[SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

theta · 2016-09-11 17:19:13

My current system is :

[theta@boolean-pc ~]$ uname -a
Linux boolean-pc 4.4.19-1-lts #1 SMP Sat Aug 20 21:58:36 CEST 2016 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I was using flashplugin to chat on an online dating site. Suddenly after a restart it stopped working. The screen now shows a white screen. It should ideally ask the user to permit its use (as seen on a windows environment).

Test results on adobe's website:
Screenshot I

View on the dating site:
Screenshot II

Output of hwinfo for webcam:

  usb device: name = 1-6:1.1
    path = /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-6/1-6:1.1
    modalias = "usb:v04F2pB50Dd1916dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00in01"
    bInterfaceNumber = 1
    bInterfaceClass = 14
    bInterfaceSubClass = 2
    bInterfaceProtocol = 0
    if: 1-6:1.1 @ /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-6
    bDeviceClass = 239
    bDeviceSubClass = 2
    bDeviceProtocol = 1
    idVendor = 0x04f2
    idProduct = 0xb50d
    manufacturer = "Generic"
    product = "HP Truevision HD"
    serial = "200901010001"
    bcdDevice = 1916
    speed = "480"

The webcam is running perfectly on cheese. I believe the issue is the interfacing between firefox plugin and the webcam. It could most likely be the requirement of some multilib based libraries as mentioned in one of the posts I came across. But I have not been able to identify it. Any suggestions are appreciated.
The flashplugin has been flagged out of date among Arch Packages.
Looking for some workarounds!

Last edited by theta (2016-09-26 15:41:45)

ewaller · 2016-09-11 17:57:39

What browser are you using? In general, I have found Chromium to be the best solution to sites that persist in using Flash. Also, although it may be liking pising into the ocean, I would send the site an email chastising their not using HTML 5.

theta · 2016-09-12 07:43:29

ewaller wrote:

What browser are you using? In general, I have found Chromium to be the best solution to sites that persist in using Flash. Also, although it may be liking pising into the ocean, I would send the site an email chastising their not using HTML 5.

I am using firefox. And as you suggested I treid Chromium, it tends to hang quite often but works.
And I really don't want to piss into that ocean you mention about!!!

I am pretty sure it has got to do with finding out some option in firefox. Just can't identify it!

theta · 2016-09-25 12:14:49

Ok this is unexplainable and a little weird. I am including for explanations now and my apologies for not posting earlier.

11 days ago flashplugin got an update as seen in the link:

https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/pack … lashplugin

This was on 14 Sep 2016, after which presumably this problem solved itself and the camera started working. I had not realized this up until 2 days back.

Yesterday after carrying out a full system upgrade, the same problem cropped up. This upgrade, upgraded firefox to 49.0.1-1 just 2 days back. Now with this new version of firefox the camera and mic do not work in the flashplugin. I tried downgrading to firefox-48.0.2-1 which presumably was working well with flashplugin 11.2.202.635-1, but it had no effect after the upgrade.

https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/pack … es/firefox

atomicbeef · 2016-09-25 15:59:12

I don't use webcams, but you could try using pepper-flash in conjunction with freshplayerplugin to get the latest version of Flash (the one Chromium uses) on Firefox.

Last edited by atomicbeef (2016-09-25 15:59:37)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-25 16:18:08

The NPAPI player is now officially supported under GNU/Linux by Adobe:

https://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/201 … linux.html

Try https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/flashplugin-beta/

atomicbeef · 2016-09-25 18:29:38

While the NPAPI player has become officially supported, there's still this bit to be aware of:

Beta News – Flash Player NPAPI for Linux wrote:

Because this change is primarily a security initiative, some features (like GPU 3D acceleration and premium video DRM) will not be fully implemented.
If you require this functionality, we recommend that you use the PPAPI version of Flash Player.

This won't be a problem for webcam use, but if you need any of the PPAPI features and would like to stay on Firefox, the method I posted before works nicely.

theta · 2016-09-26 15:41:01

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

The NPAPI player is now officially supported under GNU/Linux by Adobe:
https://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/201 … linux.html
Try https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/flashplugin-beta/

Thanks, that completely solved my issue with the camera on flash player.

@atomicbeef: Thanks but looks like I won't be needing the PPAPI features .

Arch Linux

#1 2016-09-11 17:19:13

[SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#2 2016-09-11 17:57:39

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#3 2016-09-12 07:43:29

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#4 2016-09-25 12:14:49

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#5 2016-09-25 15:59:12

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#6 2016-09-25 16:18:08

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#7 2016-09-25 18:29:38

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

#8 2016-09-26 15:41:01

Re: [SOLVED] - flashplugin resulting white screen with webcam

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