick'.....


Mike.

[smokey01]

Mike do you think the same procedure would work on seamonkey?

[TeX Dog]

Mike do you think the same procedure would work on seamonkey?

No DRM setting to turn on. I checked first but FF49 from FD64 and the gtk3 link above does work.

[smokey01]

Thanks TeX Dog.