Help

[Constantinos Maltezos]

On Tuesday 18 March 2008 6:02:40 John wrote:
> I'm sure you have been asked before but I am a novice to kubuntu although I
> am used to windows' have installed kubuntu on my spare pc and I am well
> pleased so easy to use apart from I needed a shockwave plug in, I have down
> loaded this ok but something appears to be going terribly wrong when trying
> to install it. I followed the instructions on the website but it just
> doesn't seem to do anything. Can any one give me an idiot proof guide to
> this as i'm sure once I have done 1 it will all become clear

Hi, John.

I may be completely off about this and if you hear from someone more 
knowledgeable than me, feel free to ignore this.  My experience goes thusly: 
I installed Kubuntu, installed the restricted packages, and Flash worked very 
well in Konqueror (the default web browser for Kubuntu).  An update or two 
later, it stopped.  I nearly scratched a bald spot on my head before I 
figured that  *something* had installed a file 
called "flashplugin-alternative.so" in one of my plugin directories.  I 
deleted it and Flash worked fine.  A couple of updates later, the same thing 
happened, only this time (in order to vex me, I suppose) it stuck that file 
in three places and each time I deleted one, Konqueror would find the other.  
Thankfully, though, that's the last time that file was put on my system.

You can check to see if this is the case for your system by opening up 
Konqueror (the web browser - if you're using Firefox, say so), clicking 
on "Setting" and then "Configure Konqueror..."  In the new window, scroll 
down until you see "Plugins" on the left and click on it.  On the right, 
you'll see two tabs, "Scan" and "Plugins".  Click on "Plugins" and in the 
list you'll either see "flashplugin-alternative.so" or "libflashplayer.so".  
If you see the first, you'll also see where on the filesystem it is.  If you 
get rid of it, scan for plugins again and see if it finds the other.

Anyway, that's all I got.  I strongly suggest listening to what anyone else 
says first.