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Getting an internet browser set up in FreeBSD with the ability to view Flash content reliably continues to be a challenge. One way to achieve this is to use the Wine emulator to simulate a Windows file system, and then install the Microsoft Windows version of your favorite browser and Adobe Flash Player. In the near future, using open-source programs like Gnash with FreeBSD7 may provide a better solution.
Wine is a compatibility layer that will let you run Windows programs on DesktopBSD. It will not run all Windows applications flawlessly, but many common programs run very well. For more information, see:http://www.winehq.org/
We will need to:
Open the DesktopBSD Package Manager and click on “Update list” before installing any new software.
When this is finished, click on “Install Packages” from the main screen. In the search box, type in “wine”. Then select ”/emulators/wine” and ”/emulators/linux-winetools” and select “Install”.
You are now ready to configure wine to create a simulated Windows file system. Right_click anywhere on your desktop and click on “Run command”. This should be done as a regular user. Type in “winecfg” as shown.
winecfg
In the winecfg window, navigate to the “Drives” tab.
Click on the “Autodetect” button. This should add your home directory to the “C” and “Z” drives already present. In this case, the home directory is shown as “H”.
The next step is to install some TTF fonts. Navigate to “Kmenu” / “System” / “Konsole” to open a command line shell as a regular user.
Type in “whereis winetools”.
whereis winetools
This will show us the file path to the winetools utility that we need to open. Now type in ”/usr/local/bin/winetools” and hit “Enter”.
/usr/local/bin/winetools
This will open the winetools graphical configuration tool. Click on the “Install a TTF font” icon.
Select your favorite font from the list and click “Install”. The fonts will download, and you will need to accept the licensing agreement. You can now close winetools. Select “show hidden files” in Konqueror's “View” tab, and navigate to ”/home/<your name>/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts” to see your selected fonts now installed.
Now, at the bottom left of your desktop, go to “Kmenu” > “Internet” > “Firefox” and navigate to http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/all.html and download the Windows version of Firefox. Select your desktop as the download destination.
If you prefer the Opera browser, visit the download site here: http://www.opera.com/download/index.dml?opsys=Windows&lng=en&ver=9.25&platform=Windows&local=y
The next step is to download the Flash player from here: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
Open your Konqueror file manager and click on “View” at the top left, and check the “Show hidden files” box. Now select the “Home” icon at the top left, and open the ”.wine” folder.
Click on “drive_c” to open the new simulated Windows “C” drive. This is where we want to copy the “Firefox Setup 2.0.0.11.exe” and the “install_flash_player.exe” files. For Opera copy the “Opera_9.25_International_Setup.exe”.
Copy “Firefox Setup 2.0.0.11.exe” ( or “Opera_9.25_International_Setup.exe” ) and “install_flash_player.exe” from ”/home/<your name>/Desktop” to ”/home/<your name>/.wine/drive_c”.
Once you have them copied, right-click the Firefox file and select “Open with wine Windows emulator”.
The file will be extracted and a Firefox dialog will open.
Click “Next” and in the next window, click on “I accept” to the license. Click “Next” then “Standard” installation, and “Next” again. Firefox will now install. Unselect “Launch Mozilla Firefox now” and click “Finish”.
Follow the same procedure as Firefox for installing Opera.
Now do the same with the flash file. Right-click the file and select “Open with wine Windows emulator”. The file will be extracted.
In the “Applications” tab of winecfg, click on “Add application”. A new dialog box will open with the contents of “drive_c” shown. You will see the contents of “drive_c”. Double-click on “Program Files”, then “Mozilla Firefox”, then select “firefox.exe” and it will be added to the “File name” window. For Opera, use “Program Files” > “Opera” > “opera.exe”.
Click on “Open”, and “firefox.exe” will now be added to the winecfg window.
At the bottom, place your mouse cursor over the “Windows Version” box and use your mouse wheel to scroll through the choices of Windows versions to use. Choose “Windows 98”.
Now, navigate to the “Graphics” tab and select “Allow the window manager to control the windows”. If you have problems with your browser drop-down menus not working properly, select “Emulate a virtual desktop” instead. At the bottom of the tab, select “Apply”, and “Ok”.
Note that if you want other users on your machine to be able to use wine, you will need to log into the other users account, and run winecfg in a console as that user in order to generate the simulated Windows file structure. Then the programs such as Firefox can be installed as before.
You are now ready to start using the browser. Navigate back to your desktop and you should see a new Firefox ( or Opera ) icon created.
Start Firefox now. At the top, click on “Tools” > “Options” > “Fonts and Colors”, and select the font from the drop-down list. Click “OK”, then click the “Refresh” icon to load the fonts.
For Opera, click on “Tools” > “Preferences” > “Web pages” to select fonts.
You can now go to www.adobe.com and www.youtube.com and see check your browser operation. Wine is still considered “beta” software, so there are a few rough edges, but it works pretty well. FreeBSD 7 should also improve the situation soon.
You may also want to go to the Macromedia site with your browser Javascript enabled to set up your Flash security settings: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html
Enjoy!