Getting videos to work in Chromium-browser

[Mike7]

Hi, all.

After a long hiatus for medical reasons, I'm back trying to get chromium-browser to run youtube videos in CorePlus. I tried a number of forum members' suggestions last year and now I want to see if adding sound helps. What is keeping me from just installing alsa.tcz from the repo is the lengthy, complicated, and confusing (to me) info in the apps:

                ----------
                Example howto:
                $ sudo alsaconf
                $ speaker-test -c2 -t wav -l1
                ----------
      Install the alsaconf.tcz extension if you need the alsaocnf
      script.
      To initialize alsa without having to use alsaconf, there is a
      script that will do that.
      It can be placed in /opt/bootlocal.sh so it alsa will be setup
      on boot with no user interaction required.  The command to do this is:
      /usr/local/etc/init.d/alsasound start
      If adding this command to bootlocal.sh, you may need
      to precede it with the sleep command for it to be effective.
      If you want your alsa settings to persist across reboots, use the
      command 'sudo alsactl store' after alsa has been set up.  This stores the
      configuration in /usr/local/etc/asound.state.  Place this file in your backup to
      allow your alsa settings to persist across sessions.
      Additionally, if you first run alsaconf, the result of that will be used
      by /usr/local/etc/init.d/alsasound instead of probing for and activating
      all the soundcards found on your system.  Only the card you selected in
      alsaconf will be setup by alsasound upon later starting of alsasound once
      alsaconf is run.  To make this persist across reboots so alsasound does
      not have to be run in later sessions, back up these files/directories:
      opt/alsa
      etc/modprobe.conf
      Then add the command "/usr/local/etc/init.d/alsasound start" in your
      /opt/bootlocal.sh file and your card should load on each boot as previously
      set up by alsaconf.
      ISA PnP support has been added to /usr/local/etc/init.d/alsasound.
      It will probe and insert modules for many known ISA PnP sound cards.
      Also, an option to specify which kernel module for your ISA card is
      there, just enter that/those names into /opt/alsa/.alsadriver, one on
      each line and only that module will be inserted without modprobing
      unnecessary modules while trying to find your card.
                ----------

Query: Is all this necessary? Any of it? I don't understand it and wouldn't know how to do what it says, so I need for someone to tell me how to get Alsa into TCL and make it work (especially with Chromium-browser).

=======================================

Then, I have a number of ancillary queries:

-- I was told that before watching streaming videos I must disable the preinstalled add-on "GNU LibreJS" (and reenable it later). Is that true? If so, how to do it? (I'm not familiar with processes in TCL called "disable" and "reenable".)

-- Should Chromium-browser be updated solely via an app from the TCL repo (not from Google).

-- Ditto re Chromium-browser add-ons. (From Google, or only from the TCL repo?)

-- If I want to try using HTML5 instead of flashplayer to run videos in Chromium-browser (or another browser), where should I get the HTML5 add-on, from the browser's website or from the TCL repo? (In other words, does HTML5 have to be implemented by a special TCL-compatible extension?)

Thanks for help with all this.

Cheers.

Mike7

[Juanito]

The first thing I'd do with alsa is to see if it will work "as-is" - if you have reasonably recent hardware, this is a good chance that it will "just work".

To try this, load only the alsa extension, open a terminal window, run "alsamixer", unmute the sound and see if things work.

It would also be useful to run "aplay -l" and paste the results here to see what sound hardware you have.

I don't use flash or chromium, but you can use html5 with the epiphany browser as per the instructions in the info file.

[volkerp]

Hi Mike7,

welcome back in the forum!

Please forget all your problems regarding watching videos. Try to watch these test videos

http://www.quirksmode.org/html5/tests/video.html

and tell us, what happens. You don't need any browser add-ons or additional extensions. Chromium-browser is ok. Don't use icecat web browser because the version in the TC repository is too old.

Regarding sound follow Juanito's instructions.

Good luck!

Volker

[gordon64]

Mike7

As you may not know, I see you mention

If I want to try using HTML5 instead of flashplayer

Youtube has effectively stopped using flash FLV files for some time.

If your tests suggested by the other members fails, then consider next suggestion.

Of course its handy to setup sound as well.

2) If you can afford the download, I would suggest you look at TCZ=firefox-latest
FF can stream youtube movies out of the box.....and yes I know other web browsers might do it as well.

3) in your browser, most of them allow you to check if mp4/H264 is supported by doing this at the address bar

about:plugins

good luck

[volkerp]

Hi Mike7,

I wrote yesterday:

Chromium-browser is ok.

Today I know it better: It's not. Its too old as well! I'm sorry for this wrong advice.
You won't be able to watch the video with it.

Please follow the suggestion of gordon64 and download firefox-latest.tcz. This script will install for you the latest available Firefox Browser.