Macromedia is proud to release the Macromedia Flash Player 5 Netscape plug-in for
the Linux operating system.

Supported Distributions
-----------------------

The Macromedia Flash Player plug-in requires an Intel x86-based Linux
distribution with ELF binary support. The distribution must
support the GNU C library (glibc 2.0 or greater). Distributions
that meet these requirements include:

- RedHat 5.x, 6.x, 7.0

The plugin should work for more recent distributions as well.

MkLinux for Power Macintosh is not currently supported.

Supported Browsers
------------------

Netscape Navigator 4.0 or greater is required. The glibc version of
Netscape Navigator must be used.

Installation
------------

The following section assumes that you have unpacked the archive
flash_linux.tar.gz into the top level of your user directory. Your
user directory is referred to as $HOME.

The Macromedia Flash Player can be installed in two ways:
- Install the Flash Player system-wide, making it available
to all users of the computer.
or
- Install the Macromedia Flash Player in a user account, making it
available only to that user.

Installing the Macromedia Flash Player System-Wide:

You will need root access to the computer to install the Macromedia Flash Player
system-wide.

1. Copy the Macromedia Flash Player (libflashplayer.so) into the Netscape
plug-in directory.

cp $HOME/flash_linux/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/netscape/plugins

2. Copy the Macromedia Flash Player Java class file (ShockwaveFlash.class)
into the Netscape plug-in directory.

cp $HOME/flash_linux/ShockwaveFlash.class /usr/lib/netscape/plugins

3. Start Netscape.

netscape &

4. Verify the installation by typing about:plugins in the location bar.
You should see the Flash Player listed as "Shockwave Flash 5.0r47"

5. To test the Macromedia Flash Player go to:

http://www.flash.com/

(NOTE: If the Web site www.flash.com does not automatically detect that
you have the Flash Player installed, click on the link
"If you know you have Flash, click here")

Installing the Macromedia Flash Player in a User Account:

1. If you have not already used Netscape from the user account,
launch Netscape and close it. This will create a Netscape
preferences directory (.netscape) in your home directory.
The preferences directory will be named:

$HOME/.netscape

2. Create a plugins directory in the Netscape preferences
directory.

mkdir $HOME/.netscape/plugins

If the mkdir command reports the error "cannot make directory:
File exists", do not be alarmed. This means only that the
directory was already present and did not need to be created.

3. Copy the Macromedia Flash Player (libflashplayer.so) into the Netscape
plug-in directory.

cp $HOME/flash_linux/libflashplayer.so $HOME/.netscape/plugins

4. Copy the Macromedia Flash Player Java class file (ShockwaveFlash.class)
into the Netscape plug-in directory.

cp $HOME/flash_linux/ShockwaveFlash.class $HOME/.netscape/plugins

5. Start Netscape.

netscape &

6. Verify the installation by typing about:plugins in the location bar.
You should see the Macromedia Flash Player listed as "Shockwave Flash 5.0r47"

7. To test the Macromedia Flash Player go to:

http://www.flash.com/

(NOTE: If the Web site www.flash.com does not automatically detect that
you have the Flash Player installed, click on the link
"If you know you have Flash, click here")

Troubleshooting
---------------

Q: When I try to visit a Web site that contains Flash content, I get the
error message "Unknown type application/octet-stream".

A: The Web site you are attempting to view needs to properly configure
their Web server with the MIME types for Flash content. Specifically,
they must add the MIME types:
.spl application/futuresplash
.swf application/x-shockwave-flash
You might want to let the Webmaster of the site know of the problem.

Q: My Linux system is RedHat 6.0. When I browse to a Web page containing
Flash content, the browser reports "Starting Java" and then crashes.

A: This is a Java-related bug in the RedHat 6.0 distribution. Red Hat
has documented the problem and provides a fix on their Product Support
FAQ Web page:

http://www.redhat.com/support?faq

Optimal X Server Configuration
------------------------------

Flash Player should work with any X server configuration. However,
optimal performance is achieved at the following color depths and
color mask settings:

Depth: 8
Visual: PseudoColor

Depth: 15
Bits Per Pixel: 16
Visual: TrueColor
Red Mask: 0x00007C00
Green Mask: 0x000003E0
Blue Mask: 0x0000001F

Depth: 16
Bits Per Pixel: 16
Visual: TrueColor
Red Mask: 0x0000F800
Green Mask: 0x000007E0
Blue Mask: 0x0000001F

Depth: 24
Bits Per Pixel: 24
Visual: TrueColor
Red Mask: 0x00FF0000
Green Mask: 0x0000FF00
Blue Mask: 0x000000FF

Depth: 32
Bits Per Pixel: 32
Visual: TrueColor
Red Mask: 0x00FF0000
Green Mask: 0x0000FF00
Blue Mask: 0x000000FF

Depth: 32
Bits Per Pixel: 32
Visual: TrueColor
Red Mask: 0x000000FF
Green Mask: 0x0000FF00
Blue Mask: 0x00FF0000

In addition, the X server's image byte order must match the host byte
order in order to achieve optimal performance using one of the above
configurations.

Macromedia Flash Player takes advantage of the the MIT-SHM Shared Memory
Extension. This will boost performance on supported systems.

Known Bugs
----------

Some web sites use JavaScript detection and may default to a
non-Flash page for users who are not on Macintosh or Windows
platforms. Some web sites may have a link you can click to get
to the Flash content.

RealFlash is not supported by RealAudio on the UNIX platform.

A defect was discovered in the sound functionality of the 5.0r45
build of the Flash Player Netscape plug-in for Linux. Occasionally
and randomly, sounds in a Flash movie would fail to play. This
problem affected only configurations where Flash Player played
sounds directly through OSS (Open Sound System).
Configurations using Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD) were not
affected. This new version of the Flash Player fixes the above
defect. Sounds now play properly through both OSS and ESD.
In the old Flash Player version, one workaround to the problem
is to run ESD on your Linux system. ESD is installed by default in
several popular Linux distributions, including RedHat.

Technical Issues and Reporting Bugs
-----------------------------------

The Webplayers Discussion Group provides an open forum to discuss
technical issues regarding Macromedia Players. Also of interest are
the Flash, Flash Site Design, and Generator DiscussionGroups.
Macromedia Technical Support actively monitors these groups, as
well as hosting a community of users there. Descriptions and links
to these discussion groups can be found at:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/forums/

Bug reports may be sent to flashplayerunix@macromedia.com
To allow us to investigate reported bugs, please include the
following information:

1) Platform and version
2) Netscape version
3) Reproducible steps including a URL to the web site where the
problem was encountered.

If we need further information about a bug, you will be contacted. An
automated reply will be sent to assure you that we have received your
bug report. Due to the volume of mail received we are not able to
individually respond to each report.