New on Trisquel: how to see live videos and chatting on sites

For live videos, a lot of people use services that require Flash Player. I'm not sure of the technical details of why, but these streams can't be viewed in the free world, other than a few exceptions where you can trick them into giving you an RTSP link that works. Send a message to people who use these services and ask them to use something like IceCast instead; IceCast works with any video player, even a standard HTML5 video player.

If you want to check for an RTSP link, disable the Gnash plugin (called "Shockwave Flash" in the plugins list). Install the User Agent Switcher extension and identify yourself as some Android browser (try a few different ones), as an iPad, and as an iPhone. My experience is they usually try to direct these users to download special proprietary apps, but sometimes they will give you an RTSP link somewhere, and the UnPlug extension will be able to find that link. Then, if it's a good RTSP link, VLC will be able to show it. I found a few months ago that Livestream would give such an RTSP link, for example; so far it's the only example I'm aware of where it works. But it's something you can try.

For normal video streaming, make sure you disable the Gnash plugin (called "Shockwave Flash" in Abrowser's list of plugins). Many video hosts now offer fallback HTML5 players if Flash is unavailable. If they don't, you may want to ask the video host to correct this problem. Another thing you can try is Lightspark, which is a project to replace more recent Flash versions than Gnash; I find that it rarely works, but in many cases it will at least make it possible for the Flash Video Downloader extension to download the video.

Note that none of these methods will work if the video host uses digital restriction mechanisms.[1] This includes Netflix, Hulu, and probably some others I'm not aware of.

[1] http://www.defectivebydesign.org

You can use UnPlug abrowser addon to fetch an xml file. From there you can use a file path to download a flv file and play it with vlc.

Example:
Go to page http://www.santuario-fatima.pt/portal/index.php?id=63931 .
Use UnPlug to get this playlist http://www.santuario-fatima.pt/portal/playlist.php?video=63931 .
You can see what the video location is now. Download it from
http://www.santuario-fatima.pt/videos/FATIMA%20ILGP.flv .

В 18:45 +0100 на 09.03.2014 (нд), sonhodafloresta[@nospam] написа:

> I was a windows user and after discovered some free software like
> libreoffice,Sumatra PDF, etc. i decided to find more about "free software"

Welcome!

Prepare yourself and get used to the thought that some things might not
work. It is not a problem of free software as technology in geenral, but
in the minds of people who see the world in other shapes and colors and
think that technology, media and sometimes knowledge should be
restricted, so they can protect their (financial) interest. There is
nothing wrong in protecting your (financial) interest, but there is no
valid excuse when doing it at the expense of others.

> until i found linux and the several distributions of linux including
> Trisquel.

Have in mind that the freedom aspect of free software comes from a
system called GNU [1] and the free software movement. Linux is just a
kernel (software that manages the hardware directly) and the proper name
we use is GNU/Linux [2] to give credit to both projects. The Linux camp
usually talks about open source [3] and their understanding of software
freedom (if any) is different than the one that the free software
community have [4] in mind.

> But I am having great difficuties to see online movies and seeing online and
> live stream of Fatima (yes i like to pray...).

Be prepared to have problems with anything that requires Flash. There
are work-arounds for some problems, but not for all and not always.

I don't have Gnash (free software Flash player that comes with Trisquel)
and I see HTML5 video player, but it does not load the clip for the page
you provided. It might work elsewhere. Try disabling Gnash (Tools/Add
ons/Plugins => Shockwave Flash in the browser) and check some other
pages on the website.

> I downloaded [...] Linterna Mágica 1.22,

File a bug report [4] for Linterna Mágica. I can't promise (I'm the
developer) anything, but when I have the spare time I'll see if anything
can be done.

[1] https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu.en.html
[2] https://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.en.html
[3] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html
[4] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
[5] https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?func=additem&group=linterna-magica

Thanks onpon4, BugRep and Ivaylo for the fast answer! And such a honor the developer of linterna mágica, talked in first hand!
Thanks again all.
Because of Ivaylo and his reccomendation's links i understand now a bit more the history and philosophy of Gnu-linux.
And by the way, it is possible to change my nickname "(...)linux" to gnu-linux? Because on "my account" i cannot see where to change a proper nickname change to "gnu-linux".
Best regards.

Commercial sites like Flash because it can run on any browser as a plugin regardless of vendor or whether it has a certain codec. Plus, Flash is easier to serve protected content because a user cannot directly download the video file like with the video tag.

Of course mobile devices don't support Flash, but its not a big as Android, iPhone/iPad, and Windows Phone support H264 as a system wide codec.

Solutions: First disable or remove Gnash in the Abrowser or Midori.

FilmesOnlineGratis[0]: you can right-click on the "play" button and "copy link location", after paste the URL in the Totem (Video Player) with Ctrl+L, VLC (Ctrl+N), MPlayer, etc.
Dramago works perfectly with UnPlug[1] in Abrowser with MP4 format(I saw some episodes). You can try Flash Video Downloader[2] also.
Chessbase uses some Vimeo videos (MP4 format) and I saw with Gnash disabled.

Chat Portugal uses Flash. You can choose another website, probably this website doesn't works with free software. Flash is proprietary:

[0] http://www.filmesonlinegratis.net/assistir-de-repente-pai-legendado-online.html
[1] https://trisquel.info/en/browser/addons/unplug
[2] https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/flash-video-downloader

Thanks very much Icarolongo! it worked! :D
Your description was very detailed and easier to understand and is a good step by step on "how to do" for newcomers like me.
Like BugRep said about Unplug i did it for normal videos.
But on another hand i am still trying to understand the notion about Gnash:

"If you want to check for an RTSP link, disable the Gnash plugin (called "Shockwave Flash" in the plugins list). Install the User Agent Switcher extension and identify yourself as some Android browser (try a few different ones), as an iPad, and as an iPhone." (onpon4)

"I don't have Gnash (free software Flash player that comes with Trisquel)
and I see HTML5 video player (...)Try disabling Gnash (Tools/Add
ons/Plugins => Shockwave Flash in the browser)" (Ivaylo)

So far all say basically the same: "disable Gnash". Maybe my question is stupid but... why Trisquel come by default with Gnash?

I saw rigth now the post "Live event streaming" by funyotros and he says: "It worked!(...) Just for the record I used UAControl and User-Agent JS Fixer extensions. No need of UnPlug. Just click on the video and choose VLC from the list." I downloaded UAControl and User-Agent JS via add-ons>get extras and i tried for Fatima's site just to try and learning. Of course it didnt result as i was expecting because of flash. But i wonder why funyotros could see on Keykjavick site if there is a Adobe Flash Technology and on Fatima's site dont work. There is different adobe flash technologies?

Thanks to all who answered to my questions and next step is creating a proper nickname like ssdclickofdeath said. I am starting to understand why t3g said about comercial sites that uses flash: " (...) it can run on any browser as a plugin regardless of vendor (...)is easier to serve protected content because a user cannot directly download the video file(...)".
Thanks again.

Here is the link for those interested :
http://213.13.26.11:1935/live/santuario.stream/playlist.m3u8

I had to use WireShark because of the nature of the video (Flash Streaming). For a normal "Sapo Video" you just have to add "/mov/1" into the end of the link, for example :

http://videos.sapo.pt/vLCRbyScbM5NzdclHruR

Is turned into

http://videos.sapo.pt/vLCRbyScbM5NzdclHruR/mov/1

Most of their videos are actually running using HTML5 but for those who don't this "workaround" will work like a charm :D

Thanks onpon4
On livestream I can get the rtsp link if I use user agent switcher add-on to be an android with opera.
I also had to go to advanced settings in VLC, click inputs/codecs, scroll to the bottom and changed the cache setting to 500.
Works brilliantly
Cheers

There is also an experimental extension developed by Mozilla called Shumway [1] that you can try. I don't know how it relates to Gnash or Lightspark but it's worth giving it a try.

[1] http://mozilla.github.io/shumway/