Firefox 1.5, Flash and Java in amd64 Ubuntu Breezy installations

This is currently working in Dapper 6.06.6 rather well.

You can run Flash and Java plugins in AMD64 bit computers with Firefox, just follow these easy steps :

What we are going to do is install 'Firefox 1.5 32 bit version', using linux32 execution command. (Without the complicated 'chroot' method)

With this method you can't use the original 'Firefox' from Ubuntu and this new installation at the same time, but it doesn't matter because you won't use the default navigator anymore , for this reason is a good idea print this manual and shut down Firefox browser.

1 - Install suport for 32 bit applications :

• sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk linux32

2 - Download firefox 32 bit version from www.getfirefox.com

• http://www.mozilla.com/products/download.html?product=firefox-1.5&os=linux&lang=en-US

  (Another kind of installation is in FirefoxNewVersion which however differs in some details (installs into /opt; replaces regular /usr/bin/firefox with a new command), but I never tested :S )

3 - Untar the downloaded file like you allways do in Ubuntu, and go inside the directory :

• cd ~/Desktop/firefox

  (or go where the uncompressed file is)

4 - Create a folder for the 32 bit firefox installation, and copy firefox there :

• mkdir /usr/local/firefox32 cp -r -p ./* /usr/local/firefox32/

5 - Create the execution files for 32 bit firefox :

• sudo gedit /etc/pango32/pangorc &

• Next add this text to the file :
  • [Pango]

    ModuleFiles=/etc/pango32/pango.modules [PangoX]

    AliasFiles=/etc/pango/pangox.aliases

  Then create another file :

  • sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/firefox32 &

  Next add this text to the file :
  • #!/bin/sh export GTK_PATH=/usr/lib32/gtk-2.0 export PANGO_RC_FILE=/etc/pango32/pangorc linux32 /usr/local/firefox32/firefox $@

6 - Make it executable :

• sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/firefox32

7 - Check if your new 32 bit firefox is working :

• firefox32 &

  (it says warnings but doesn't matter)

8 - To install flash, download linux 32 bit flash player from macromedia and untar it :

• http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

9 - Install flash player :

• sudo bash apt-get install gsfonts apt-get install gsfonts-x11 cd ~/Desktop/ linux32 ./install_flash_player_7_linux/flashplayer-installer

  (When the installer asks you for the 'navigator path', write : /usr/local/firefox32/)

10 - Check if your new Firefox is working with flash, restart the browser and visit : http://www.macromedia.com

• firefox32 &

11 - To install Java player to run applets, go to http://www.java.com, and download the linux self stracting file for 32 bit linux computers (I was surprised to see than this file works in amd64 bits Breezy installation) :

• http://www.java.com/en/download/linux_manual.jsp

12 - To install java :

• sudo bash chmod 777 ./jre-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin

  (this file name will depend on the java version you download)

• /jre-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin

  (it will ask you some questions) mkdir /usr/local/java32 cp -r -p ./jre1.5.0_06/* /usr/local/java32 cd /usr/local/firefox32/plugins/ ln -s /usr/local/java32/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so ./

13 - Restart firefox32 and check if java is working :

• firefox32 &

14 - Visit : http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

15 - Add an icon at the top panel to start this 'cool' browser :

• Click with the right button at the top panel Choose : Add to panel Choose : Custom application launcher, and press 'Add' button
  • Name : firefox32 Generic name : Firefox 1.5 32 bits Comment : Firefox with 'Flash' and 'Java' Command : firefox32 Type : Application Icon : /usr/share/pixmaps/mozilla-firefox.png

16 - Enjoy the net !

IMPORTANT NOTE:

• PhilOSparta said in 'Ubuntu forums' that sound was not working properly for him. He solved the problem using the next line (Ubuntu Dapper with gstreamer0.10 will have this issue solved) : sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libesd.so.0 /usr/lib/libesd.so.1

Thanks for your attention, kisses

Albert Palacios

Adding RealPlayer Support

Thanks to the above help, I was also able to get my dearly loved BBC news via the following technique:

Download RealPlayer10GOLD.bin from Real

[http://www.real.com/realcom/R?href=http%3A%2F%2Fforms.real.com%2Freal%2Fplayer%2Fdownload.html%3Ff%3Dunix%2FRealPlayer10GOLD.bin%26product%3Dplayerplus%26system%3Dlinux%26pcode%3Drn%26opage%3Dlinux%26src%3Drealplayer%2Cplayerplus%2Clinux&pageid=linuxPage&pageregion=offer_button RealPlayer10GOLD.bin]

Make the RealPlayer10GOLD.bin binary executable

{{{cd ~/Desktop chmod a+x RealPlayer10GOLD.bin}}}

Install using linux32

{{{sudo linux32 ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin }}}

Follow the instructions as indicated. Install to /usr/local/realplayer32/ for consistency sake.

Copy relevant plugins to your Firefox 32bit directory

{{{cd /usr/local/realplayer32/mozilla/ sudo cp * /usr/local/firefox32/plugins}}}

Test

Shutdown all instances of Firefox and restart your firefox32 as per above. Go to www.bbc.com and try the listen live radio portions to test.

Good luck.

This tutorial has been modified, these are some notes from the tutorial before last changes (which hopefully solved these problems)

• If you are having problems with segmentation faults when trying to use the browser's or email client's "Open" or "Execute" methods for opening data files or attachments in helper applications (such as 'evince' for PDFs), then try this alternative method:

Change the files 'firefox32' and 'thunderbird32' to read

#!/bin/sh

export GTK_PATH=/usr/lib32/gtk-2.0

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libpangohack.so.0

linux32 /usr/local/<firefox/thunderbird>32/<firefox/thunderbird> $@

• Note that this method is untested AFAIK - please post any potential issues with it. Many thanks to 'lychee' from the forums.

DrBob: just 2 comments

• sound is an issue under KDE (Kubuntu) as well. The arts daemon (if running) must be suspended in order for Flash to be able to emit sound.
• with the above procedure, the fonts used by firefox32 don't match those in the ubuntu-packaged version. I don't know how to fix this (those that appear in firefox32 are oversized for me, YMMV). NB. I'm talking about the fonts used in the GUI, not those used in rendering webpages (but the latter

  don't quite match either).

Discuss this page at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=626612

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