[K12OSN] OT: multimedia and proxy hosts

David Hopkins dahopkins429 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 14 22:08:42 UTC 2009


I finally got all the apps added on FC10 + LTSP5 to allow playing
videos at the NASA site: http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.htm

To do this, I installed mplayer and gecko-multimedia as local apps via
yum. I also installed the MS codecs and such as well.  To get rid of
the dbus error for FF, I installed dbus-x11.  Doing all of this gave
me the capabilities that I needed to justify a test at the school.

But after bringing the system to the school, I find that multimedia
has stopped working for a few reasons.

1) NetworkManager:  I have had to remove NetworkManager so that none
of the interfaces are controlled by it.  It is just simpler to specify
the fixed IP address for my server for eth0.
2) iptables?  I still have to use  iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o
eth0 -j MASQUERADE  every time I start the server.
3) /opt/ltsp/i386//etc/resolv.conf was not set correctly.  It was
using the DNS settings from my home and not the settings for the
school. I just copied the servers /etc/resolv.conf over and it is
fixed (it seems)
4) speed ... it is much slower at the school than at home.  Could be
the thin clients (Optiplex GX50) but everything launches slower than
at home where I was using a 100Mb switch.

I have fixed all of these.  BUT ...

5) Running FF as a local app works except that when I go to the NASA
site and try to play a video that uses mms (say the Kepler video), all
it says is "CONNECTING" ... it never connects. This works perfectly
from home.  My only guess on why is that it is somehow related to the
fact I have to use a proxy (the state has the entire education network
behind a proxy).

SO .... how do I tell the plugin to use a proxy?  Videos on cnn
work,but they launch in the browser. The NASA site brings up a new
window for the video and I am just guessing that the proxy isn't set
correctly for it.

Once I get this fixed, I'll gladly write it all up. Especially as I
don't want to have to re-invent it again.

Sincerely,
Dave Hopkins




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