I’ll be glad to see Flash go, it’s a PITA to update at least on my win 7 laptop. Right now it’s not working, says Flash needs to be updated, it won’t update through the Firefox plugins page, only if I get the update window after a reboot, which hasn’t happened yet.
I only use it out of necessity, for youtube and news videos, and most of the time I just download any music videos I want, both Windows and Linux have players that work well once downloaded.
For Windows, the MPlayer (MPUI) video player works quite well, and can play almost any video format I’ve ever tried, except the videos my Pentax K-x took.
For Linux, I’m getting ready to install Slacko, a Puppy live CD version, on a USB drive. So far it plays any of the videos I’ve saved on the laptop, can’t remember what player I used though. I need to get a little more info before I install, but I’m liking Slacko pretty well except that the games basically suck, so I’m going to have to figure out how to install a few small games I like.
I no longer have a full Linux computer, no place to set it up. Was using Mandrake 9 until I moved, but no room in a RV to set up a full size computer, speaker system etc...
A laptop seems like the thing for you. But as for the speakers, please, think about getting one of these;
Bose SoundLink® Bluetooth® speaker III
They are pricey but...oh heavens...they're worth every penny. Small...
...and the sound is sooo rich and clean. I have one and use it for all sorts of applications. Regular drivers on one side and the sub woofer on the other.