Animated Flash Controls

[Brock]

Hey, all. I just switched from Gnome Gloria to Fluxbox Helena on an HP zd7000 laptop. It's absolutely amazing how the development teams keep making my old laptop faster and more useful out of the box with every release! Thanks to everyone!

The only problem I'm having has to do with animated flash controls in firefox. It's a strange problem in that it doesn't happen all the time, or even all the time in the same instances, so I'm having a hard time seeing the pattern.

The flash controls seem to be representing all the states (mouse over, etc.) but when I click on them they seem to lose focus rather than execute the on_click. Sometimes holding the click gets them to work, sometimes repeated clicks, and sometimes they just plain don't execute the on_click. Releasing the click replays the mouse over animation.

I've tried using a mouse rather than the touchpad. I've replaced the nonfree package with the adobe flash package. I've tried using different versions of the nvidia driver.

Any ideas?

Fluxbox Helena
Firefox 3.5.8
adobe flash 10.0.45.2

lspci:

Code: Select all

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
00:06.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P Processor to I/O Memory Interface (rev ff)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV36 [GeForce FX Go5700] (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB-710/2/4 Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
02:01.1 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc CB710 Memory Card Reader Controller
02:02.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)

[Kendall]

I don't know how well I can answer this as Flash has never worked well on my laptop (it's a graphics incompatibility thing and there's no way I can fix it), but you may want to try another Flash plugin. Try removing the flash plugin you have and installing swfdec-mozilla and then report back.

[shane]

I have a similar system to yours (almost all Intel) and I also sometimes have problems with Flash. In my case, by elimination, I have narrowed the problem down to Flash itself. I experience the same problems in Firefox, Chromium and Rekonq. Also, I experience the problems in Arch Linux.

My experience is as follows - For example, in Youtube, after playing a number of videos or having a number of Youtube tabs open the player controls do not work and sometimes the videos do not load. The only solution I have found is killing the browser and running it again. Also using the Firefox Addon 'Flashblock' to allow only the Flash content I want to see to load, I can minimize the frequency of this bug. It's an extra click but at least I don't have to reload the browser as often.

Flash version: 10.0.45.2-1
Kernel version: 2.6.32
Distro: Arch Linux

[beauvin]

I have the same problem, sometimes the flash movieplayer controls get blocked, only that i'm not using Fluxbox but KDE 4.4.1. The funny thing is i noticed the same behaviour with Windows XP(on the same machine) just not as often as with linux and not with all sites. Fortunately for me it's not really a big problem, reloading the page works most of the time, so i guess this is really a problem with the flash plugin.

Browser: Firefox3.6
OS: Linux Mint Helena with KDE 4.4.1
Flash Version: 10.0.45.2-1karmic1


lspci:

Code: Select all

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 92)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801IB (ICH9) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801IB (ICH9) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8500 GT] (rev a1)
03:00.0 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB368 IDE controller
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)
05:01.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7130 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev 01)

[shane]

I have the problem with Mint Fluxbox CE and also Arch + KDE

Since we're showing lspcis

Code: Select all

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)
03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
0d:06.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. Cardbus bridge (rev 01)

[Brock]

Try removing the flash plugin you have and installing swfdec-mozilla and then report back.

That...multiplied...the randomness. I'm not sure I know how to explain other than it broke what was working and broke things that weren't even more.

As an example: http://www.casttv.com/shows/sons-of-ana ... id/igj5101

I can play the video from zshare, but no video controls appear. The megavideo links show the splash page, but won't play the video. The wisevid link gives an embed with a "play video at" and a flickering arrow/zoom cursor.

There's probably a lot going wrong here, but the megavideo gives an interesting clue. Prior to this change, the splash screen control didn't register the on_click. Now, it activates, but returns an "invalid code" error right in the embed as if it's not passing the right params to the remote function. Videos on the megavideo site control perfectly but are extremely choppy.

The first time a flash app is loaded, it appears as a grey screen with a "play" button. After that, it loads automatically.

This one's fun: http://deadwhale.com/play.php?game=50

This app doesn't respond at all unless I left click and then right click.

I don't know that any of that is helpful. It wasn't to me.

[Kendall]

Well, I figured it was worth a shot.

[shane]

This one's fun: http://deadwhale.com/play.php?game=50

Try out Frozen Bubble. Look for it in the package manager. No Flash required, native Linux game and it has penguins!

[acithium]

I got the same issue here. Although I can use the keyboard to TAB my way to the control and that will work, but clicking on things in flash are hit and miss. If anyone needs and extra information I'd be more than happy to provide it, but seems like everybody is reporting the same thing.

-D

[Kendall]

seems like everybody is reporting the same thing.

What's highly unusual is this didn't come up at all during testing. In addition, the final has been out for almost a month and I'm just now starting to see reports on this.

[shane]

seems like everybody is reporting the same thing.

What's highly unusual is this didn't come up at all during testing. In addition, the final has been out for almost a month and I'm just now starting to see reports on this.

My guess is that the early adopters already knew that Flash has known problems... and that there is nothing we can do about it. Well at least that is the case with me.

[Mr_Shifty]

*BUMP*

Okay, this is really starting to bug me.

I'm running a 5 year old Toshiba Satellite A75-s2112 laptop. I have experienced this exact same Flash controls issue on

• Ubuntu 9.10
• Linux Mint 8 Main Edition
• Linux Mint 8 Fluxbox CE

However, I did NOT experience this issue on Linux Mint 8 LXDE CE RC1. Flash controls worked 100% fine on that.

Yesterday, since I've finished my evaluation of Mint 8 LXDE, I wiped my laptop and went back to LInux Mint 8 Fluxbox CE and the same issue is back again.

In all cases where I encountered issues, I verified that I was indeed running the most up-to-date installation of Flash. Yesterday I even completely uninstalled and eliminated all traces of Flash and reinstalled the Flash plugin from scratch to no avail.

The only recent release of Mint that I've tried that doesn't have this problem seems to be the LXDE CE.

What's going on here? I'm pretty puzzled by this, and it's getting pretty annoying. I do a lot on WordPress, and this bug makes the blog stats controls almost unusable... I have to rapidly click about a dozen times on any of the (Flash based) controls on it in order to get it to respond.

The fact that this happens in Ubuntu 9.10, Linux Mint 8 Main Edition and Linux Mint 8 Fluxbox CE makes me think this is some sort of upstream issue... LXDE CE is based on Xubuntu, isn't it?

Weirdness.

[rich_roast]

Just to confirm this bug on my install of Fluxbox CE on an Advent 7039 laptop. Interestingly I have noticed that occasionally when doing the "rapid clicking" routine that the content of the address bar on firefox gets selected and deselected as though I were double clicking on it over and over again rather than the Flash element, suggesting the cause of the problem might be related to the position of the cursor or the active element (this is the best I can try to explain what I'm getting at without really understanding how the underlying code of Flash / Firefox / X interact) being confused.

[Kendall]

What's going on here? I'm pretty puzzled by this, and it's getting pretty annoying. I do a lot on WordPress, and this bug makes the blog stats controls almost unusable... I have to rapidly click about a dozen times on any of the (Flash based) controls on it in order to get it to respond.

It's very difficult for me to test Flash as it doesn't always play nice with my hardware (YouTube controls and speedtest.net have never worked), though I've had no issues with WordPress. I'll do another clean install on my test box this evening and see if I can dig anything up.

The fact that this happens in Ubuntu 9.10, Linux Mint 8 Main Edition and Linux Mint 8 Fluxbox CE makes me think this is some sort of upstream issue... LXDE CE is based on Xubuntu, isn't it?

The Fluxbox and LXDE editions were both assembled using stripped down builds of the Main edition as cores, though the Fluxbox core was much more stripped down (~450 MB) than the LXDE core (~580 MB). I'm considering assembling Mint 9 Fluxbox from Ubuntu Mini Remix (the one with absolutely nothing, not even X11) as it'll give me complete control over tracking issues as packages are added. The two places where Flash has worked perfectly for me have been Mint LXDE and a minimal KDE build I did using Ubuntu Mini Remix as a core.

[Mr_Shifty]

Oh weird. Well, in that case I gots nothin'.

It's just weird that it works fine for me on Mint LXDE but none of the other Mint 8s.

[Kendall]

You may want to try using Opera for some sites. I've found that certain sites take better to it than other browsers.

[Mr_Shifty]

Heh. Opera is my preferred browser. I get the same in Opera, Firefox, and Swiftfox.

What a strange issue. I'd blame Flash, but it's the same version as I was using on LXDE, and that worked fine.

[Locrian]

i have the same problems and it all started after adobe released their new flash (supports up to 1080p video and such) so basically adobe screwed us over. somebody should go princess at them so they fix it! *stares at kendall*

[Kendall]

i have the same problems and it all started after adobe released their new flash (supports up to 1080p video and such) so basically adobe screwed us over. somebody should go princess at them so they fix it! *stares at kendall*

What's scary/interesting is that I work for another company called Astral Nine Media and we're an official Adobe Flash distributor. Odd...maybe...

[Mr_Shifty]

i have the same problems and it all started after adobe released their new flash (supports up to 1080p video and such) so basically adobe screwed us over. somebody should go princess at them so they fix it! *stares at kendall*

What's scary/interesting is that I work for another company called Astral Nine Media and we're an official Adobe Flash distributor. Odd...maybe...

OMG so it IS your fault!!!!!!!!