README_LIBFLASH

INTRODUCTION
------------

Feb. 14th 1999

This the Version 0.4.3 of the Flash Plugin for Linux.

Flash Plugin is under GPL, see COPYING file.

The distribution has changed:
- Lib contains the FlashLib sources.
- Plugin contains plugin sources.
- Player contains the standalone player sources.

New features :
- performance improvements.
- rewritten for platform independence. See PORTING file.
- Text buttons now handled.
- sound Mixing.
- parsers bugs fixed.
- Font2 partially parsed.

To get some information on this Plugin check the following link :
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/5084/flash.html
or mirrors :
http://perso.club-internet.fr/odebon/flash.html     (Europe)

There is also a standalone Flash Player called swfplayer which
the opportunity to play swf files without starting Netscape.

Author:	Olivier Debon <odebon@club-internet.fr>

Credits :
	Todd R. Eigenschink <todd@tekinteractive.com>
		-who helped on egcs compilation problems, provided
                 the most tricky swf files I never had ;-)    and
		 gave me a good start for this file.
	Ron Arts <raarts@netland.nl>
		-who told me that the plugin name should be set to
		 Shockwave Flash, and then new doors were open.
	Emmanuel Marty <core@suntech.fr>
		-who gave me hints for some optimizations. He also
		 planned to make the port to GGI.
	A <a@absurd.org>
		-who did 24/32 bit modes work.
	Richard Lloyd <rkl@csc.liv.ac.uk>
		-who provides the HP-UX support.
	Yamagata <yamagata@nwgpc.kek.jp>
		-who provides the Font2 parsing.
	Xavier Pianet <xavier@xingo.com>
		-who provides the BeOS support.

I don't forget those who sent me references to sites that crash the Plugin.

FEATURES
--------

Limitations :
  - The plugin and the player use XShm extensions, so remote display is not possible.
  - Does not rotate or reverse bitmaps (only positive X and Y scaling are supported).

Not functional :
  - No Morphing.
  - No alpha-blending.
  - No anti-aliasing.

SOUND SUPPORT
-------------

Limitations :
  - No streamed sound supported (interleaved data).
  - No sound envelop. So no fading or balancing effect.

But the main feature is here and sound can be enjoyed.

There are some 'clicks' and delayed effects, but sound
playing is not too bad. Perfectible actually.

I recommend OSS drivers, but it is not required at all
(http://www.opensound.com)

If you have troubles with sound put the -DNOSOUND option
for compilation. Also do this for non-Linux Unix.

THE PLAYER
----------

The standalone player can simply control movie by
pressing Q to quit, P to pause, C to continue and
R to replay.
There is also the possibility to zoom in or out
and scroll using Keypad +/- and cursor keys, but
it is buggy on frozen images.

BUG REPORT
----------

If Netscape crashes when it started to play a Flash file, please
report the complete url where you have found the file.
Do not send the actual file !

If you have rendering problem also report the url.

If the plugin does not seem to show anything or does not do what it
is supposed to do, please consider that the plugin does not support
all Flash 3.0 features. Anyway it tries to play it but may fail then.

COMPILATION
-----------

If you use Linux just type 'make'.

Warning : the plugin compilation should not fail, but you may
have problem with Netscape at startup. See INSTALLATION section
for workarounds.

For other Unices like FreeBSD or Solaris you may have to change
some flags. See Plugin/Makefile for hints.

INSTALLATION
------------

Once you have successfully compiled the plugin, put the file
npflash.so (located in the Plugin directory) into your
~/.netscape/plugins directory or into the system-wide
/opt/netscape/plugins directory (depends on where you have installed
Netscape).

If Netscape already runs type 'javascript:navigator.plugins.refresh'
in the Location field.

	PROBLEMS
	--------

If you have problem to successfully install the plugin, please
read the following hints. Otherwise, report the problem with full
description of your configuration :
- Distribution.
- Compiler.
- Libs (the output of ldconfig -p is useful).
- The netscape version and the output of 'ldd netscape'.

If some symbols like _rtti or _throw are unresolved, it seems
that you have egcs. Just uncomment the proper line in the main
Makefile.
You may then still have some unresolved symbols like __sigsetjmp.
This time, add -DC6R5 in the Plugin/Makefile at the PLUGIN_DEFINES
line.

	CHECKING
	--------

To verify that the plugin is installed properly, type "about:plugins"
in Netscape's "Location:" or "Netsite:" field.  The plugin should show
up there, something like

___________________________________________________________________________

				   Shockwave Flash

	File name: /opt/netscape/plugins/npflash.so

	Flash file player Version 0.4.3

	Shockwave is a trademark of Macromedia®

	Author: Olivier Debon

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|     Mime Type                  |     Description   |  Suffixes   |    Enabled   |
|--------------------------------+-------------------+-------------+--------------|
|   application/futuresplash     |     Flash Plugin  |    spl      |     Yes      |
| application/x-shockwave-flash  |                   |    swf      |     Yes      |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________________


If it shows up, but the "Enabled" column says "No", you need to
configure the Flash plugin as a helper application.  Go to
Edit/Preferences/Navigator/Applications, and add it as follows:

Description: Flash Plugin
MIME Type: application/x-shockwave-flash
Suffixes: swf
Handled By: Plug In (select "Shockwave Flash")

------

$Id: README,v 1.1.1.1 2002/10/07 12:52:08 zapek Exp $