Band Width Chart problem in Ubuntu with Firefox

LesD · May 01, 2008, 19:57:24

In the Bandwidth section of My Account at IDNet there is the Chart of Monthly usage.

When I try to view the Chart with Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 5 in Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (now with Java Se6 installed and working) all I see after a long wait watching Ubuntu's equivalent of an egg timer is an orange box with a black strip horizontally across the middle saying, "Loading ... a long http web address".

It works fine with IE7 in XP Pro so what's up with FF in Linux?

Does anybody know?

Could it be another FF Beta bug that we users that are now beta tester have encountered!

Rik · May 01, 2008, 19:59:12

I'll have to pass on this, Les. I take it your Java is OK?

LesD · May 01, 2008, 20:12:27

Quote from: Rik on May 01, 2008, 19:59:12
I take it your Java is OK?

So do I Rik! It worked OK over at thinkbroadband for a speed test last evening and to the point where Paul goy stuck at the BT Speed Tester site. So as far as I can tell it's OK.

Remember I am a bit of a reluctant Linux rookie but when challenged you have to try these things!

Did you see one of these Linux enthusiasts said I should sell my wife on eBay.
I gave it some thought

but decided against it.

I thought Danni or Jane might help me decide but seemingly not.

Tacitus · May 01, 2008, 20:32:05

Quote from: LesD on May 01, 2008, 19:57:24Could it be another FF Beta bug that we users that are now beta tester have encountered!

Have you tried installing the latest stable version of FF - 2.0.0.14 (I think..)

LesD · May 01, 2008, 20:41:38

Quote from: Tacitus on May 01, 2008, 20:32:05
Have you tried installing the latest stable version of FF - 2.0.0.14 (I think..)

I am running flat out to keep up at the moment Tacitus. The hill up the learning curve is a bit steep at my time of life and I am a bit out of puff right now!

Danni · May 02, 2008, 03:12:23

I should probably point out that unless I hack Colin's account (very easy since I know his login details), I don't have access to IDNet stuff. I guess I'll go hack his account.

Danni · May 02, 2008, 03:37:30

Well if you're talking about the graph it works in Kubuntu Hardy, with Java 6 installed on Firefox 3 Beta 5. I've attached a screenshot to prove it. I don't know if it's a Ubuntu issue or what, but as I don't have the bandwidth to install Gnome on here I cannot tell.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Ted · May 02, 2008, 09:06:26

Hi Les
Did you install the flash player plugin? its required for that chart.
Go to the packet manager, search for "Macromedia Flash plugin" and install it. Restart your browser and it should work

I installed 8.04 yesterday on the laptop so as to on the same page.

See my post in the Ubuntu thread in Computer Discussions.

LesD · May 02, 2008, 14:30:23

Hi Danni,

Thank you for you input.

Quote from: Ted on May 02, 2008, 09:06:26
Did you install the flash player plugin? its required for that chart.

This may sound stupid Ted but I don't know!

What ever I have is what I got when I let the thinkbroadband site install "Java".

I have been to the Manager you mention, searched for Macromedia and the nearest thing to a Flash plugin that I see is called flashblock but from the info. below it doesn't sound to be what I need.

This is proving to be more difficult for a Linux rookie than I would have hoped!

Rik · May 02, 2008, 14:31:51

Have a look here, Les:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/

Ted · May 02, 2008, 15:18:22

Go to System--Administration--Software Sources. Check everything except "proposed" and "backports"and reload.

Go to Applications-- Add/Remove. Make sure you have "all available applications" selected at the top where it says "show"

Search for the plugin again. Install

LesD · May 02, 2008, 20:57:18

Quote from: Ted on May 02, 2008, 15:18:22
Go to System--Administration--Software Sources. Check everything except "proposed" and "backports"and reload.

Go to Applications-- Add/Remove. Make sure you have "all available applications" selected at the top where it says "show"

Search for the plugin again. Install

Hi Ted,

I am glad you are helping me because I could not have thought of the above steps myself.

I followed each step and it appeared to be doing all the right things because I found the plug-in this time and installed it apparently successfully from the messages I received.

Sadly it made no difference:

When I select Chart I am present with a grey box containing a large circle with a large "play" triangle in it.
When I click this triangle there is the long wait I described before and then the same orange box.

Please see the attached screen shots.

[attachment deleted by admin]

LesD · May 04, 2008, 18:06:03

Having been left to paddle my own canoe and getting nowhere, today I gave in and went to the command line interface.

I cannot be done with this sudo command and miffed that I was refused permission to use su with my user "installation" supplied password I took the system down to init 1 and changed what I call the root or administrator password to one of my own that I now know. Back at the desktop after a shutdown -h 0, I used su with my new password created /usr/java put the java bin file I downloaded days ago in it and installed it all in a time honoured UNIX fashion in the terminal window. This was something that in my heart I never wanted to be doing again but there we are. The installation was successful so I went to /usr/lib/firefox-3.0b5/plugins and created the link for /usr/java and feeling pleased with myself tried Firefox again to see if my bandwith chart would display properly but it would not.

This was the link:
ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7-gcc29/libjavaplugin_oji.so
It was cribbed and interpretted from the java website so maybe being a Linux rookie there is something that is not right!

I rebooted the machine, god forbid if it had been the multi-users one I used to play with but alas there was no improvement.

Firefox kept crashing shortly after starting it!

On the Java website I found Info about going to Edit Preference Advanced tab and Enabling Java but I don't get offered this option.

In the end I deleted my link and gave up.

This experience has revived all my worst fears about Linux and has done nothing to encourage me to believe I would give up XP in favour of it. I cannot see what I have done wrong but in the face of what I am told I must be missing something.

A look below illustrates a complexity a run of the mill user should not have to face.
I put my link under plugins in firefox-3.0b5 but look at the other firefox directories that it just might be!

root@Linux-desktop:/usr/lib# ls fire*
firefox:
extensions plugins

firefox-3.0b5:
application.ini
blocklist.xml
browserconfig.properties
chrome
components
defaults
dictionaries
extensions
ffox-3-beta-profile-migration-dialog
firefox
firefox-3.0-restart-required.update-notifier
firefox.cfg
firefox.sh
icons
modules
plugins
run-mozilla.sh
searchplugins

firefox-addons:
extensions plugins searchplugins

So as I said I deleted my link again.
All in all I have indulged in a complete waste of time.
With my link deleted Firefox no longer crashes randomly but I am no nearer finding out why my bandwidth chart won't display so it has to be the big

from me I am afraid to say!

LesD · May 04, 2008, 20:24:06

Another thing I have noticed is that at https://www.idnet.net
I see the greyed out box with the Play triangle in it but when I click this Play button the image behind it is revealed. I have attached pictures of the before and after that I hope are worth 1000 words.

A) Why do I get the grey Play arrow boxes?
B) Why does clicking the one at www.idnet.net show the image when the one hiding my bandwidth chart does not?

I am bemused at the bizarre antics I encounter in this platform!

[attachment deleted by admin]

Ted · May 05, 2008, 16:16:18

I must say Les, i have no idea why you get why you get that big gray box. I'm sure its a flash player problem. If you right click on the picture you should get a box that says, settings and About Adobe flash player 9?
I know it doesn't help but both of those pics work fine for me, both in Ubuntu and Mandriva.
If you go to www.atomfilms.com can you play movies?

I installed Ubuntu on my daughters machine yesterday.
The installer decided half way through that it wasn't going to continue and shut down, leaving me with a dead box. No XP, No Linux.
After rebuilding the Windows MBR i got XP back but unfortunately the installer had wrecked the /home partition which called for a full re-installation.
It worked fine this time and was easy to set up.
It would appear that the w32codecs and the libdvdcss2 packages are not in the Ubuntu-restricted-extras. I had to add the Medibuntu repository to the packet manager using the command line.
Once those 2 packages were in everything worked as it should.
The whole of the above took less than an hour, she is very happy with it and is playing Supertux2 as we speak.
I have mixed feelings with Ubuntu, I'm not that keen on sudo either. Trying to play with the graphics card setting was a bit of a chore but i found displayconfig-gtk which you run with sudo and that worked well.
It sees the printer ok but doesn't seem to like the drivers i installed, i'll have to play with that.
All in all its a bit of a mixed bag.
you've probably had enough of Linux for a while but consider trying a more conventional Distribution when your blood pressure reaches normal

JB · May 07, 2008, 07:30:30

Quote from: LesD on May 04, 2008, 18:06:03
I cannot be done with this sudo command and miffed that I was refused permission to use su with my user "installation" supplied password

Hello Les & all,

It is possible to enable the root account on Ubuntu very easily. Then you can either log in as root or su to root from another user. This will do it for you:-

Type - sudo passwd root

Then allocate root a password if it's own.

That's it. Either su to root or log in as root.

Don't want to get bogged down in discussions about how wise this is or otherwise, just thought you would like the info.

Cheers,

JB.

LesD · May 07, 2008, 21:08:02

Quote from: 6jb on May 07, 2008, 07:30:30

Type - sudo passwd root

Then allocate root a password if it's own.

That's it. Either su to root or log in as root.

Hi 6jb,

Thanks for this information. It is certainly simpler way than the one I took to take control of the Root password.

Am lost heart on Sunday and haven't booted up my Linux box since but I usually get over set backs and will no doubt give it another chance when the mood takes me.

Perhap a re-install will sort out my"Java" issues.

Dangerjunkie · May 08, 2008, 08:13:53

Hi Les,

I don't think a reinstall will help.

I think Hardy comes with a dodgy Java plugin. Quite why they did this I'm not sure but I had issues on a few sites. I removed mine and replaced it with the "proper" one.

If you type about:plugins in the address bar on Firefox what does it list as the plugin handling all the Java "bean" things?

Cheers,
Paul.

LesD · May 08, 2008, 20:49:27

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the advice about a reinstall. I will hold off for the time being, well to be honest I am holding off completely at the moment. After Sundays UNIX command line antics and still not fixing it I have lost heart.

In fact this evening I have packed my Linux box back off up the stairs. I have parked it by a network access point so I may give it another go on a wet day. I have a couple of bought and paid for Windows XP Pro licenses and right now this is where I feel comfortable so its everyone to his or her own preferences and having dabbled I know what mine are.

Maybe when the bugs are out of Ubuntu Hardy I will like because I could see that it has the makings but with declared Beta releases in it I think it was rushed out to meet the April deadline before it was ready, which is a pity. For new users rather than the dyed in the wool committed users this is off putting.

I also got bogged down with what should be a relatively simple thing and that was setting up the screen resolution. I was getting there with EnvyNG but it was such a knife and fork job the way I was doing it I was hoping that with a little knowledge that I was without that there would be a more straightforward way. I expect there is.