Installing Plugins

Plugins are programs that let your browser handle content other than HTML and graphics, such as animations, streaming audio, Java applets, and more. Mozilla's plugins are stored under the /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins directory and installing plugins require root privileges.

We will look at the procedures to install Java, Flash and Real plugins. If you own a Mandrake Linux –– PowerPack Edition™, installation is greatly simplified and all the needed packages are on the CDs.

Note

If you have a MandrakeClub user name and password, you may install newer version of the software mentioned herein after.

JAVA

Install the jre RPM package. See Chapter 21, RpmDrake: Package Management for information on how to install RPM packages.

You can obtain the Java plugin on the Java Plug-in Home Page. Follow the links to J2SE (Java 2, Standard Edition) and download JRE for Linux. Follow the directions in the README file included in the downloaded “tarball” (in this case, a compressed archive of files which ends with the .tar.gz extension) to complete the plugin installation.

Flash

Install the FlashPlayer RPM package (see Chapter 21, RpmDrake: Package Management for more information).

You can retrieve the Flash plugin on the Macromedia web site. Follow the link to Macromedia Flash Player and click on the “Download Now” button to get a tar.gz file for Linux. Extract the tar.gz file to a temporary directory and follow the instructions on the included readme.txt file to complete the plugin installation. Test the plugin by opening the Flash web site URL in the browser.

Real

Install the RealPlayer RPM package (see Chapter 21, RpmDrake: Package Management for more information).

You can get the Real plugin on the Real.com site. At the time of writing, the latest Real player available for GNU/Linux was version 9. Complete the form and select Linux 2.x (libc6 i386) RPM, then click on the Download User Supported Player button and download the rpm file.

Follow the instructions on Real's web page to complete the installation. (refer to Chapter 21, RpmDrake: Package Management for more info).