Tips on moving to Linux?

[CritAnime]

Oh yeah.
I have Chrome and that works and the Chromecast plugin.
I can send youtube or whatever to my Chromecast from my MINT box.
 
I just can't send Netflix, as Netflix doesn't run in Chrome (or any native browser) on Linux.
There is a way to get the Windows version of Firefox to work and I've done that, but that version doesn't support the Chromecast from Netflix.
The Windows version of Chrome does, but I haven't seen anyone that has the Windows version of Chrome running with the Chromecast extension and Netflix.
Most people seem to just run a VM for that, but I'm trying to go without a VM.
 
Well, I just got Netflix running in my Linux native Chrome browser using Pipelight, which is nice..But still no Chromecast option in Netflix. I'm guessing the pipelight extension doesn't talk to the native Chromecast extension. Still, closer.. ;-)
 
 
desiv

I have taken a look at the Ubuntu knowledge base and this came up.
 http://askubuntu.com/questions/324236/how-can-i-use-chromecast
 
Dunno if the second answer helps.

[persia]

Haven't tried this..

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-enable-silverlight-watch-netflix-linux/

[desiv]

Haven't tried this..

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-enable-silverlight-watch-netflix-linux/

Yep, that's what I did to get Netflix working in native Chrome on my Linux MINT box.
That works...   As does Netflix Player, which is basically Windows Firefox in WINE.
So, I have 2 methods of watching Netflix on Linux.

But neither of those support sending Netflix to the Chromecast.
Not a biggie, but something that worked in XP.

Just found another minor issue, but fixed (kind of) it.

My SD card reader (built in) wasn't working..
Turns out, the reader in the DELL is PCI based and supports SD AND XD.
Apparently those drivers don't like each other..
So I had to blacklist the XD driver, and now the SD cards work great.  As I don't have any XD cards, its not a loss to me.

I could modprobe -r the SD driver and modprobe the XD driver if I wanted XD.  That would work, but not quite as simple as Windows.  Still no big deal tho..

So far, so good..

desiv
(Just backed up my Raspberry Pi SD card using DD )   :-)

[CritAnime]

Yep, that's what I did to get Netflix working in native Chrome on my Linux MINT box.
That works...   As does Netflix Player, which is basically Windows Firefox in WINE.
So, I have 2 methods of watching Netflix on Linux.

But neither of those support sending Netflix to the Chromecast.
Not a biggie, but something that worked in XP.

Just found another minor issue, but fixed (kind of) it.

My SD card reader (built in) wasn't working..
Turns out, the reader in the DELL is PCI based and supports SD AND XD.
Apparently those drivers don't like each other..
So I had to blacklist the XD driver, and now the SD cards work great.  As I don't have any XD cards, its not a loss to me.

I could modprobe -r the SD driver and modprobe the XD driver if I wanted XD.  That would work, but not quite as simple as Windows.  Still no big deal tho..

So far, so good..

desiv
(Just backed up my Raspberry Pi SD card using DD )   :-)

Out of curiosity did you try to install the desktop client for Netflix?

run these in terminal.

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop

I don't know if this might help with teh Chromecast thing.

[desiv]

Yep,
I did that.

Netflix works.

It's just chromecast from Netflix that doesn't.
And chromecast from Chrome browser works, but not with Netflix.

desiv

[CritAnime]

Yep,
I did that.
 
Netflix works.
 
It's just chromecast from Netflix that doesn't.
And chromecast from Chrome browser works, but not with Netflix.
 
desiv

Fair enough. I didn't know if by installing this bit of software that it would help with the streaming.
 
This was going to be my next trick to try.

Code: [Select]

iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 32768:61000 -j ACCEPT

See if opening some ports would help.

[persia]

Did you try the Google Cast (not Chromecast) extension in Chrome?

[Ral-Clan]

Have you installed Chrome? If you go to the Chrome download page it should automatically give you the option to download the 32 or 64 bit version for debian systems. Click download and it should download the .deb file. Simply open it and the package manager will install it.

Can I ask you about .deb files?  I understand they are some sort of archive file containing installation files.

When I've seen the option to download .deb files on a website, it gives me all sorts of "flavours" for the deb files, with cute names like "saucy", "quanta", "precise", "onieric"...etc. But I don't know which "cute name version" I should choose for Lubuntu.

Here is an example download site:
https://launchpad.net/~mmbossoni-gmail/+archive/emu

The other question I have is: it seems that most software downloaded for Linux is from online repositories, or installed via the command line and live downloaded from the publisher's site as it's installing (live).  One thing I liked about windows is you could download the whole executable installer and keep it in your own archive in case you needed to re-install that particular version in future.  

For instance, I could make up a CD-R disc of old Windows 98 installers for applications I really liked, and then if I was setting up an old Windows 98 machine, I could just install all the old apps directly from the disc (using the old installers).  Some of these installers are hard to find on the web today, as the the software publishers have faded into obscurity.  Also, it meant the computer didn't have to be connected to the web.

Is there any way to do this with Linux?

[desiv]

Did you try the Google Cast (not Chromecast) extension in Chrome?

I'm note sure what that is...
I have the extension from Google to allow me to cast video from my Linux Chrome Browser to my Chromecast.
i use that for sending Youtube videos to my Chromecast from Chrome and that works fine.
But in that same browser instance, if I use the Pipelight installed version of Netflix, I can see the video on the screen, but don't have the option to send to the Chromecast.
From what I can tell, it might be because I have to use a UserAgent Switcher to tell Netflix that I am using something Firefox, because if I leave it at Chrome Netflix checks the agent and says not compatible.
There are some people that think that might be the issue.
Unfortunately, the Switcher I have doesn't let me set one manually (at least not from it's menu) so I can't try a Chrome on Windows User Agent.

I'll poke around with that..

desiv

[desiv]

But I don't know which "cute name version" I should choose for Lubuntu.

Think of the Lubuntu part as the "Windows" part of a description of your OS.
If you need to download something for your Windows machine, just knowing it's Windows might not be enough.  You might need to know which version of Windows.
98, XP, 7, 8, etc...
Those cute names relate to major releases that you can think of as Windows versions.
So, the answer is going to depend on which version of Lubuntu you have.
I'm a command line guy, so I'd probably do a:

cat /etc/lsb-release
or
lsb_release -a

Those should tell you the cute name for your Lubuntu...
Here's a great reference chart too:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCodeNames

One thing I liked about windows is you could download the whole executable installer and keep it in your own archive in case you needed to re-install that particular version in future.

Those should generally be cached in:

/var/cache/apt/archives

..so you can look there after you install it.  Unless something has cleared the apt cache..

desiv

[ElPolloDiabl]

I know what the names mean. They are the names of the major ubuntu releases. From Karmic Chameleon, Natty Narwhal and so on. KLMNO

[persia]

I didn't notice you were in Oz.  You are going to have to hide your ip with a proxy to get Netflix (UK or US) or iPlayer to work.  Basically Netflix US needs to believe you are in the US to wok, similarly Netflix UK or iPlayer need to know you are in the UK...

There are lots and lots of proxy servers out there, just google it.

[AmigaPixel]

I use several versions:

Arch Linux on a laptop
FreeBSD for desktop and servers
IRIX on SGI Octane
And I have a PowerMac G5 I need to rebuild the watercooler in, going to be used for something, yet to decide since it doesn't run at the moment.

 I had a brief time on one of the first line of Windows NT based SGI machines back in 1998. I was working at the Muscular Dystrophy Association, someone in their graphics department decided that they should have one with Maya version 1.0 installed. I worked in a different dept. but I had experience with Lightwave 3D, so they had me try it out. I have say I did not like the Maya interface at that time.

[AmigaPixel]

@Ral-Clan

Which version of Ubuntu did you install? I installed version 12.04 because I was pretty sure it would work well in a dual boot with Win XP. I got the impression that the latest version 13.10 doesn't play well with Windows but I don't know. I am curious about versions 12.10 and 13.04 if they work well beside Win XP. I got Ubuntu back up and running but I am a little hesitant of even doing the recommended updates within Ubuntu! I installed GIMP and Comodo Antivirus.

[Ral-Clan]

AmigaPixel,

I am running Lubuntu 13.10, which has Ubuntu saucy at the core.  It dual boots well with Windows XP.  I ran the automatic updates too.  Gimp is installed, but I haven't installed any antivirus software yet.

Not sure if I should install AVAST for Linux, AVG for Linux or COMODO for Linux.  They all sound good.

[cgutjahr]

Not sure if I should install AVAST for Linux, AVG for Linux or COMODO for Linux.

You don't need to install any of them. They all just scan for Windows malware, they're intended for people running stuff like mail servers.

Just install all available software updates as soon as they're available (it's automated, anyway), and stick with the official software repositories - or at least be very careful what other repositories you add. You won't encounter any malware issues that way.