Amazon Instant Video is a great way to watch videos on your Linux computer. You can use the Amazon Instant Video client or the Amazon Web Services video platform. The Amazon Instant Video client is a free software application that you can download from the Amazon Web Services website. The Amazon Instant Video client is available in two versions: an open source version and a commercial version. The open source version is available under the GPL, while the commercial version is not under the GPL but has some features of the GPL. The Amazon Instant Video client can be used to watch videos on your Linux computer. To use the Amazon Instant Video client, you first need to install it. You can install it using one of several methods:

  1. If you are using Ubuntu, Ubuntu 18.04 or later is probably best because it includes an installer for the Amazon Instant Video client. The installer will create a directory called “instances” in your home directory and will install the Amazon Instant Videoserver and amazon-video-client in that directory. If you are using Debian or other Debian derivatives, see this page for instructions on how to install the Amazon Instant Videoserver and amazon-video-client .
  2. If you are using Fedora 24 or later, there is an unofficial Fedora 24 package that includes an installer for the Amazon Instant Videoserver and amazon-video-client . This package has not been tested as thoroughly as official Fedora 24 packages, so be sure to check it before installing it.
  3. If you are using CentOS 7 or later, there is an unofficial CentOS 7 package that includes an installer for theAmazonInstantVideoClient and amazon-video-client . This package has not been tested as thoroughly as official CentOS 7 packages, so be sure to check it before installing it.
  4. If you are using Archlinux or anotherLinux distribution that does not include an installer fortheAmazonInstantVideoClient or amazon-video-client ,

For the purposes of this article, we used the latest version of Firefox on Ubuntu 14.04. These tricks will also work in other browsers, but not Chrome — Chrome users should use Firefox for this instead.

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However, the below trick doesn’t seem to work in Chrome or another browser that uses the Pepper-based Flash plug-in. You’ll just see a black screen when the video tries to play.

Frist, you’ll need to install the Adobe Flash browser plug-in if you haven’t already. Linux distributions don’t typically install this by default. On Ubuntu, click the Ubuntu Software Center icon on the dock, search for “Flash,” and install the Adobe Flash plug-in package.

What’s actually happening here is that the Flash player requires an old version of HAL — now deprecated in favor of the modern udev system — for DRM purposes.

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Ubuntu user Michael Blennerhassett hosts a “Zombie HAL” PPA that provides a version of HAL that will install cleanly on modern versions of Ubuntu for just this reason. If you’re using another Linux distribution, you’ll need to hunt down an appropriate version of HAL for your distribution of choice.

To install it, open a Terminal window — click the Ubuntu icon on the Dash, type Terminal, and press Enter — and run the following commands:

Unfortunately, this won’t make the videos work in Google Chrome or another browser with the Pepper-based Flash plug-in. The player will remain black.

Get Higher-Quality Videos With the Silverlight Player

This won’t work in Google Chrome either, as Google Chrome no longer supports NPAPI plug-ins.

Pipelight is fairly easy to install — it will even do the hard work of downloading SIlverlight and installing it in the background for you. All you need to do is open a Terminal and run the following commands in order:

The next time you open your browser, Pipelight will automatically download and install Silverlight in the background, allowing you to access Silverlight video content on the web.

Before you continue, visit the amazon.com/video/settings page and ensure your account is set to prefer Microsoft Silverlight instead of Flash.

RELATED: How to Change Your Browser’s User Agent Without Installing Any Extensions

For now, these solution should also work with other websites that use old DRM-protected Flash players or Silverlight video players.