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Carlito Austin
OMG I think I found the culprit and solution thanks to a linux mint post. It seems that what was causing my stuttering was a gnome extension I had activated called simple monitor (it would show cpu & ram usage in the gnome status area). I turned it off and the stuttering seems to be gone!
I recently installed Fedora 14 on my home PC so I have a dual boot system running windows and linux. I probably would primarily use Linux on that machine as its older and Linux manages its resources MUCH better than Windows does, BUT I'm a bit of a Netflix junky and from what I've read there isn't currently a solution that allows for Netflix to work on Linux. Evidently Moonlight (which as I understand is supposed to be like silverlight) is missing a key piece of functionality. So is there really no solution?
With Microsoft abandoning Silverlight, Netflix has made strong efforts to switch their video delivery software to HTML5. An HTML5 video player does not need a browser plugin like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight to work. However, in order to stream videos, Netflix requires their delivered content to remain secure. This is achieved in HTML5 via a browser plugin known as Network Security Service. Finally both of these components are mature enough.
The answers to your questions are here: -on-ubuntu-is-here.htmlBy adding a ppa you can get a special blend of wine and firefox that will run the netflix videoplayer (silverlight). It's 3 commands and although I personally have had some trouble on the 64-bit kernel it works well on a 32-kernel. If you have further questions or you get it running on a 64-bit kernel let me know.
You can watch netflix inside of a webbrowser simply by changing your user agent. Normally your browser sends a user agent to the server when accessing a website containing your browser version and your operating system. It looks something like this:
You can fake your user agent using a browser extension. When your user agent says that you're on Windows, you can watch Netflix inside of your browser even though you are on a Linux system. I'm not sure why Netflix doesn't want Linux users to watch their content but it works!
This tutorial describes how to get SkyGo working on Ubuntu Linux. Other linux distros may work, as may other video services, such as Netflix, NowTV, though it will be most successful for those that use Silverlight.
Previously, those of us who save money, time, hassle, and headaches with our business and home computing by using Linux distros, like Ubuntu, were unable to get some video services online using our Linux browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, etc).
Linux users attempting to watch Sky Go (UK) online were sent to a (now dead) download link for the Moonlight plugin which would allow playback of Microsoft Silverlight versions up to Silverlight 4.0. This was, therefore, not very helpful!
Now that you have Silverlight 5.1 installed (and you can test it here), you should be able to actually watch Sky Go or Netflix in your Firefox (or Chrome) browser. HOWEVER, those systems will think you are using a non-compatible Linux browser. You need to emulate, spoof, or otherwise con these systems into thinking you are using Firefox on Windows.
Many thanks for this, works a treat although it failed to recognise my device, so had to remove/ add device. Apart from that it is brilliant, now I am trying to sort out my usb tv card to watch tv when not wanting to use sky go!
I can get Lovefilm to get to a point where it will let me stream a film but then it says I have a 6030 error. Its not really important as not used Lovefilm before just that now Amazon are bundling in Prime I can have access if I can get it to work. Initial research suggests I need Silverlight 5.1 for Lovefilm whereas I need 5.0 for Sky. I might just leave it at 5.0
SkyGO (Germany) still recognizes my browser as LINUX even though I installed the user agent override plugin (Firefox).
Videos do not play (unknown error).
Browser identification change worked, though. No clue what it is.
thanks for the article!
i have an issue i hoped you could offer insight on.
i start with very high quality streaming, then 4-8 seconds later the quality drops, and then a further 4-8 seconds later quality drops again. is there a way to maintain high quality?
Let me share two stories with you in that regard. In April, a young dad visited the public library where I work. He appeared interested in using the public computers our library offers. It turns out someone had stolen his family's only computer, a Macbook, and his tax return was due that day. When I learned about his predicament, I asked, "Would you like to borrow a Linux laptop until your family buys another laptop?" He perked up and asked, "Does this library lend laptops?" I replied, "The library doesn't, but I do. You can bring this back to me after you're done with it."
I purposely didn't ask him for his phone number. His trust had been betrayed and it was vital for this nice community member to be now bathed in trust. He asked me, "How do I return the laptop?" My answer: "You walk up to me and hand it to me when you're done using it. Here is my email address, in case you have any questions about it."
Another community resident recently called me frantically, "My Windows desktop computer stopped working. I need to be online and I don't have money to buy a replacement." My answer: "Let me stop by after work and loan you the Linux desktop I have in the trunk of my car. I'll find you a donated Windows desktop, but it's going to take me about a month or so." I was able to find her a nice donated Windows 10 desktop and the Linux loaner suited her needs very well during the interim. I loved her comment to me when she returned the Linux loaner: "I loved exploring Linux and except for the fact that Linux doesn't run Hulu. I'd gladly switch from being a Windows user to being a Linux user."
My reply to her was, "I want you to use the computer that works best for your needs, whether that be a Windows computer, a Linux computer, or something else." I don't want folks to use Linux if that's not the best computer for their needs. While she was borrowing the Linux loaner computer, she sent me several very interesting technical questions about Linux. That Linux loaner computer served its purpose well. It tided her over while allowing her to explore Linux as a possible option for her own needs.
When people are experiencing hardship in their lives, I try to lessen their burden using refurbished Linux desktops and laptops. I say, let them experience Linux as the face of kindness. For some, they can experience this kindness as a simple act of kindness. For others, it may open new doorways of opportunities in their lives. And then they themselves might choose to offer Linux as the face of kindness.
And if you don't own a car, find a Linux buddy to work together on such a project. The dividends from such a project can be emotionally lucrative. And if the world has greater kindness as a result, we all could live with that. Let a wave of kindness wash across the world. Who knows what it will wash away.
I can think of so many people that would have benefited greatly if I would have given them a loaner laptop over the past five years when they really needed one. However, when I think about the type of person these people were.. I cannot think of any that would have had the patience to go the extra step of adapting to Linux even for a brief time.. It's unfortunate :
It does make sense to use FOSS for this kind of effort though. I keep an unlocked smartphone available to lend someone when they lose theirs. It seems more vital these days than a full fledged computer and immediate replacement saved a lot trouble for friends.
Unfortunately I let a friend borrow it for an indeterminate amount of time and my mother's phone caught me unprepared with a factory defect. It's nice to be nice, but sometimes you're the one that needs it (surprisingly, I thought of a temporary workaround while writing this post so we'll see about that).
Anyway, it's more a FOSS thing than a Linux specific thing, no? I prefer FreeBSD personally, for irrelevant reasons, but it works much the same as a desktop, if you configure it beforehand, as suggested, or just use PC BSD. Also, I would keep an android as my next spare phone when I upgraded anyway, but now It's intentional and it will probably sport a Free version of the OS instead of the manufacturer ROM, replacing the borrowed (given away) iPhone 4.
That's a wonderful story Phil. Recently I was able to help a lady who has stage four brain cancer and had lost her Windows XP computer to age and malware. I took a spare laptop and installed Linux on it and trained her to use it for her personal needs. She was very grateful too. I just love the humanitarian spirit that abound in open source communities and your work is an exemplar.
Hulu was an issue on linux many months ago, just thought it might be worth mentioning that Linux does now run Hulu (and Netflix) under the latest version of chrome without having to anything special like wine or a vm. Was awhile ago, so I don't recall if there was anything else special I had to do, but it was pretty minor like a plugin if anything, and should be easy find. If you can't get it working and can't find it quickly let me know and I'll try to reproduce... I am running under fedora, and ubunutu should also go easy among most other distros.
Good work and a good idea. But I don't understand the lady's remark about Hulu not working with Linux. I recently sigfned up for the Hulu trial offer, and it worked fine in Linux Mint(KDE) with Chrome browser. I dropped Hulu after the trial because there is no way to control the quality when streaming to my Roku. I mostly watch Netflix on TV via the Roku, and did the same with Hulu, but I did watch on my desktop and laptop occasionally. Unfortunately, I had to stop watching Hulu before the trial was over to avoid exceeding my 350GB/month bandwidth cap.
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