Adobe Releases New 64-Bit Flash Plugin For Linux 240
TheDarkener writes "Adobe seems to have made an about face regarding their support for native 64-bit Linux support for Flash today, and released a new preview Flash plugin named 'Square.' This includes a native 64-bit version for Linux, which I have verified works on my Debian Lenny LTSP server by simply copying libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins — with sound (which I was never able to figure out with running the 32-bit version with nspluginwrapper and pulseaudio)."
Re:We have had it for a while (Score:5, Interesting)
The 64-bit plugin for Linux has never had hardware acceleration enabled. The 32-bit version does... maybe they've finally enabled it in this new version. I'll switch to this if that's the case... otherwise, I'm happy with my 32-bit plugin and smooth full screen video.
Re:Why does linux get this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well in fairness haven't linux users been waiting longer? Seems to me Microsoft haven't exactly been forging ahead when it comes to 64bit.
Yes exactly. I've been trying to use 64-bit Linux as my desktop for 5 years now. At first I went ahead and did the 64-bit thing and worked with the 32-bit chroot'ed firefox/nspluginwrapper what the hell ever. In the end I just had enough with it being a crappy work around and had to use 32-bit Linux on my desktop. I'm glad they are finally giving it attention again before not having 64-bit linux becomes too limiting.
All the meanwhile, I haven't heard Windows users gripe and complain much that flash doesn't work for them very well. Most don't even know what 64-bit even is.
Too Late (Score:2, Interesting)
Gnash works with youtube. Gnash development has picked up since Adobe dropped the 64bit support. And once you switch there is no reason to go back unless you enjoy your cpu melting and state of the art 0-days
Re:Why does linux get this? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why does linux get this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Huh? When I went to 32 to 64-bit Linux it was at least as easy as going from 32 to 64 bit Windows. The Flash Plugin was the only thing that became a PITA.
Tar.GZ? Why? For the love of me, why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Tar.gz is not a good way. The manual dependency resolving is so outdated. The simple fact they made the same mistake again will cause me not to install it. The opensource version may not run as smoothly but it is easy to install.
do not want (Score:3, Interesting)
I refuse to use any of the universal package systems out there because they are all junk. Each distro maintainer is free to create a package that wraps the .tar.gz if they choose. That is what Debian/Ubuntu and Arch do.
It is a pig (Score:3, Interesting)
It is a pig. Playing videos with this uses about 5x the CPU and 35 watts more power as playing the same video with VLC (measured via a Kill-A-Watt). Details:
Running Ubuntu 10.04 on my Athlon II X4 635 in a 780G motherboard with on-board Radeon HD3200 graphics (using the Radeon driver), playing a 480p clip from Hulu scaled to 1080p full screenuses 220% CPU (eg, over two full cores). If I download the same video from hulu with get_flash_videos, I can play it in VLC with 35% CPU utilization (eg, less than 1/2 of a core). The VLC playback is smooth (as well as add and logo free), while the flashplayer playback is dropping frames.
Note that I tried both huludesktop and a chrome browser window, and got the same (terrible) performance.
Re:Why does linux get this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Is it still using 100% CPU (Score:4, Interesting)
I installed Folding@home for precisely that reason. I used to do a "yes > /dev/null" but then thought I could donate those cycles for something useful.
Re:Why does linux get this? (Score:3, Interesting)
You have more patience than me. I tried it, now that I have enough memory that there's actually a reason for it, but I had to throw in the towel very quickly. Got Flash to work, but only very poorly (in particular fullscreen video was useless). Thought I'd use it to host a 32-bit system to do the stuff that was most practical in that, but I quickly realized I wouldn't get 3d acceleration then.