Linux on Acer Netbook. How do I update Firefox?

esuhl

Gizmos_dad wrote: »

today I wanted to watch some youtube clips which came on OK. But no sound. I get sound ok when playing music that's already on the netbook but no sound from Youtube clips.

Not sure if this is the issue, but my Linux installation uses ALSA to communicate directly with the sound card. So if I play an audio file with (say) VLC, VLC has exclusive access to the sound card and no other applications will be able to output sound until VLC releases the audio connection.

If you close all other audio applications (it might be easier to reboot to be sure that all other applications are closed), does the audio in Firefox then work?

If it does, you might be interested in a package called PulseAudio, which sets up a sound server on your PC. Instead of letting audio applications get exclusive access to the sound card directly, the applications communicate with PulseAudio (which can accept multiple inputs). PulseAudio then mixes the sounds from various sources and forwards the resulting audio to the soundcard.

Hope that helps...

Gizmos_dad

Thanks esuh, but I'm none the wiser. Tried following the instructions but no good. Still looking for simple instructions on how to. I am trying to learn about this system and how it works/NOT has baffled me.

GD:mad::eek::o

esuhl

Gizmos_dad wrote: »

Thanks esuh, but I'm none the wiser. Tried following the instructions but no good. Still looking for simple instructions on how to. I am trying to learn about this system and how it works/NOT has baffled me.

GD:mad::eek::o

Bah! Don't worry - Linux baffles me too a lot of the time! I too bought a netbook (Asus EEE 901) but the version of Linux it came with was really buggy and badly supported. It might be worth replacing it with a different distro. I installed Arch Linux and it's been great. Might be worth a look. Personally I can't stand Ubuntu, but since it is so ridiculously popular you might want to have a look at that too (there's a version designed specifically for netbooks too - can't remember what that's called off the top of my head).

When you say you "followed the instructions" do you mean that you rebooted and Firefox still won't play audio (in which case, if the sound is turned up, then I've no idea what else to try - sorry ) or do you mean that you did get sound from Firefox and then tried to install PulseAudio so that you can hear sound from multiple applications simultaneously?

If the latter, you probably need to install PulseAudio via whatever package manager is built-in to the distribution of Linux that you're using. You might also need to check the wiki or help pages of your Linux distribution to see if any special configuration is needed.

If it's any consolation I had a few problems getting PulseAudio to work and just gave up in the end as I don't really need it!

debitcardmayhem

Hi if you are interested in trying Ubuntu (I have it dual booted on my Samsung N140) you can get the Netbook Remix Edition from here
http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook. You can try it from a USB stick first to see if you like it hope that helps.

Linbox

Second that trying another distro on a USB. Check out easypeasy or Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition
USB Loader pendrivelinux or unetbootin and of course a min of 1Gig Flash Drive.

HTH

Gizmos_dad

Thanx Guys, will give it a try at the w/e.

GD

d123

i would also recommend ubuntu 10.10, I downloaded the netbook version onto my netbook and then use the option at log on to rather load the desktop version.

It is really polished, runs pretty much like Windows and doesn't need all the nerdy geekness of most linux versions to use/change settings.

debitcardmayhem

d123 wrote: »

i would also recommend ubuntu 10.10, I downloaded the netbook version onto my netbook and then use the option at log on to rather load the desktop version.

It is really polished, runs pretty much like Windows and doesn't need all the nerdy geekness of most linux versions to use/change settings.

Hoy who you calling that

ian2211

I like Sabayon. It came with just about everything you need right out of the box on a standard install, haven't used Linux since I got the MAC though, so I don't know if it still does or not. I think it is a fantastic looking distro.

Sabayon Linux

Also it is worth noting that you can copy and paste into a terminal, so all those commands you see dont have to be typed in manually, just copy and paste them right into the terminal.

d123

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Hoy who you calling that

Well now


Couldn't possibly comment.