OSNews:

OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/20549/Adobe_Releases_64-bit_Flash_Alpha_for_Linux Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07:29 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337629 http://osnews.com/thread?337629 should read something like "Adobe resleases Alpha/Pre release 64 bit version of flash for linux"

adobe's flash suport with linux has been bad in the past (10 has been pretty good though so far). given past history though, installing anything labled Alpha that has to do with flash and linux just sounds like extra work and heart ache. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (poundsmack) Comments RE: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337632 http://osnews.com/thread?337632

should read something like "Adobe resleases Alpha/Pre release 64 bit version of flash for linux"

I don't mean to be snide, but isn't that par for the course for the majority of FOSS software?

Incoming negative points! Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (evangs) Comments RE: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337633 http://osnews.com/thread?337633 I do hope you meant headache and not heartache. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TQH !) Comments RE[2]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337634 http://osnews.com/thread?337634 can't it be both

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (poundsmack) Comments NSPluginWrapper still better http://osnews.com/thread?337635 http://osnews.com/thread?337635 Warren Togami made a very good and interesting point over in the comments at LWN.net. It's still better to run plugins under NSPluginWrapper in order to benefit from running the plugin code in a separate process, as it should be. Ever since Netscape, and its successors, made the technically questionable decision of plugging alien code right into the browser, crashes due to plugin problems have been something we've just expected and lived with. (I used to cringe, as a sort of conditioned response, every time I saw a java applet initializing on a page.) We Linux users cannot yet run Google Chrome. But at least us 64 bit Linux users have enjoyed one of its greatest advantages for some time now.Edited 2008-11-18 21:11 UTC Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments great success http://osnews.com/thread?337637 http://osnews.com/thread?337637 i just love adobe flash:

http://flashblock.mozdev.org
http://my.opera.com/Lex1/blog/flashblock-for-opera-9 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sevrage) Comments RE: NSPluginWrapper still better http://osnews.com/thread?337638 http://osnews.com/thread?337638 Can you please share how you can kill a misbehaving flash? Do you use "killall nspluginwrapper"?Edited 2008-11-18 21:23 UTC Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (amjith) Comments RE[2]: NSPluginWrapper still better http://osnews.com/thread?337639 http://osnews.com/thread?337639

Can you please share how you can kill a misbehaving flash? Do you use "killall nspluginwrapper"?

killall npviewer.bin

Usually, though, it just dies, leaving the browser intact, sans the misbehaving flash app.Edited 2008-11-18 21:31 UTC Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337642 http://osnews.com/thread?337642 What's so cool about this is that the linux community get it before the windows crowd!
How often does that happen with software such as this?

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ple_mono) Comments RE: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337644 http://osnews.com/thread?337644

How often does that happen with software such as this?

Whenever the company feels it needs alpha or beta testers for its software before distributing it to the people who actually matter. :-( Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments RE[2]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337652 http://osnews.com/thread?337652 Adobe's stuff isn't FOSS, of course. If someone releases FOSS that is buggy and immature, others can fix it. Only Adobe can fix their own code.

The good news, though, is that since Adobe cares about x86-64 for Windows and Mac, they'll be highly motivated to fix any bugs found, and many of the bugs will be platform-independent. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JoeBuck) Comments RE[3]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337655 http://osnews.com/thread?337655

Adobe's stuff isn't FOSS, of course. If someone releases FOSS that is buggy and immature, others can fix it. Only Adobe can fix their own code.

Recent releases of Firefox now work once again with Gnash.

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/

If you want a flash plugin for firefox 3 that: (1) is FOSS, (2) works with most sites, including Youtube, and (3) works natively in 64-bit versions, then Gnash is perhaps the FOSS alternative to Adobe that may suit you. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lemur2) Comments RE[2]: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337658 http://osnews.com/thread?337658 Well, how many people run 64-bit Windows on the desktop, vs. Linux?Edited 2008-11-18 23:27 UTC Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Johann Chua) Comments RE[3]: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337659 http://osnews.com/thread?337659

Well, how many people run 64-bit Windows on the desktop, vs. Linux?

How many people have existing peripheral equipment, and the CDs that came with that equipment, with Windows drivers on the CDs ... but the drivers on the CDs are 32-bit and designed for XP?

Microsoft has a model that "the hardware OEM makes the drivers". There is consequently quite a shortage of 64-bit drivers for Windows.

Microsoft has a design such that "XP drivers won't work with Vista". There is consequently quite a shortage of drivers for Vista.

Linux has a design aim of: "we have the source code". 64-bit drivers are a mere recompile away, in most cases. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lemur2) Comments RE: NSPluginWrapper still better http://osnews.com/thread?337660 http://osnews.com/thread?337660

I used to cringe, as a sort of conditioned response, every time I saw a java applet initializing on a page.

(Sing to the tune of the "Rawhide" theme song)

"Loading, loading, loading,
Damn that Java coding,
Reload!" Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BallmerKnowsBest) Comments 64 bit computing http://osnews.com/thread?337662 http://osnews.com/thread?337662 Ohh, I like the question about how many users use 64-bit OS's!

I only use 64-bit on Linux. All my windows computers (no matter their processor) use 32-bit.

Why?

Too expensive for 64-bit windows, espeically if a 32-bit system was originally installed. You can't upgrade cheaply or for free in Windows!

I have been using Gnash 64-bit for months. It works great.

All this hub-bub about Flash 64-bit was silly, and started by either Adobe itself to hype itself, or by a newbie who never heard of Gnash. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (perspectoff) Comments 64bit http://osnews.com/thread?337666 http://osnews.com/thread?337666 I accidentally got and used a 64 bit debian for a month before I figured out why flash was giving me trouble. It's so damned seamless.

Say I'm unobservant, say I should label my CDs. Say what you like! 64 bit Linux is awesome. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sorpigal) Comments RE[3]: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337668 http://osnews.com/thread?337668 I dont think thats the right question to ask, almost every app on linux is 64bit apart from some propriatary ones(no surprise there)

On the Windows platform it's hit and miss, you dont have 64bit Microsoft has a nice 32bit layer for you, thats why they put it there because of the poor slow uptake on it's platform. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SlackerJack) Comments RE: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337669 http://osnews.com/thread?337669 I guess it depends on what you mean by "extra work and heart ache", but all I had to do was extract the .tar.gz into ~/.opera/plugins and restart Opera.

So far it seems to work at least as well as going through nspluginwrapper. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jlarocco) Comments Good news http://osnews.com/thread?337673 http://osnews.com/thread?337673 Hmm, good news for 64-bit Linux users.

Granted, I know a dozen 64-bit Windows users who would probably like a Windows build, so they need that more than 64-bit Linux but definitly a good thing.

Maybe its just me, but the latest version of Flash for 32-bit Linux causes Firefox to crash, I downgraded to 9. I hope the 64-bit alpha isn't so bad. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Angel Blue01) Comments Big Yawn, Where's CS for Linux? http://osnews.com/thread?337679 http://osnews.com/thread?337679 Well?
How long must we choose between lousy operating systems or overpriced hardware? Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BrendaEM) Comments RE: NSPluginWrapper still better http://osnews.com/thread?337680 http://osnews.com/thread?337680 It is also still better to run the 32 bit binary in nspluginwrapper for snappier performance. YMMV. If it does not please roll your eyes at Adobe. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jaduncan) Comments RE[2]: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337694 http://osnews.com/thread?337694 To be fair, there's not a whole lot of incentive for people to go 64-bit on the Windows browser plugins. The 32-bit IE running in Wow64 seems to run well enough and we don't exactly promote the use of the 64-bit IE although it does exist in the install. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (PlatformAgnostic) Comments RE: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337704 http://osnews.com/thread?337704 I'm in no hurry. Here on Vista x64, 32-bit applications work without problems. But starting moving applications to 64-bit could never hurt though. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bending Unit) Comments RE: 64 bit computing http://osnews.com/thread?337705 http://osnews.com/thread?337705 Quite the opposite here. I don't have Linux applications resource demanding enough to make use of even 3.2 GB (I never underestimate Firefox though) so I don't see the point in 64 bit. Maybe for cache like in Vista. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bending Unit) Comments RE[4]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337708 http://osnews.com/thread?337708 Last time I tried GNASH, I had a black square instead of the Flash animation. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Liquidator) Comments RE[5]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337714 http://osnews.com/thread?337714 The truth is in the middle with Gnash. I'm on FreeBSD/AMD64 so I have no choice. I was surprised how well Gnash works lately the 0.8.4 release works on some youtube videos (it doesn't support h.264 yet) and most other youtube-likes. It still has problems with complicated actionscript sites but it crashes a lot less (less than Flash 9 did for me in linux). Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Almindor) Comments RE[2]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337715 http://osnews.com/thread?337715 Yeah, it is sort of the opposite of commercial software companies that label software in an alpha state as a release. And expects you to pay for it. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Soulbender) Comments RE[4]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337716 http://osnews.com/thread?337716 I am using it (Gnash) and it is not compatible with all the videos of youtube. Maybe cloning a commercial aplication is not the best option for to make the software free. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (pmarin) Comments RE[2]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337726 http://osnews.com/thread?337726

I guess it depends on what you mean by "extra work and heart ache", but all I had to do was extract the .tar.gz into ~/.opera/plugins and restart Opera.

I had to do
$sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/opera/plugins/
but result is the same - working like it should be looong time ago

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Punktyras) Comments RE[2]: We get it first! http://osnews.com/thread?337737 http://osnews.com/thread?337737

Whenever the company feels it needs alpha or beta testers for its software before distributing it to the people who actually matter. :-(

Omg, talk about victim mentality. So whatever happens, it's all for the worse? Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ple_mono) Comments instructions http://osnews.com/thread?337751 http://osnews.com/thread?337751 pardon my ignorance, but how on earth do you install this. I have firefox and am using the nspluginwrapper.

I'm guessing I need to somehow remove the nspluginwrapper 32 bit adobe install and then install the 64bit version?

Bah, perhaps I should just wait for a .deb

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Yamin) Comments RE: instructions http://osnews.com/thread?337753 http://osnews.com/thread?337753 1) Remove the nspluginwrapper-ed Flash by using the nspluginwrapper -r command
2) Copy flashplayer.so into ~/.mozilla/plugins Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (samad) Comments Some preliminary comments http://osnews.com/thread?337755 http://osnews.com/thread?337755 Before I start, I wish to explain why I think Flash is still important to a 64-bit Linux user. Personally, I think Flash should be replaced by AJAX or some other open standard. But unfortunately, a lot of websites use Flash. While Google Video and YouTube has a ton of inane videos, it is an immeasurable resource for those who want access to music. This is especially true for those who want to listen to very rare music from countries where copyright laws are not really enforced. A lot of other good websites provide their content in Flash, like www.democracynow.org. Until Flash is replaced by an open standard, many of us are stuck with using Flash.

Thankfully a lot of distributions have made it easy to install the 32-bit libraries needed for Flash. Debian provides most 32-bit libraries in a single package. Unfortunately for those who do not use a mainstream distribution, this is not one simple task. It requires rebuilding an entire toolchain for 32-bit, then recompiling dozens of libraries. Just setting up a cross-compiler is no simple trick. I have built my 64-bit Linux system using the Linux From Scratch book. I have spent countless hours trying to get 32-bit compiling working for the sole purpose of using Flash. I finally gave up, and I'm glad I did now that Adobe will support 64-bit Flash.

So far, Flash works quite well with most websites. The only issue I ran into is when I right click on a video and choose "Settings...", the dialog will not dispose when clicking "Close."

I would also highly recommend installing Flash Blocker, which prevents a lot of annoying advertisements from being loaded. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (samad) Comments RE[2]: instructions http://osnews.com/thread?337808 http://osnews.com/thread?337808 thanks man. worked perfectly Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Yamin) Comments RE: 64 bit computing http://osnews.com/thread?337824 http://osnews.com/thread?337824 The upgrade to 64 for me was less than 10 bucks, from Microsoft, and most all of that was shipping.. it isn't free but its close to it. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (hollovoid) Comments RE: Some preliminary comments http://osnews.com/thread?337884 http://osnews.com/thread?337884 I'd rather see swf, and AS3 become standards (they mostly are), and then have the official Flash Player's Source opened up (much of it already is).

I actually think Adobe eventually will do that, for most of it. They have been paying attention to Open source, and studying hard, and have a track record of being able to do valid market analysis. They do have licensed some bits (font engine, codecs, etc.), so they'd have to purchase those bits to open them, and that may not really be feasible. With much more of the source available than currently is (and some build infrastructure Adobe - no one wants to touch Tamarin if it isn't being used for anything), I could easily see a project like Iced Tea cropping up, that would simply use Adobe's code base, and graft in parts of SwfDec, Gnash (or both), freetype, etc. to fill in the gaps. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (CaptainN-) Comments RE[6]: missleading http://osnews.com/thread?337908 http://osnews.com/thread?337908

The truth is in the middle with Gnash. I'm on FreeBSD/AMD64 so I have no choice.

There are rumors that Adobe has a native Flash 10 for FreeBSD in the works:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?forumi...

http://thebackbutton.com/blog/73/64-bit-linux-freebsd-flash-player-... Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rycamor) Comments