Adobe Releases 64-bit Flash For Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Adobe Releases 64-bit Flash For Linux

Since acquiring Macromedia, Adobe has improved its Flash Player for Linux quite a bit in recent times with the Linux version of Flash being updated in sync with the Windows and Mac OS X versions. For instance, development of Flash Player 10 led to several public alpha and beta releases that brought a number of new features to this platform...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=Njg1OQ

[Naib]

Will Sun be next to improve the 64-bit Linux user-land by releasing an official 64-bit version of its Java plug-in? Let's hope.

We already have IcedTea6 which works very well


But 64bit Flash WooHoo!!!!! just need a decent in-browser plugin for pdf files and no more 32bit wrapper for browsing!!!


oh and no 64bit plugin for windows ;)

[DeepDayze]

About darned time Adobe woke up and started moving into the 64 bit world. Things like this should start hastening the migration to a 64 bit platform. If they produced a 64 bit version for Windows, then that'll be a plus as well, for those stuck with Windows

Now codecs themselves need to become available in 64 bit flavors too for full 64 bit multimedia playback/recording

Now to make a 64 bit version of Adobe Reader would be sweet as well :)

[myxal]

LOLWUT? :eek:

just to make sure - there are no win64 versions available, right? (The spec page for the plugin is apparently too dumbed down to make a conclusion)

Am I missing something or are we really getting 64bit support before the windows version?

[chaos386]

LOLWUT? :eek:

just to make sure - there are no win64 versions available, right? (The spec page for the plugin is apparently too dumbed down to make a conclusion)

Am I missing something or are we really getting 64bit support before the windows version?

From Adobe's Flash Player 10 FAQ (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/faq.html#flashplayer10FAQ_64-bit01):

Why aren’t the Windows and Mac 64-bit alpha versions available on Adobe Labs?

Release of this alpha version of 64-bit Flash Player on Linux is the first step in delivering upon Adobe’s commitment to make Flash Player native 64-bit across platforms. We chose Linux as our initial platform in response to numerous requests in our public Flash Player bug and issue management system and the fact that Linux distributions do not ship with a 32-bit browser or a comprehensive 32-bit emulation layer by default. Until this prerelease, use of 32-bit Flash Player on Linux has required the use of a plugin wrapper, which prevents full compatibility with 64-bit browsers. With this prelease, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions. We are committed to bringing native 64-bit Flash Player to Windows and Mac in future prereleases.

So yes, Linux got 64-bit support first, before Windows or OS X. I'm pleasantly surprised, myself!

[Betel]

This is great! I'm pleasantly suprised.

Now the source has to be freed, and we're there. :)

[TRS-80]

Sun is working on a 64bit Java plugin (http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/desktop-discuss/2008-June/014530.html) for Windows and Linux.

[bugmenot]

Opening the sources would be great but will most probably not happen and sun should simply drop the non-free java version for linux and should start to concentrate on openjdk.

[conholster]

Quite intressting...running Kubuntu 64bit here and 32bit flash worked out-of-the-box for both firefox and opera. Lets see how this works out with 64bit flash....

[conholster]

LOLWUT? :eek:

just to make sure - there are no win64 versions available, right? (The spec page for the plugin is apparently too dumbed down to make a conclusion)

Am I missing something or are we really getting 64bit support before the windows version?

Win64 is a complete mess, alot of missing drivers and such. And drivers that dont work at all. So no wonder linux gets 64bit flash first.

[Zhick]

Wow, that came unexpected. I've got a feeling hell just froze over...

[EmbraceUnity]

I think the stars have aligned for linux on the desktop. I know people say that a lot, to the point where it is a joke, but I think it just stopped being funny.

Basically every major application and piece of hardware can now run on linux without hassle. Even my X-Fi and Radeon cards have corporate-sponsored open source support! Now it seems like Nvidia is actually the hold out! And they were supposed to be the pinnacle linux support!

Whoever said that Sun's lack of official 64 bit support is irrelevant because of IcedTea is correct. Intrepid includes it by default and I have seen no problems. That is the beauty of open source. We don't need any corporation to compile code for us.

Even GLX, that last little piece of OpenGL was just open sourced. Now you could technically run gNewSense or some such purist distribution and have full compositing with any non-nvidia card, unless nouveau has improved in which case nearly any card.

With the recent opening up of some of Flash's specs, gnash should improve very quickly too.

Hopefully the stars will align again for DRI2 in Jaunty. Now we just got to get our OS installed by default by Dell, HP, etc. Perhaps a silver lining of this recent economic turmoil will be increased attractiveness of Open Source. I think netbooks, smartphones, and ultra-low-cost PCs are now proving to be a niche linux is very well suited for, and this will have network effects for the desktop.

I am having a hard time thinking of new goals. uhh improve boot times even more? :D

MP3 patents will expire by 2012, but getting broader Vorbis support is still a good idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing_and_patent_issues

Cheers!

[Creak]

I might be dumb, but what do I need to run a 64bits distro?
I've got a Pentium E5200, is it ok?

Auxiliary question: is 64bits better in any point? Or it's just for the fun? (which would suffice me to install one :D)

[Zhick]

I might be dumb, but what do I need to run a 64bits distro?
Either any AMD cpu since the Athlon 64 or an Intel Core 2.
I've got a Pentium E5200, is it ok?
If you mean a Core 2 Duo E5200 then yes, it supports amd64. Afaik there is nothing like a Pentium E5200, Intel dropped the Pentium-name with the introduction of the Core 2 Architecture and has only recently used it again for some very low-end dualcore cpus.
Auxiliary question: is 64bits better in any point? Or it's just for the fun? (which would suffice me to install one :D)
It's not necessarly faster than x86 (there are some advantages and some disadvantages, which eventualy weigh up each other), so the only benefit is the ability to use >= 4 GB of Ram without any hassle.

[wien]

So now 64-bit users can also experience fatal Firefox crashes without the safety of nspluginwrapper saving them? Umm, woo?

[NeoBrain]

lol "Phoronix effect" on Adobe Labs or what?

Damnit, I just got used to swfdec and now that! :D
Has anyone tested this yet? I'll just give it a try and report my experience back...

[Creak]

The pentium E5200 exists, it's a perynn dual core, but with 2MB of L2 RAM.
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAY7

But since it comes from perynn technology, I think it's good too for the 64bits distros :)

[conholster]

Auxiliary question: is 64bits better in any point? Or it's just for the fun? (which would suffice me to install one :D)

It's definatly faster and I'm comparing to my 32 bit slackware install with recompiled kernel with only the bare minimums compiled in. Desktop is alot more responsive and snappier.

Unraring is faster. And it sees all my 4GB of ram. Uses about twice the amount of ram compared to 32bit.

[NeoBrain]

Okay, just installed it, didn't try too many things, but for now it works, works fast enough, and stable enough. Guess I'll keep it on my system for now :D

[Kjella]

If you mean a Core 2 Duo E5200 then yes, it supports amd64. Afaik there is nothing like a Pentium E5200, Intel dropped the Pentium-name with the introduction of the Core 2 Architecture and has only recently used it again for some very low-end dualcore cpus.

No, the E2xxx and E5xxx processors are Pentiums, unlike the E4xxx, E6xxx, E7xxx and E8xxx processors that are Core 2 Duo processors. You can see them here: http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=2841. Despite the marketing trickery they're actually well performing and deserve the rating.

[Tares]

I just can't believe it ;o Now I might consider to migrate on amd64 ;-)

[Zhick]

Sorry then, I only knew about the Pentium 2XXXs and since I was sure the E4XXX were Core2s I expected E5XXX to be Core2s as well.
Serves me right for assuming hardware manfuacturers would use logical names for their products. ;)

Back to topic: I've just installed it and so far it seems to be alright. Only annoyance I've found so far: When playing youtube-videos in fullscreen the video will slow down when I move the mouse-cursor. Not too bad though for alpha-grade software.

[DeepDayze]

I just can't believe it ;o Now I might consider to migrate on amd64 ;-)

x2

Planning to install sidux 64 bit edition and wipe my 32 bit install soon :D

[bash]

Installed it on my Ubuntu 8.10 64bit box. Works without any problems. And seems to load faster when you open a new website and appears to be more responsive. But that might be due to the fact that it no longer needs nsplungwrapper.

[deanjo]

Win64 is a complete mess, alot of missing drivers and such. And drivers that dont work at all. So no wonder linux gets 64bit flash first.

That argument is soooooooooooo out of date. Drivers have been readily available for win 64 for quite some time now.

[DeepDayze]

That argument is soooooooooooo out of date. Drivers have been readily available for win 64 for quite some time now.

yeah, but not without plenty of bugs though. I heard horror stories of 64bit drivers crashing though.

Might try 64bit Vista to gauge its stability

[Eragon]

Good, 64 bit flash player is linux only! Thanx, adobe! :)

[deanjo]

yeah, but not without plenty of bugs though. I heard horror stories of 64bit drivers crashing though.

Might try 64bit Vista to gauge its stability

Been using it for years. Any hardware brought out after it was released works perfectly. It is more stable then XP 32. Things like audio drivers also work BETTER in XP64 then Vista 32 or 64.

[Vadi]

I second on a better 64bit Java!

Have to use a 32bit vm to get a decent java support which is open-source... jeez.

(update: lovely, no more nsplugin crashes on acrobat.com. Thank you ndsplugwrapper for doing the job in the meantime :))

[Naib]

I second on a better 64bit Java!

Have to use a 32bit vm to get a decent java support which is open-source... jeez.

(update: lovely, no more nsplugin crashes on acrobat.com. Thank you ndsplugwrapper for doing the job in the meantime :))

use icedtea6 ffs then
there has been (sun) open-source JAVA for ages and it has built on amd64 for ages as well

[piquadrat]

When opening my Gmail account, Firefox crashes as soon as Gmail has finished loading when this plugin is activated... ah well, it's alpha after all...

[deanjo]

WMmode at least works now. Now if they can only fix that insane CPU usage when going full screen.

[deanjo]

When opening my Gmail account, Firefox crashes as soon as Gmail has finished loading when this plugin is activated... ah well, it's alpha after all...

Works here without a crash. Where do you see flash content in Gmail anyways?

[Dragoran]

Will Sun be next to improve the 64-bit Linux user-land by releasing an official 64-bit version of its Java plug-in? Let's hope.
The icedtea plugin shipped in Fedora 10 even supports LiveConnect (Js to Java bridge) and signed applets.
So every applet should work with it now.

[Eragon]

The icedtea plugin shipped in Fedora 10 even supports LiveConnect (Js to Java bridge) and signed applets.
So every applet should work with it now.

And please make it linux-only, as well :) :) :)

[piquadrat]

Works here without a crash. Where do you see flash content in Gmail anyways?

I don't see any. All I've said is that Firefox crashes when opening Gmail if the plugin is loaded. When I delete the 64bit flash plugin and restart Firefox, Gmail loads without a problem.

[dscharrer]

Works here without a crash. Where do you see flash content in Gmail anyways?

Gmail uses flash for sound notifications on new chat messages. (can be disabled under Settings > Chat)

As for 64-bit flash, I'm still waiting on Gnash / swfdec to produce something that works for me.

[piquadrat]

Gmail uses flash for sound notifications on new chat messages. (can be disabled under Settings > Chat)

Thanks for the hint. Unfortunately, it still crashes with sound deactivated in Gmail. Also, a blank firefox profile doesn't help. I tried to delete all files left from firefox32 and nspluginwrapper, also without effect on the gmail crash behaviour. When started from the console, there is no specific error message, only the dreaded "Segmentation fault"...

[elanthis]

64-bit Flash is not (going to be) Linux only. The current alpha is Linux only, but it's clearly stated that 64-bit support will be released in its final, stable form for all three major platforms simultaneously. We'll probably see 64-bit plugin alphas for the other platforms well before we see a Linux beta version of the plugin.

They just did 64-bit Linux first for now because they actually get Linux users asking for it, where-as the Windows users (even ones with 64-bit Vista/XP) don't care so much since apparently Explorer defaults to using the 32-bit binary on Windows.

[msch]

I'm seeing the same gmail crash but otherwise this appears to be much better than the wrapper for 32.

This gmail crash is a deal breaker though.

[Vadi]

use icedtea6 ffs then
there has been (sun) open-source JAVA for ages and it has built on amd64 for ages as well

Been there tried that, I'm not using a fugly software :(

gnu java in 8.10 looks ok-ish, except one flaw, left-click fails to work.

[adrianveidt]

No gmail crashes, or any other problems here.

I purged the flashplayer and nspluginwrapper packages and then replaced the ~/.mozilla/plugins flashplayer.so with the one in the package.

[Zhick]

Been there tried that, I'm not using a fugly software :(
fugly? IcedTea is essentialy OpenJDK, except it replaces some unfree parts with parts of the GNU Classpath and allows you to build Java purely with FOSS-software.
I have no idea what reason there could be not to like IcedTea.

[Akdor 1154]

There is little point for a 64-bit Windows build at this point - the only release-level x64 browser is AFAIK IE, and anyone who has the technical knowledge to care about 64-bit would be unlikely to use such a monstrosity.
There are unofficial builds for Firefox 3.1, but these are still just trunk builds, and they're not core Mozilla stuff either.
No x64 Opera, Safari, or Chrome; even Konqueror is only x86! (Though Konqi and Opera at least run in 64-bit on Linux, so they have decent potential).

64-bit Windows flash is not required, but it might be the catalyst to get some 64-bit browsers released. :)


What's the Mac situation? I read that with Snow Leopard, Apple want to move to a completey x64 environment... do you reckon Apple has a whip above Adobe's backside?

[deltatux]

yeah, but not without plenty of bugs though. I heard horror stories of 64bit drivers crashing though.

Might try 64bit Vista to gauge its stability

I've been using Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64 ... no glitches here except for older hardware like my workhorse printer, but I don't blame HP since it has been 8 years since it was last updated with newer drivers.

Other than that, x64 for Windows is a lot better than Windows XP x64, now that was horrible (but I still use it in a VirtualBox, just because I still have a license lying around)

As for Flash Player 10 on 64-bit, about time ... now to get IcedTea fully working 'cuz the goddamn plugin doesn't work on Facebook ... grrr!

deltatux

[Vadi]

fugly? IcedTea is essentialy OpenJDK, except it replaces some unfree parts with parts of the GNU Classpath and allows you to build Java purely with FOSS-software.
I have no idea what reason there could be not to like IcedTea.

It seems it uses the Motif style (if I recall correctly) or something like that. All widgets look just horrid.

[deanjo]

There is little point for a 64-bit Windows build at this point - the only release-level x64 browser is AFAIK IE, and anyone who has the technical knowledge to care about 64-bit would be unlikely to use such a monstrosity.
There are unofficial builds for Firefox 3.1, but these are still just trunk builds, and they're not core Mozilla stuff either.
No x64 Opera, Safari, or Chrome; even Konqueror is only x86! (Though Konqi and Opera at least run in 64-bit on Linux, so they have decent potential).

64-bit Windows flash is not required, but it might be the catalyst to get some 64-bit browsers released. :)


What's the Mac situation? I read that with Snow Leopard, Apple want to move to a completey x64 environment... do you reckon Apple has a whip above Adobe's backside?


Umm there is 64-bit versions of opera and konq. Not sure where you got the idea that there wasn't.

EDIT: Just realized you were talking about no windows 64-bit versions. My apologies.

[RealNC]

I tried the new version (it's already in Gentoo's "repository", but masked). Works nice. I uninstalled nspluginwrapper.

Since I'm using OSS4 and not ALSA, sound was not working. This is fixed easily by rebuilding libflashsupport as 64-bit instead of the default 32-bit:


cd /usr/lib/oss/lib
sudo gcc -shared -fPIC -march=native -O2 flashsupport.c -o libflashsupport.so

[timofonic]

There's also news about ARM and other companies that makes ARM-based platforms joined to make a Flash 10 for ARM platforms...

http://winfuture.de/news,43593.html

[MetalheadGautham]

I think adobe thought that most of us linux users still use Pentium III and below.
Anyway, the next step is to optimise adobe flash 32bit plugin for i686 instead of i386.

[bulletxt]

flash 64bit? on linux?
hey,adobe should warn users at least 1 week before if they don't want me to have an heart attack..:D

now I'm dreaming of AMD/ATI giving me an heart attack...

[timofonic]

Is anyone reading me?


More sources about Flash 10 for ARM...

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20081117VL202.html
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2008/05/02/43661/arm-welcomes-adobes-mobile-flash-move.htm
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/11/17/adobe.flash.for.arm.in.2k9/
http://www.arm.com/news/23776.html

Please put it as news, this is important for the embedded world and Linux is one of them...

[DeepDayze]

I think adobe thought that most of us linux users still use Pentium III and below.
Anyway, the next step is to optimise adobe flash 32bit plugin for i686 instead of i386.

or at least offer that build on the Adobe dev site as a special d/l

[Energy Recruitm]

I am using the latest ATI driver, 8.4, and performed the manual install by creating .deb packages and installed that way. One thing i had to do was do a insmod fglrk.ko from the /lib/modules/$(-uname -r)/dkmp/misc (think that was the dir, where ever the file lives though) and then start up the program in order for the display to work properly.
However, once it's working instead of alpha blending it just continuously flashes. So imaging your task bar in gnome/kde flashing on and off really fast.
I am currently at work so i can't post my xorg.conf. however i can tell you that i have agilx=on, DRI loaded and direct rendering is working, i also have composite, render and damage = true. in the driver section,

[timofonic]

Energy Recruitm, you have choosen the wrong forum thread...

[sidnelson13]

Ok, I installed, and decided to test on more than youtube.
So I went on to www.callofduty.com and tried there. No go!

Need a lot of work still, but it's great to see that it's being done.

[piquadrat]

Funny, the Gmail crash has vanished, at least for now. Perhaps, all it needed was a reboot to clear the memory from all nspluginwrapper and/or 32bit flash remains...

[charlie]

'profanity'

Don't use the Lord's name in vain.

[deanjo]

Ok, I installed, and decided to test on more than youtube.
So I went on to www.callofduty.com (http://www.callofduty.com) and tried there. No go!

Need a lot of work still, but it's great to see that it's being done.

That site works here.

[Thetargos]

Indeed... It's been working for me just fine... I've had some issues of the plugin crashing when trying to modify the options from the right-click config dialog, though.

[DanL]

An updated version of Flash-x86_64 Alpha was released this week.

[hdas]

thanks for the news about 10.0.0.21 :D. i just shifted to 64-bit linux (ubuntu 8.10) recently after hearing of flash 64 (and w64codecs, which i was unaware of, and also of the seamless nature of nspluginwrapper and other 32-bit apps). while i was happy with nspluginwrapper, this native plugin is blazing fast to me apparently. coupled with the 64-bit sun java plugin (6u12-b2) and firefox 3.2 trunk (minefield, also 64 bit), browsing is a new experience.

in general, 64-bit linux rocks :D. (so does 64-bit vista ultimate i heard with 4 gigs of ram, and possibly osx.)

[hdas]

ps : forgot to mention. there may be an issue with memory leaks. i am not sure if it is due to the nvidia-driver 180.16 (its 32-bit compat libs?) or flash, but seems its due to flash. occasionally, if there is a heavy memory leak, may need to close the browser and kill the process ldlinux.so.2.

also, some sluggishness with fullscreen videos. has something to do with mouse cursor movement.

but apart from these two issues, its super :D.

[Tares]

ps : forgot to mention. there may be an issue with memory leaks. i am not sure if it is due to the nvidia-driver 180.16 (its 32-bit compat libs?) or flash, but seems its due to flash. occasionally, if there is a heavy memory leak, may need to close the browser and kill the process ldlinux.so.2.

also, some sluggishness with fullscreen videos. has something to do with mouse cursor movement.

but apart from these two issues, its super :D.

Those memory leaks are from Adobe Reader which isn't 64bit native. My solution was to remove that nasty software with nspluginwrapper, install mozplugger and use FF+evince ;-)

[czarnyckm]

The kde4 users should install qt4 version of the gtk-qt-engine to get native flash to work with konqueror

on debian deinstall
gtk-qt-engine - theme engine using Qt for GTK+ 2.x

and install
gtk-qt-engine-kde4 - theme engine using Qt 4 for GTK+ 2.x

[RealNC]

Damn. The Linux version of Flash sucks. Totally. I uploaded an HD video (720p) to YouTube and it plays fine in Windows. In Linux, it drops frames like hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9w1nsClqL4&fmt=22

This chokes like crazy in my Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.33GHz in Linux. Almost unwatchable.

[deanjo]

Damn. The Linux version of Flash sucks.

Does this really surprise you considering Adobe's history of shitty code in general? ;)

[Vadi]

Damn. The Linux version of Flash sucks. Totally. I uploaded an HD video (720p) to YouTube and it plays fine in Windows. In Linux, it drops frames like hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9w1nsClqL4&fmt=22

This chokes like crazy in my Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.33GHz in Linux. Almost unwatchable.

It works fine here. Have hardware acceleration enabled..?

core 2 duo @ 2.2ghz...

[RealNC]

It works fine here. Have hardware acceleration enabled..?

It's enabled. So you say the animation is fluid with no skips? And you're on Flash 10 64-bit?

[Vadi]

It's enabled. So you say the animation is fluid with no skips? And you're on Flash 10 64-bit?

Yeah (File name: libflashplayer.so, Shockwave Flash 10.0 d21, and Buzzword is buggy with the letter 'a' while my 32bit vm can display it fine).

The video is amazing btw, wish I could run the demo on my 'buntu.

[myxal]

This interests me. What acceleration are you talking about? And how would I check to see if it's enabled?
(I guess flash doesn't use Xv on my box as I don;t see the typical blue background when I move the window and it works with compiz.)

[RealNC]

No idea what flash considers "acceleration", but you enable it (should be enabled by default) by right clicking on a flash applet and selecting "Settings".

[Vadi]

What is hardware-accelerated scaling?

Although Flash Player can display high-quality video and images by itself, hardware-accelerated scaling uses the video or graphics card on your computer to display images and video more clearly and quickly than Flash Player can on its own.

Uses the video card for scaling.