Are you an Ubuntu user that is frustrated with the lack of Silverlight support on Ubuntu? You’re in luck! This guide will teach you a trick that you can do to get Silverlight support right in your native Linux browser with Pipelight! Let’s get started!
Before We Begin
Does Linux OS need Silverlight? TigerLinux: General: 22: 08:08 PM: LXer: Microsoft Brings Silverlight 2 to Linux: LXer: Syndicated Linux News: 0: 05:50 AM: LXer: Moonlight (Silverlight for Linux) is available now: LXer: Syndicated Linux News: 0: 09:10 AM: LXer: Moonlight is Not Silverlight, Silverlight is Not. Silverlight is a plugin that has long plagued Linux users. Since Silverlight is not available on Linux, sites like Netflix are a no-go. Moonlight is an open source implementation of Silverlight, primarily for Linux and other Unix/X11 based operating systems.The last Moonlight release (Moonlight 4 Preview 1) provides support for most features of Silverlight 3, as well as compatibility with Silverlight 4.
It should allow PCs running Linux to view sites that use Siverlight. Betanews reports 'In the next stage of what has turned out to be a more successful project than even its creators envisioned, the public beta of Moonlight — a runtime library for Linux supporting sites that expect Silverlight — is expected within days.' Moonlight 2.0 is. Silverlight is a free plug-in, powered by the.NET framework and compatible with multiple browsers, devices and operating systems, bringing a new level of interactivity wherever the Web works.
This guide will be making use of Pipelight, a plugin that brings Microsoft Silverlight to Linux.
Pipelight is able to work on other Linux distributions, but the process covered in this guide is specific to Ubuntu; it will work on all versions of Ubuntu.
Pipelight has been confirmed to work pretty much flawlessly with Netflix, Maxdome and Sumo 2.
Load this guide on your mobile device, if you have a browser open while this plugin installs, it could fail to install properly.
How To Install Microsoft Silverlight On Ubuntu
To install Microsoft Silverlight on Ubuntu, do the following:
- To get Pipelight working we’re going to need to install two different PPAs. To enable these PPAs, we need to enter some terminal commands. Search for ‘terminal’ in the Unity dash and open it. Once the terminal window has opened, enter the commands below.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mqchael/pipelight
- Once both of the PPAs have been enabled, you’ll need to update your software sources. Do this by entering the command below in your terminal.
sudo apt-get update
- After software sources have been updated, we can finally install the plugin to your system. Enter the command below into your terminal to install Pipelight.
sudo apt-get install pipelight
- Once the installation of Pipelight has finished, open your browser. We’re not done yet, Netflix will not work unless you trick it into thinking that you’re using a Windows PC. In order to do that, a user agent switcher is needed. If you use Firefox install UAControl and select something similar to
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:23.0) Gecko/20131011 Firefox/23.0in UAControl. If you’re using Chrome/Chromium install User Agent Switcher and select Windows Firefox 15 from User Agent Switcher’s preferences (this can be found by going to the extension page in Chrome/Chromium.
- If you chose not to close your browser while installing the plugin, enter the command below into your terminal and restart your browser.
rm -rf ~/.wine-pipelight/
Done!
Conclusion
Silverlight is a plugin that has long plagued Linux users. Since Silverlight is not available on Linux, sites like Netflix are a no-go. Luckily, Piplelight exists. Now you’re able to enjoy all of your favorite Netflix movies right on your Ubuntu powered PC. Enjoy!
The open-source implementation of Silverlight for Linux operating systems has reached an important milestone in development, evolving to the first Beta build. Novell is currently offering for download Moonlight 2.0 Beta 1, which is designed to be the equivalent of Silverlight 2 for Windows. Developed as an integral part of the Mono Project, with the open-source initiative backed by Novell in a technical collaboration with Microsoft, Moonlight is set up to provide Linux users with an open-source alternative to Silverlight. Aiming for parity with Silverlight 2, Moonlight 2.0 Beta 1 allows Linux users to view and use Silverlight and Windows Media content.
“This release is feature complete, but as a beta there are various known bugs (mostly minor) and most assuredly unknown ones as well. We still haven't completed the security audit of the source code (mono or moonlight), so you need to be aware that there may be issues. As such we recommend that you should only use this plugin on trusted sites (e.g. internal or well-known web sites) on non-production computers. This situation will gradually evolve over the beta releases,” reads an excerpt from the Beta Release Security Notice.
While indeed boosting the level of functionality and performance compared to Moonlight 1, Moonlight 2.0 still lags compared to Silverlight, which has been bumped all the way to version 3 by Microsoft earlier this year. However, the evolution from version 1.0 to 2.0 is synonymous with the introduction of support for adaptive streaming of both video and audio playback for Moonlight. With adaptive streaming users will benefit from a superior experience when accessing online multimedia materials, with the content being seamlessly tailored to the specific quality of their connection.
“Moonlight 2.0 is now feature complete and we consider it ready to test against Silverlight 2.0 sites. Users that have installed Moonlight 2.0 previously will be offered a chance next time they start Firefox to upgrade to the beta. Although Microsoft has already released Silverlight 3.0 with new functionality and APIs it will take some time to be fully adopted, so while we might be behind Microsoft's offering, we still think that this will allow users to access most Silverlight content out there today,” revealed Novell’s Miguel de Icaza.
Novel added that Moonlight 2.0 Beta 1 came with Mono runtime functionality embedded, offering users a 300 times faster performance over the latest Javascript engine. At the same time, Novell underlined that the Mono runtime functionality would allow developers to build Rich Internet Applications taking advantage of a variety of programming languages, from C#, to Ruby and Python, and of course Javascript.
Download Silverlight For Linux
“The API implemented by Moonlight 2.0 is a slight superset of Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 as it contains a few of the 3.0 APIs that fit naturally into our development process. These include: Easing functions, SaveFileDialog, MultiScaleImage 3.0 API enhancements, MediaStreamSource now supports PCM audio data, RGBA and YV12 video data (for your pluggable media codec needs). WriteableBitmap (for your Quaking needs). Moonlight 2.0 supports the Silverlight's 3.0 media pipeline. This media pipeline allows developers to plug C# code at various points in the media playback process,” de Icaza explained.
Silverlight Offline Installer
Moonlight 2.0 Beta 1 is available for download here.Silverlight 3 RTW (3.0.40624.0) is available for download here.