Ubuntu – Moonlight extension not working with new Firefox versions

firefoxfirefox-extensionsmoonlight

The web browser I use is Firefox (currently in version 8 in Oneiric).
According the Compatibility Check information the Moonlight extension is not compatible with FF8. Anyway, I enabled this extension using the AddOn Compatibility Reporter. And, actually, I cannot watch Silverlight streams in an acceptable way: the video gets stuck, the HD keeps buffering (I guess), so I have to close the window.

Does anybody know if there is a way to fix this or a suitable alternative?
I'm looking for something which is fully supported and mantained.

Best Answer

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To those that wish to install Moonlight on any Firefox version greater than v4 and like me could not get the Official Firefox Compatibility checker to allow installation...then you can do the following:

Download the plugin according to your architecture - 32bit or 64bit
Save the .xpi file into an empty folder.
Change the file extension to zip if necessary
Right-click the .xpi file and choose Extract
In the extracted files, open the file install.rdf into your favourite text editor

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find the area in the file shown - change the maxVersion from *4.0.** to *99.0.** and save (N.B. picture shows 9 - this value needs to higher than your Firefox version)
Delete the folder META-INF
Highlight all the files - Right click and choose Compress - save the compressed file in Zip format
Rename the file to have a .xpi extension rather than a .zip file extension
In firefox you can use the Firefox Addon wrench symbol to install the modified addon - you will be warned about its authenticity which you can ignore. This warning appears because you deleted the authenticity checks folder META-INF previously.

Finally - when Firefox version changes, Firefox will automatically disable the add-on. Use the official Compatibility Reporter to re-enable this modified add-on

A few possible reasons why you have playback issues:

The stream you are using doesnt have smooth streaming capability
the bitrate is too high for you broadband
you are using an underpowered CPU or are RAM starved
you graphics card is underpowered
You are using open-source drivers which (depending on the graphics card) sometimes can be much slower in terms of frame-rate than their proprietary cousins (ATI/NVIDIA).
Compiz issues - sometimes switching to Gnome-Classic (no effects) works better for me.

If you have trouble with a "play" button on-screen during playback and/or "autoplay" in general; goto about:config and set "media.autoplay.enabled" to "false".

Final note - from wikipedia, moonlight development has stopped. The developers have been laid off from Novell and the company that has taken over has stopped (for some unknown reason) the nightly builds. Looks like this technology is in dire straights :(

Using Pipelight

My answer is credits Webupd8: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/08/pipelight-use-silverlight-in-your-linux.html

You can use Pipelight to provide you with Silverlight support.

To install it:#

Make sure to close your browser first, if not you will need to run an extra command.

From the terminal:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mqchael/pipelight
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pipelight

From the GUI:

Add the repositories to your software sources:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mqchael/pipelight

After refreshing your sources, install pipelight If this icon doesn't work simply search for it in the Software Center.

If you kept the browser open, run:

rm -rf ~/.wine-pipelight/

Next step, make sites that block Linux work:

Use one of these two addons (F:

Or this one (Chrome):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-c/djflhoibgkdhkhhcedjiklpkjnoahfmg

If you get slow playback, see:

Alternative solutions:

Using a Windows browser on top of Wine.

You can probably use Silverlight 5 on top of a Windows Browser using Wine. I have not tested this option but it is pretty reasonable and straight forward.

Install wine
Download and install your browser.
Download and install Silverlight for Windows as you normally would do on Windows.
Live long and prosper.

Using Windows in a Virtual Machine.

If you don't want to give up Linux, but can't get anything else to work, this is the best bet. You need a valid copy of Windows however as I won't give steps for pirating.

Install virtualbox
VMWare Player is an option as well, as well as Qemu, etc; but I highly recommend Virtual Box.
Download and install the Virtual Box extensions (optional).
Using a valid Copy of Windows, create a new Virtual Machine in Virtual Box.
Install your browser of choice (if necessary) or use Internet Explorer.
Install Silverlight.
Enjoy your coffee or beverage of choice (absolutely necessary step!). Skipping this step will result in the process not being as rewarding as intended.