Help with Linux and youtube

[cuffs054]

I'm running Linux on my notebook and never had a problem until Youtube started the "Your browser is old and will die soon".
I followed direction to upgrade and I can't get any UT video to open. I get just black play screen and usually the audio.
Every thing else continues to work correctly. Can anyone suggest a fix?

 

[launderess]

Check Your Version of Flash Player

Did an upgrade of "Flash Player" awhile back and couldn't do anything with Youtube. After days of Internet researching the problem, ended up uninstalling the new version of Flash, and reinstalling the old, problem solved.

Sadly as Youtube is joining the growing number of websites ceasing support for IE6, am going to have to purchase a new computer soon. Yes, am quite a Luddite and still running Windows 98 at home and cannot upgrade to latest versions of any browser.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm on Win2KPro, on my main home computer. Can run Firefox or Opera ok. I guess Win98 won't run Firefox? Too bad...

The good news is that since you've waited to buy a new computer, you'll be skipping over Vista and going to Windows 7, which I understand fixes a lot of issues people had with Vista. Haven't tried W7 myself, though, and can't say I've been following the Windows saga as closely as I used to when I worked in the IT field.

My notebook computer runs Windows Vista, and I haven't had too many issues with it.

Never have been too fond of Windows 95/98. Waaay too buggy and unstable. Windows 2000 was the quantum leap to real 32 bit computing... and now you can get 64 bit computing with Windows 7 (not that you will need it).

Good luck!

(PS - I prefer Firefox even on the Vista system, which can run the latest version of IE)....

 

[lordkenmore]

Older versions of Firefox will run on Windows 98, but those won't be supported by Youtube. Still, one MIGHT still be able use an older browser on Youtube even if it isn't technically supported.

Laundress--instead of replacing the computer, it might be possible to simply upgrade Windows if the computer is new enough. Both Windows 2000 and XP can be found fairly cheaply. Windows 2000 is faster, but the support is starting to dry up, although, for now, web browsers are still available. XP is slower, with that irritating activation scheme, but will be supported a few years yet. My former roommate ran XP on a rock bottom machine and it worked, even if it was a little slow at times.

I, myself, am a fan of trying to keep old hardware going as long as possible. I get really tired of upgrades that appear to offer nothing but an opportunity for Bill Gates to add a few more diamond door knobs to his mansion.

 

[lordkenmore]

K-Meleon is one browser that apparently supports Windows 98. Apparently even Windows 95 & NT4! It's based on Gecko (which powers Firefox.) It probably is not acceptable to many sites that require a specific browser, but it's at least something modern and supported.

I had a chance to play with it. I have mixed feelings. I really like the idea of supporting older versions of Windows. But it's a little quirky, although I think I could get used to it. Certainly, I'd be taking a hard look if I had an older version of Windows in service.

K-Meleon Link:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

 

[lordkenmore]

Back to the original question

I use Linux, although I'm not sure that I can really suggest anything--I'm not great at troubleshooting. I once had similar trouble that I never could fix. A couple of ideas that might or might not be worth considering:

1. Laundress's idea of downgrading the Flash plugin.
2. Assuming you're using Firefox (standard for Linux), get a plugin that allows Youtube videos to be downloaded. Download and watch using a media player. This is a bit of a pain, but it fixed the problem for me once. Bonus--and one reason I went with this fix--the videos played better this way. (I have older hardware, and streaming media can be iffy.)

 

[gizmo]

Hi Cuffs

What distro of Linux do you use? There are so many and they have different levels of help available.

I now use Linux Mint and they have a really good help forum. I had trouble with YouTube when I first started with Linux but now have no problem. Unfortunately I can't remember what I did to fix it. But I do know I got the answer from the Linux Mint help forum.
Chris.

 

[whirlcool]

I put together a nice system for my cousin (Intel I5 3Ghz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Disk, Intel motherboard) with Windows 7 Home Premium.

W7 is actually very buggy. The two most notable bugs are after it receives an update from Microsoft it freezes at the W7 screen on the next boot. Once you turn the machine off and then on again everything works fine. If you don't get an update from Microsoft, no problems.

Windows Media Player Version 12 doesn't always like to play MP3 files. It'll play some sometimes, then other times it won't.

My cousin is patiently waiting for Service Pack 1.

 

[lordkenmore]

My cousin is patiently waiting for Service Pack 1.

There is that rule of thumb with Microsoft: The Software Will Be Buggy Until At Least SP1.

I don't know anything about MP3 in Windows, but that problem could be caused by some copy protection problem. I've heard that a major design goal with Vista and W7 is with DRM and copy protection schemes.