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The Future of Flash in Linux

Posted by gsh on · 16 comments
OSWeekly.com; By Matt Hartley 		Mail this story
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For the most part, I have been fairly content with the release of Flash 9 for Linux, with the possible exception of occasional Flash-related browser crashes. Even with this bug, just the move from Flash 7 to Flash 9 has made the usability of any modern browsing experience a lot more attractive, especially when watching Flash video.

Using Flash 7 meant having things work like an old Bruce Lee movie, complete with simulated lip syncing. Purists may deny this, but Flash is very important to most common Linux users. I imagine it is the same case with users of other platforms as well.

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Comments (16)

tuxchick ·
...how about finding out when this great, rich, innovative proprietary company is going to release 64-bit Flash? Oh I know, it takes Awesome Talent to re-compile a 32-bit application for 64-bit. But isn't that what great, rich, innovative proprietary companies are good at?

**edit** Awww, it appears that once again I am too harsh on matt twitley and poor old victimized Adobe, because Adobe has posted a Solution to this: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=6b...

"Solution To use Flash Player to view Flash content on a 64-bit operating system, you must run a 32-bit browser."

What a great solution! Chock full o details and everything. I guess I need to quit being so mean.
techiem2 ·
Yeah, cuz we all just LOVE closing our 64 bit browser with all it's tabs so we can open the 32 bit copy to view that youtube vid... Or use 2 different browsers so we can always have a 64 bit and 32 bit one open....
jdixon ·
> if you really want to write something useful

Uhm, TC, did you miss the "By Matt Hartley" at the top? Aren't useful and Matt Hartley contradictory terms?
Bob_Robertson ·
I don't understand, I have no problems in WinXP.

[Sarchasm: the distance between the maker of a sarcastic comment, and the person who just doesn't get it.]
herzeleid ·
Quoting:Yeah, cuz we all just LOVE closing our 64 bit browser with all it's tabs so we can open the 32 bit copy to view that youtube vid...
Maybe I'm missing something here, but why not just dump the 64-bit browser? Wouldn't that simplify things?
jdixon ·
> I don't understand, I have no problems in WinXP.

Is that the 32 bit or 64 bit version? :)
jdixon ·
> ...but why not just dump the 64-bit browser?

Maybe the 64 bit version works better in a 64 bit OS?
Bob_Robertson ·
> Is that the 32 bit or 64 bit version? :)

I dunno, it came with the machine.

Ok, I lying completely. Never mind.

I did put 64-bit Debian onto my Mom's new laptop until I found out that neither flash nor GoogleEarth work on it. Oh well, it's not like the 32bit version is noticeably slower.
dinotrac ·
>Maybe the 64 bit version works better in a 64 bit OS?

Oddly, no.

More often than not, if there is a difference, the 32 bit versions of software seem to work better.

That's not because 32 bit is better than 64 bit, of course, but because the software was developed on a 32 bit platform by people who didn't think that they were doing anything architecture-specific.
jdixon ·
> Oddly, no.

I'll keep that in mind. There's no "official" 64 bit version of Slackware, so I've never tried a 64 bit system. My latest machine is apparently 64 bit capable however, so I may try one out sometime in the future. There are at least two unofficial 64 bit versions of Slackware available.
bigg ·
Is there any possible advantage to running a 64-bit browser? I can understand a 64-bit OS, as for some tasks you get a big performance improvement, but with a web browser?

According to the Flash Linux developers, it is not easy to get a native 64-bit version of Flash:

http://blogs.adobe.com/penguin.swf/2006/10/whats_so_difficul...
tuxchick ·
Well bigg, as I recall from early blog entries Adobe pretty much plucked two devs at random who had zero Unix or Linux experience and told them "you will now make Linux."

However, the blog that you posted sounds like maybe they've gotten past the initial learning curve and are now well into Crappy Proprietary WeirdStuff.

jdixon, I know I shouldn't read hartley's stuff because it is so awful and so irritating. But sometimes I lack willpower :)
Sander_Marechal ·
Quoting:Maybe I'm missing something here, but why not just dump the 64-bit browser? Wouldn't that simplify things?


Ah yes. The browser. The application I use 92.13% of my time. I might as well use a 32-bit OS then. Easier to maintain if I don't have to keep around a 32-bit subsystem. Which is exactly what I currently do BTW. Running Debian i386 on an AMD64 because I need flash (can't avoid it in my webdesign work, and telling my girlfriend she can't play Neopets anymore would probably get me killed).
dinotrac ·
> and telling my girlfriend she can't play Neopets anymore would probably get me killed).

My sympathy. I am similarly fearful of telling my otherwise sweet young daughters that they cannot play Webkinz.

Nope. Gotta keep the flash.
hkwint ·
Quoting:and telling my girlfriend... would probably get me killed


Quoting:My sympathy. I am similarly fearful of telling my otherwise sweet young daughters


Free LXer market analysis: Women are causing the software lock-in.

/me ducks and waits for TC and other women to arrive
dinotrac ·
/me ducks and waits for TC and other women to arrive

Ducking makes sense. Waiting around, however, is a good way to get yourself sliced to ribbons.

Good luck!

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