Apparently some Linux devs managed to get Silverlight working under WINE, then went on to make a dead-simple install that configures a separate Firefox install to run the app. It’s very slightly lower framerate than running it natively under Windows, but if it weren’t for that damned Silverlight dependency (for the DRM, naturally), we’d have had Netflix working on Linux a long time ago.
The commands, via Nixie Pixel:
To install on Ubuntu / Mint -
Start terminalsudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop——
For Fedora (only 32 bit systems)
You need wget first:su -c ‘yum -y install wget’
Installing Netflix:
wget -c http://sourceforge.net/projects/postinstaller/files/data/Netflixplayer.tar.gz
tar -xvzf Netflixplayer.tar.gz
su -c ‘sh Netflixplayer.sh’
Running Netflix from cmd line:
sh /usr/bin/Netflix.sh
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F [disappearing]
December 12, 2012 at 8:42 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I thought Netflix had made a move to address this natively last year. Whatever.
Aliasalpha
December 12, 2012 at 9:19 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Too simple, use it through a remote desktop application from a mac on a different network. Better yet, connect the mac to the router using tin cans & string
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain
December 12, 2012 at 11:21 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No wget !?
I thought you said this was linux. :P
Dalillama, Schmott Guy
December 13, 2012 at 1:52 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Nope. Or at least not much of one. If they cared, all they’d have to do is switch to Flash. Or HTML5, for that matter. However, they care more about DRM, so linux users get shafted.
Tsu Dho Nimh
December 13, 2012 at 10:58 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Which version of Ubuntu?
Jason Thibeault
December 13, 2012 at 7:07 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Tsu Dho Nimh: I’m thinking any that supports ppa’s. I only tested it on 12.10 though.
F [disappearing]
December 14, 2012 at 12:23 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Dalillama, Schmott Guy
Yeah, obviously they backed out of anything I heard about.
They could switch to any number of things. Flash I’ve never understood as a video platform, but whatever works. They have to care about the DRM, because the content gatekeepers do, but they could certainly use a platform-independent method for DRM. And yes, DRM only makes things more difficult for good-faith customers, never stops infringers or actual pirates.
BecomingJulie
December 14, 2012 at 10:38 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That’s interesting.
I really, really don’t like running anything where you don’t get to see the full Source Code; but presumably, if I set up a chroot environment, and only put enough of /dev in there to let it work, it shouldn’t be able to do any real damage.
By the way, as long as a shell script begins with the line
#!/bin/bash
and has its x (execute) permission set, if it’s under /usr/bin/ or /usr/local/bin/ then you should be able to run it just by typing its filename.
Jay
December 16, 2012 at 2:05 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I think you’re missing the whole point of Linux, brainiac.
Anyone with any principle would not use WINE to run and avoid DRM’d Windows programs under Linux. If you dislike Netflix’ drm requirement there is a simpler solution for you than some hacked up run it under WINE, solution.
Talk about a principled, social justice warrior….
Jason Thibeault
December 16, 2012 at 3:19 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Jay’s just still got his jimmies rustled by the comment thread on my Atheism is not enough Pt 1 post.
As you can tell, that is terribly off-topic here. And it’s not like I didn’t complain about DRM right in the main post.
Linux News Watch | Using Netflix on Linux through WINE » Lousy Canuck
December 13, 2012 at 5:36 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[...] Using Netflix on Linux through WINE » Lousy Canuck Tags: atheism, christianity, climate-change, conservatives, Copyright, global-warming, [...]
Best Option for Media Center Desktop
December 13, 2012 at 8:12 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[...] I just read around a bit about Netflix and from what I can gather it works, just, under WINE if your PC is fast enough and you've a recent enough version of WINE. Personally I'd not rely on being able to use Netflix under Linux at all. This site claims it works though, so perhaps I'm overly pessimistic: http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycan…-through-wine/ [...]