Has any one managed to get Wolfram CDF plugin to work on Linux/Firefox?

On Ubuntu

$uname -a
Linux me-VirtualBox 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

I downloaded the CDF player plugin from WRI web page and installed it OK:

$chmod +x CDFPlayer_8.0.1_LINUX.sh 
$sudo ./CDFPlayer_8.0.1_LINUX.sh 

Mathematica Player 8.0.1 for LINUX Installer Archive

Verifying archive integrity. 
Extracting installer. ...........................................................................................................

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Wolfram CDF Player Installer 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright (c) 1988-2011 Wolfram Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

WARNING: Mathematica and Wolfram CDF Player are protected by copyright law
and international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution may
result in severe civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted to the
maximum extent possible under law.

Enter the installation directory, or press ENTER to select
/usr/local/Wolfram/MathematicaPlayer/8.0:
> 

Now installing...

[*****************************************************************************]


Type the directory path in which the Wolfram CDF Player script(s) will be
created, or press ENTER to select /usr/local/bin:
> 

Installation complete.

Now I start firefox 4.0.1 on this linux, and go to run a Mathematica demonstration, but it is not detecting any plugin. It keeps asking me to download the CDF plugin again and again.

When I open the firefox plugin tab, I do not see the CDF plugin there. And I do not see any way to manually install it.

Just wondering if anyone out there has linux and is able to run the demonstrations using the CDF plugin without them having Mathematica itself installed.

EDIT1: Here is screen shot for downloading the plugin for CDF for linux. Or may be I am mixing this with the CDF player? I thought they are the same now? Need to check on this more.

enter image description here

EDIT 2: OK, it is a player, not a plugin. I have to download the CDF and then it will run OK. Like this:

/usr/local/bin/WolframCDFPlayer RigidBodyPendulumOnAFlywheel.cdf

sorry for the confusion.

mathematica

Nasser

Posted 2011-06-08T09:38:52.840

Reputation: 193

@Simon, I do not understand. But it does say Linux in the download page? Please see EDIT1 I added for screen shot. – None – 2011-06-08T10:32:14.000

Here's some blog posts that mention the fact that the browser plugin is only for Windows and OSX: http://www.walkingrandomly.com/?p=3323, http://mhreviews.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/november-17-2010-wolfram-mathematica-8/

– Simon – 2011-06-08T10:34:51.113

OK, I see now ! it is not a plugin, but a player. Did not read the fine print :) Thanks. – None – 2011-06-08T10:36:25.950

@Nasser: As I said. You downloaded the CDF player. This is basically a crippled version of Mathematica. For Windows and OSX this includes browser plugins - but for linux, it does not. To run the cdf player enter wolframcdfplayer into the shell – Simon – 2011-06-08T10:36:55.623

(Damn comment overlaps!) I know, it's annoying. I'm also running Ubuntu and want my browser plugin! – Simon – 2011-06-08T10:37:33.937

I noticed there is a difference in the same demo between windows and Linux! May be I should make a new question on that. This is interesting. – None – 2011-06-08T11:02:40.913

Has any one managed to get Wolfram CDF plugin to work on Linux/Firefox?

Answers