How to play online streaming videos (Youtube, Metcafe etc.) on Ubuntu 64 bit.

The 64-bit version of Ubuntu has issues playing youtube and other streaming videos from browser. Reason being the browser shipped with the OS is itself a 64-bit browser. The Adobe Flash player 64-bit plugin is still under development and yet not released. A beta version of the same was included in Karmic Koala, which has now been removed for further improvement. .

One workaround would be to install 32-bit Firefox from Mozillla repository and install the 32-bit Adobe fFash player plugin. The other way would be to install the beta version of the 64-bit Adobe Flash player which is now available from other repositories. Following are the steps:
1. Remove all other flash plugin intallations. Use the following shell script

#!/bin/bash
apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-installer
apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-nonfree gnash gnash-common mozilla-plugin-gnash
apt-get remove --purge iceweasel-flashplugin mozilla-flashplugin firefox-flashplugin
apt-get remove --purge swfdec-mozilla libflashsupport nspluginwrapper iceape-flashplugin
apt-get remove --purge xulrunner-flashplugin midbrowser-flashplugin xulrunner-addons-flashplugin
rm -f ~/.mozilla/plugins/*flash*
rm -f /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/*flash*
rm -f /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/*flash*
rm -f /usr/lib/iceape/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so
rm -f /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so
rm -f /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so
rm -f /usr/lib/midbrowser/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so
rm -f /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/*flash*
rm -f /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so
rm -f /usr/lib/xulrunner/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so
rm -f /var/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so

Save the above script in a file say... remove_flash.sh and give it executable permission
$chmod u+x remove_flash.sh

Download

2. Add the following to the Software Sources:

http://ppa.launchpad.net/sevenmachines/flash/ubuntu lucid main

One way to do this is through Applications > Settings > Software Sources.
Once added issue the following command:
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install flashplugin64-installer

Check opening firefox and opening up any youtube video.

Linux - Receiving daemon messages in your Mail Client Inbox

Daemon messages in Linux are mailed to the superuser. The good old command line utility mail always rocks to access these messages. But what if you wanted to receive these messages in your default mail client inbox and access them via GUI? The steps are really easy. I will show you how to do this configuring Thunderbird as my default mail client.

1. Download Mozilla Thunderbird on your Linux box.(The package will have a name like thunderbird.tar.gz)

2. Unzip the package using the following commands:
gunzip thunderbird.tar.gz
tar -xvf thunderbird.tar

3. Move thunderbird directory to the /opt directory.

4. Goto the /opt directory and run the application
cd /opt
./thunderbird

5. Follow the account setup instructions as shown:









(assuming you are root on the machine free.scoobydoo)








6. Click Finish and we are all set to go. The daemon messages from now onwards will be available in your inbox. Thunderbird will retrieve them from the system mbox, whenever it is started.