Installing Flash Player 7 on Linux

Installed Macromedia Flash Player 7 for Linux all by myself. Yup, it’s true — I installed a plug-in for Mozilla, for Firefox. With no help, no coaching, no nuthin’. This is a major Linux moment for me and my SuSE.

PLEASE NOTE: this page will not instruct you — it is a celebratory page and a blog entry, not a wiki entry. Stop here if you’re looking for how-to’s.

This time, I was motivated. This time, I couldn’t wait for Rob to get home and do it for me. With Discovery set to take off in less than 20 minutes, I knew I had to get the Flash Player installed pronto.

Here’s my after-the-install observation: Instructions for Linux downloads/installs are not getting any easier — I’m getting smarter. “Command line” will kick my ass every time. I understand its function… know how to switch to “su” and all that rigamarole (a rigamarole is slightly larger than an eggroll and has no spring vegetables and no soy sauce) but when the instructions called for command line installation — I hiccuped. Managed to download, extract files, go to the directory just fine, then when told to type install commands, I thought I needed to open Konsole, log in as “su”, then type in the command. Nope… After a couple tries, I realized I should probably peruse the KDE window I’d opened and see if I could access the command line from within the window. Ahhhh, genius. (While this may have been the wrong way to do it — it worked so I don’t care about other means.) I clicked on “Tools” then “Run Command” and NOPE, not that. Hummfffphhh… What next? Clicked on “Tools” then “Open Terminal” — ahhhhhhh, that looks better. I pasted the run command on the terminal line and *voila* — got the instructions I’d been told about — close the browser, install into Mozilla… etc.

Timidly, I closed Konqueror. Pulled up Firefox, found the NASA site, and BLAMMO — I’m listening to the Intro, watching the flash. NASA RSS link here.

You can teach an old dog new tricks. You can be a non-geekified-grandmother and learn Linux. The best thing about Linux and us folks over 45 — we started out on DOS. Harkening back to our binary heritage, we can comprehend command line, we just have to dig into our prehistoric, monocolored, flickering screen, AT past.

Painful memories of a graduate school loan of over $3,500 so I could purchase an IBM 386 with an astounding 4 MEGS of RAM — YES! FOUR! SMOKIN’! Big old floppies… and my fond memories of the Apple SE. I still have the cute little machine, it’s in my closet, complete with carrying case.

Enough of this… gotta’ watch Discovery. It’s 19:20 to take off…

***
Timeline of NASA in my life:
Feb 1962
John Glenn and Friendship-7’s 3-orbit mission. Watched lift-off in cafeteria of Echols Elementary School. Entire student population, teachers, cafeteria workers, janitor sitting at tables, breathless… we saw the extraordinary event on a black & white TV located on the stage — screen less than 24″. Rabbit-ear antenna with tin foil on it. Honest…

July 2005
NASA sends shuttle into space successfully. Watched lift-off via live feed from NASA using RealPlayer. BenQ flat panel monitor, 19″.

The Internet. RealPlayer. SuSE, Firefox, Mozilla — 2005.

What a world.