Topic: Flash control

I'm wondering how we are supposed to customize our widgets via PC now that Adobe is dropping Flash? I uninstalled it on my computers. Is there another way to do this?

Re: Flash control

I just blocked the "update" which would have removed it from the system.  IE11 and Firefox 84.0.2 still work with Flash if you don't fall for the update.

Re: Flash control

Dead from now on, Flash doesn't work for me anymore (even without any updates)

Re: Flash control

This is not without hope... various workarounds are being investigated. Chumby has survived worse, it'll survive this wink

Re: Flash control

Yeah it appears that Adobe set a time bomb and is now redirecting to their "EOL message", which I didn't give permission for.  I suspect there are a few class action lawyers sharpening their knives...

There are some workarounds which run Flash without the player.  I've got one working now and will share it here once I can verify that it is not a proprietary thing.

Re: Flash control

Fun fact:  If you set your computer date back to before January 12, 2021 Flash still runs.  This assumes that you did not let Adobe uninstall it with their last "update".

Re: Flash control

As Doktor Jones mentioned, all is not lost.

I've been able to get the widgets playing and configuration widgets apparently working on the site again without the official Adobe Flash player plugin, using a wasm Flash Player emulator written in Rust, "Ruffle" (ruffle.rs).  While it's a work in progress, and doesn't support *everything* Flash Player can do, it may be enough to restore widget configuration for most widgets.

I am in the process of testing this and will deploy as soon as I have more testing done.

It will require the use of recent versions of modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc), and may require some obscure settings changes in the browsers to enable certain normally disabled features.

Re: Flash control

Thanks for keeping the dream alive!

Re: Flash control

We are going to need some volunteers to help test this out, not a lot of them, but a few.

If you're interested in testing when we're ready, let me know, or post in this thread.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Flash control

So, it turns out that the current version of Ruffle does not implement the POSTing of XML data, so while the configuration widgets properly load existing settings, and allow editing, they cannot currently send modified settings back to the server (for developers, XML.send and XML.sendAndLoad are not implemented).

Until that's addressed, the configuration widgets are not functional, so I won't need testing.  I'm looking at the code to see what it might take to add it (it does support XML.load and LoadVars.sendAndLoad).

Re: Flash control

Looks like this issue is fixable, need to dust off my (unfortunately lean) Rust skillz and take a shot at it.

I've signed up chumby as a "Gold" sponsor of this project, since it's likely we'll be depending upon it for the future - if anyone else wants to contribute, here's where to do it: https://opencollective.com/ruffle

Re: Flash control

I've made a $50 one-time donation. 
Let me know when you need help with any testing.  I have several different varieties of Chumby sprinkled about.  smile

Re: Flash control

Excellent!

I have been in communication with the core developers about the specific missing functionality, so hopefully we can get this resolved.

Re: Flash control

I'm available as a tester.

Re: Flash control

I've made a $20 one-time donation.
Let me know when you need help with any testing.

Re: Flash control

Just an idea: Since it is possible to ssh into the device - is there perhaps a possibility to do widget configuration "the hard way" by editing files directly?

@Duane: Can you tell us where the widget configurations are stored?

Even if I need to download a file to an external computer and "patch" it somehow - I rarely need to change a widget configuration. So whatever the way, I am ready to try :-D

Michael

17

Re: Flash control

You can get flash working if you download an older version of the Pale Moon browser, preferably v28.17, and then download Adobe Flash 32.0.0.271 from archive.org.  I shut off updates on those two pieces of software just to be safe.

I'd post the links to this software but we're not allowed to post links here.

Any time I need to run flash widgets, I use the Pale Moon browser but I use my other browser for day-to-day surfing.  That way I'm limiting my exposure to the vulnerabilities in Flash.

Re: Flash control

Wow. Thank you! This works like a breeze.

Very kind of you to share that.

Re: Flash control

I'm having trouble finding Adobe Flash 32.0.0.271 at archive site - am i missing something?

Re: Flash control

Sorry for the late response regarding running configuration widgets on the chumby itself.

Unfortunately, given the way configuration widgets are typically made, they won't run properly on the device - they're designed to work in the browser only.  For instance, many configuration widgets use editable text fields - they aren't supported in the FlashLite - on the chumby, editable text fields are typically simulated with a dynamic text field and a keyboard written in Flash embedded in the widget itself.  Also, the dismissal of the widget after editing is done by sending a Javascript command to the enclosing HTML.

Configuration widgets fetch their parameters from the chumby servers, they're modified by the user, then they're sent back to the server, they're not stored on the device at all.  They're then sent to the device when the widget is run.  That's why the same channels run on different devices will have the same widget configurations.

21 (edited by bsp 2021-02-18 18:53:46)

Re: Flash control

ccchuck wrote:

I'm having trouble finding Adobe Flash 32.0.0.271 at archive site - am i missing something?

Search for "flashplayer32_0r0_371_win.msi" and look for the archive.org result.

You might get lots of other hits from that search term but it's difficult to tell if any of the other versions might have viruses in them.

edit: I guess I had a typo earlier because I listed the version number as 32.0.0.271 when it should have been 32.0.0.371

22 (edited by infocastme 2021-02-19 10:43:02)

Re: Flash control

Here is how you search for something only from a certain website

"www.archive.org: Adobe Flash 32.0.0.371" no quotes

Here are the links
https://archive.org/details/flash32.0.0.371windows

https://archive.org/details/flashplayer32_0r0_363_win

Re: Flash control

Greetings,
If you can't run flash on your PC, I found that the built-in web browsers in some older video game consoles support it.

I was able to go to chumby.com, see flash previews and login and customize my apps using:
Sony PlayStation 3 (supports USB keyboard and mouse)
Nintendo Wii (supports USB keyboard)
You may get some warning messages about security or running plug-ins but it works.

I tried these but they did not support flash:
Sony PlayStation 4
Sony Vita
Microsoft Xbox 360
Nintendo 3DS

Hope this helps someone.

24 (edited by chankla 2021-06-02 13:37:22)

Re: Flash control

Hello Blue Octy,

Any updates on this?

Perhaps an alternative browser for MacOS users?

If you need a beta tester - I'm here - I've got lots of weblinks to repair within my widgets!

Thanks...

Re: Flash control

For anyone still looking, Ruffle (ruffle.rs) is a viable option. Get the extension for your browser and give it a try. Compatibility isn't 100% but at least you have a shot at it working.