no luck with flash with either firefox or chrome

[Colin Law]

On 31 March 2013 11:54, Charles Smith <cts.private at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thank you for continuing to think about this ...
>
> Actually, I try to upgrade - I get the upgrade prompt and select it - it
> grinds and grinds (tens of minutes), then I get a different dialog,
> repeatedly, like, "System Error: Cancel or Report".  No mention of details,
> or the causing application (but it's clearly the update application), or
> anything.  I've tried pstree to see if I can track down what the problem is.
> I know of no way to match a dialog with the causing application (we've
> almost finally reached Windows quality).

The fact that you are having problems upgrading indicates there is a
problem that you should address before worrying about flash.  They may
be related.  If you have a problem upgrading then it is better to run
it in the terminal and you will get better diagnostic messages (that
is what I suggested).
In a terminal first do
sudo apt-get update
If that shows any errors then post them here.  If not then
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
and post any errors again.

>
> But you're probably right.  I should follow up on this first.

Definitely

>
> <soapbox>
> But I confess - my problems are caused by the fact that I'm not really keen
> on solving the problem with the MS-pioneered method of
> installation/reinstallation/deinstallation/upgrade/downgrade.  I have this
> naive, stubborn notion that things have causation, and as computer
> "scientists", we have the obligation of understanding, rather than
> believing.
> </soapbox>
>
> But, I've really run up against a wall here.  Somebody suggested that I
> re-install my operating system (!), and I might end up doing that (!!!).
> Before I go that far, though, maybe I should get the update mechanism
> working ...

It should not come to that.  Lets get the upgrade working first.  That
may tell us what is really wrong with the system.

Colin



>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com>
> To: Charles Smith <cts.private at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2013 10:08 PM
>
> Subject: Re: no luck with flash with either firefox or chrome
>
> On 30 March 2013 19:17, Charles Smith <cts.private at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> and just for kicks, I re-ran this:
>>
>> $ sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer
>> Reading package lists... Done
>> Building dependency tree
>> Reading state information... Done
>> flashplugin-installer is already the newest version.
>> 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 394 not upgraded.
>
> 394 not upgraded!!  Has not the update manager been pestering you to
> install the updates?
> I think the first thing you had better do is
> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
>
> It may make no difference but you need to rule it out.
>
> Colin
>
>