Re: RFC: Can FreeBSD stream Netflix?

The other streaming option is a browser in a linux jail...

Warner

On Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 6:16 PM Mario Marietto <marietto2008@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Rick.
>
> In freeBSD there are some special packages that will allow you to watch
> Netflix using Chromium,but sometimes it does not work. Using a browser
> extension that will lie about the user agent is not enough. Personally I
> run Android X86 inside a bhyve vm and I can watch Netflix using the native
> android app.
>
> On Mon, Jun 23, 2025 at 1:52 AM Aryeh Friedman <aryeh.friedman@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> You can get brower extensions that will lie about the user agent to
>> make it look like it basically any browser on any OS you want.
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM Rick Macklem <rick.macklem@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > When I'm not tinkering with NFS I'm just a dumbass user,
>> > so here's a dumbass user question...
>> >
>> > The background (you can just skip to the question at the end
>> > but maybe you'll find this useful.
>> > I have two old Dell laptops (6420s) that I picked up used and
>> > they've done ok, but both now have flakey hdds.
>> >
>> > #1 - hdd died completely, so I installed FreeBSD and it went
>> >         pretty smoothly. It runs Xorg, KDE etc and works pretty well.
>> >         But I can't get it to do one all important thing.
>> >         Stream Netflix. (I've tried assorted browsers, but always get
>> >         the "you should upgrade your browser" treatment.)
>> >
>> > #2 - Runs Win10 and does stream Netflix, but is throwing lots of
>> >         hdd errors, so it only a matter of time before I'll need to
>> >         replace the hdd. Once I do that, I have three choices:
>> >         a) Install FreeBSD, but only if I can get it to stream Netflix.
>> >         b) Install Linux. (Some posts claim Linux distros with up
>> >             to date browsers can stream Netflix?)
>> >         c) Install Win10 and run FreeBSD in a VM or dual boot it.
>> >
>> >         I'd prefer (a), which leads to the all important question...
>> >
>> > Is there someone out there that runs FreeBSD on a laptop or
>> > desktop who can stream Netflix?
>> > If you can answer "yes", can you recall how you installed it
>> > to make this work?
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance for any answers, rick
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> Aryeh M. Friedman, Lead Developer, http://www.PetiteCloud.org
>>
>>
>
> --
> Mario.
>