Flash 7 for Linux Released

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Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 27, 2004 @06:51PM from the long-time-coming dept.

molarmass192 writes "Looks like Macromedia has finally made good on their word and provided Linux with a current version of Flash player. Improvements over Flash 6 include a speed boost and support for SOAP. Here's the requisite download link. I took a few seconds to get it set up and the response is noticeably snappier than version 6. In particular, the audio/video sync problems in version 6 seems to have been taken care of. Now, I wonder where they hid that Shockwave player for Linux?"

34 of 471 comments (clear)

Finally! by mrbarkeeper · 2004-05-27 18:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Looks like those Linux users finally get all the fun.
Now if only... by Atrax · 2004-05-27 18:55 · Score: 5, Insightful

... they'd release the authoring tool in a Linux version?

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1. Re:Now if only... by Anonvmous+Coward · 2004-05-27 19:03 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  ".. they'd release the authoring tool in a Linux version?"
  
  Hate to sound like I'm trolling here, but in order to get Macromedia to make authoring tools for Linux, you guys gotta prove you're willing to buy it. All this free-software movement probably puts the taste in a lot of people's mouthes that nobody wants to spend money on software.
2. Re:Now if only... by Majix · 2004-05-27 19:09 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  They're working on a Flash authoring tool called Flex that runs on Linux. The plan is to run it with Wine though, but I guess it's better than nothing. Now we just need Adobe to get with the program.
3. Re:Now if only... by spektr · 2004-05-27 20:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Hate to sound like I'm trolling here, but in order to get Macromedia to make authoring tools for Linux, you guys gotta prove you're willing to buy it.
  
  Maybe they should ask Oracle whether anybody buys high quality software for Linux if they don't know. Some years ago this would have been a pretty good troll, but nowadays...?
4. Re:Now if only... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-05-27 20:15 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Oh yeah, no copyright respecting Linux user would ever pay for software. As opposed to those pirating Windows users, who only paid for the OS that came with the machine, not even the one they're running.
  
  I remember using Windows. Needing a program? Ask a friend, and get a copy of something he got a copy of, registered to a name even he had never heard of.
  
  Since I switched to Linux, I see the advantage of copyright law (if just everyone would use software they could pay for, we would have way more Linux users), and I pay for my software. I have bought about half the titles Loki released (the rest didn't really interest me), and even Windows games for running under Wine. Actually, I bought more Windows games for running under Wine, than I ever bought when running Windows.
  
  I am not the only one. Linux users on average have much more respect for copyright than Windows users.
5. Re:Now if only... by justsomebody · 2004-05-27 21:15 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Actualy, Macromedia sent letters to customers in form of:
  
  Would you migrate???
  Would you buy...???
  
  I guess they got enough positive response to start making authoring tools. You can read press releases for your self on Macromedia
  
  First version will be Wine based, probably Crossover, second is the native version.
  
  --
  Signature Pro version 1.13.2-3 release 83.5 beta3try7 after-breakfast edition
6. Re:Now if only... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-05-27 21:33 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Hardly anyone buys software for Linux desktop use, which is really what the thread is about. There is almost zero commerce for Linux and without a single desktop, commercial support and no moving targets, that is hardly ever likely to happen.
  Obviously for server use it's a different story where vendors just treat Linux and a cheap UNIX and porting is easy.
  
  I use Linux everyday and have for years, but I see no software market at all for desktop apps until things change. Compare this with almost an uncountable number of apps for Windows and Mac.
7. Re:Now if only... by jrockway · 2004-05-28 04:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  > "Mr Weenie -- despite all the ideology about the "Unix Philosophy", Unix desktop apps have never worked that way. Can you meaningfully use OpenOffice with pipes and cron? No."
  
  Wrong. You can pipe in word documents and get a PDF (or something else) out. So yes, OO.org fits into the Unix philosophy. It also fits into the "big app that does lots" philosophy. Amazing how something can be in two groups, eh.
  
  --
  My other car is first.
Hmmm by FannyMinstrel · 2004-05-27 18:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Now, I wonder where they hid that Shockwave player for Linux?

/dev/null
Flash + Wine is on its way, they claim by Anonymous Coward · 2004-05-27 18:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

Apparently they are working to make future versions of Flash Wine-compatible. It may not be a Linux version, but it's not a Windows version, either. It's a Wine API version. That's pretty cool. Of course we would all prefer native binaries, but having something certified as Wine-compatible is in some ways even better in the short term, because it validates that as an option for all the other Windows software companies. Making something Wine compatible is usually fairly simple.
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mobile porn
Also available as package by G�tz · 2004-05-27 19:00 · Score: 5, Informative

It's also available as packages for all major distributions from here..
1. Re:Also available as package by Eivind · 2004-05-27 19:58 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Is the installer otherwise similarily brainless ?
  I used the rpm for Mandrake 10.0, and the EULA came with a new, and previously atleast for me unseen level of stupidity:
  It had a freaking timer in the lower-rigth corner counting down from 15 seconds and being labeled: "Time left until auto-decline"
  Offcourse it can easily be proven in a court of law that it is not humanly possible to read, understand and click accept on the eula in such a short time. Thus it's no longer the case, as is typically the case that the user agreed to an eula, *choosing* not to read it.
  No, it's *enforced*, to install the program you *have* to accept an eula without being given any possibility of reading it.
  It's probably not a stretch that idiocy like this will further weaken the already more than questionable legal force of terms stated in eulas.
Read the EULA? by jcuervo · 2004-05-27 19:01 · Score: 5, Interesting

1. You may not make or distribute copies of the Software, or electronically transfer the Software from one computer to another or over a network.
Just DOWNLOADING it violates the EULA.

--
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1. Re:Read the EULA? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-05-27 19:10 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Why did this get a troll? It's a good example of how stupid terms get thrown into EULA's all the time.
  
  Another good example is NVIDIA's driver EULA. Apparently, you can only have one copy of the NVIDIA drivers installed, even if you have more than one NVIDIA vidio chipset.
2. Re:Read the EULA? by iCEBaLM · 2004-05-27 19:43 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  No, uploading it does, as the EULA states that YOU can't distribute it, doesn't mean they can't.
3. Re:Read the EULA? by fireklar · 2004-05-27 20:29 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  1. You may not make or distribute copies of the Software, or electronically transfer the Software from one computer to another or over a network.
  Downloading it from their servers would be an "electronic transfer" of the Software over a network. Therefore, both uploading and downloading violate the EULA.
4. Re:Read the EULA? by black+mariah · 2004-05-27 21:15 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Morons. I would have sent it back reading
  
  3. You may not use the Software on a FUCKING LAN YOU GODDAMNED PEDANTIC GEEK-ASS DICKWEED or more than one PC.
  
  But, that's just me.
  
  --
  'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
SuSE Works by managementboy · 2004-05-27 19:02 · Score: 5, Interesting

Tried the install package on SuSe 9.0 and works like a charm. The only drawback is that the user needs to know where their mozilla/firefox is installed. Works noticably faster than before (I also have the feeling that it eats much less CPU time). Next improvement: no flash at all! ;-)
Needs more work, still by etymxris · 2004-05-27 19:04 · Score: 5, Interesting

By chance I downloaded the newest version as I was reinstalling everything else too. But it still has "jerks" whenever I play a flash game. My slower windows box doesn't have this problem. The problem is reproducible on all three of my linux machines, no matter the processor speed. It makes it especially difficult to play a game like this since there are unexpected jerks in movement.
Misnomer title by diwadm · 2004-05-27 19:05 · Score: 5, Informative

Flash 7 for Linux Released I almost jumped in joy thinking that Flash will be released natively for Linux. Flash is the application itself, Flash player is the standalone player and web browser plugin. Oh well.
Please can we GNU/Linux on PPC peeps have one too by niks42 · 2004-05-27 19:09 · Score: 5, Interesting

I've had many emails passed back and forth with Macromedia tech support .. there are versions for most Unix implementations, and MacOS 9 and X .. but not for Linux/PPC *sigh* .. it wouldn't be that difficult to run just one more compile, would it ?
Whoa... by bersl2 · 2004-05-27 19:13 · Score: 4, Funny

props to Macromedia on this one.

It's made it through (currently) six repetitions of Badgers with excellent synchronization (as opposed to version 6 not even making one). Hell, everything's so crisp and fluid... it's beyond further words.
A Speedup Trick... by ajayrockrock · 2004-05-27 19:14 · Score: 5, Informative

Has anyone tried this speedup trick in other distro's? I doubt that it's Gentoo specific:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=176167

The gist of it is setting an environment var:

export FLASH_GTK_LIBRARY=libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0

People in the Gentoo forum are claming massive speed increases when viewing flash. I'm about to go try it now...

--Ajay
Can't use it :( by Per+Wigren · 2004-05-27 19:15 · Score: 5, Interesting

It's nice to see companies supporting Linux, but unfortunately I can't use it until they make a amd64-version since 64-bit browsers can't use 32-bit plugins..

The Linux kernel can run 32-bit code but can't link to 64-bit code so to have a 32-bit browser I'd have to also have 32-bit versions of all the libraries it depends on, and their dependancies, all the way down to glibc and ld.so.. Not worth it.

Is it possible to run isolated 32-bit code inside a 64-bit program? Something like an exec32() libc-function or something? To make 64-bit Mozilla run Flash and make 64-bit MPlayer load win32-codecs.. I'm sure you'll have to make some kind of wrapper-code to convert int-sizes etc when sending/getting data from/to the library, but would it be possible at all?

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mod parent up by ErichTheWebGuy · 2004-05-27 19:17 · Score: 4, Interesting

The parent poster has an excellent point. If these developers write quality code, and I have no reason to suspect that they do not, why not drop a few hundred bucks on a single PPC box that you can start a GCC make on, and let it run for a week if need be?

At the very least, you would have an excellent testbed. AND, IIRC, the US Navy is moving to PPC/Linux. Imagine the wargames... Flash/Shockwave Battleship!!!

Macromedia Sales: Would that not make it WAY easier to land a HUGE contract with the Defense Dept?

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Re: With version 7, this trick is no longer needed by zero0w · 2004-05-27 19:31 · Score: 4, Informative

This trick is no longer needed after upgrading to version 7. The plugin will work fine with both gtk1 and gtk2 version of Mozilla / Firefox.
i'm so happy! by lingqi · 2004-05-27 19:38 · Score: 4, Insightful

Now, you know, I can finally view tomshardware.com in its full glory.
Now seems a good time to introduce flashblock. Very ironic, isn't it?

--
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IRIX version? Open Source? by green+pizza · 2004-05-27 19:45 · Score: 4, Insightful

This is one of the few times you'll hear me honestly ask "is it open source?" I ask because I would love to see an IRIX version of this for my Silicon Graphics Octane workstation, and I know it's not going to happen otherwise. The IRIX world is stick at version 5 with few alternatives.

Yeah, yeah, I know, flash sucks. But sometimes you need to have it to visit certain sites. Sure beats having to fire up my PC just o look at the newest movie site.

And yes, SGIs are oldschool. But Octanes are pretty cheap on eBay and are becoming common with we hardware collectors (if you're not that type, you probably know one... house full of computers with at least one working Amiga and probably a NeXT cube too). And it makes for a great main workstation!
It is for x86 GNU/Linux, remember that. by latroM · 2004-05-27 19:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

"Looks like Macromedia has finally made good on their word and provided Linux"

GNU/Linux works on various platforms although the x86 port is the most common. I don't see x86 anywhere in the announcement, do you? If we had the source we had the freedom to compile it on any arch and OS we wanted to. A proprietary software package isn't a contribution to us if our goal is freedom.
You, sir (madam?) are a buffoon... by MaestroSartori · 2004-05-27 21:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

In your haste to rant about how much you hate everyone else on then Intarweb, you've missed or ignored a pretty major point: Flash is just a tool. How about this:

HTML is a lead lined cudgel with which talentless unfunny people can create their poorly designed and impossible-to-navigate websites. (or, if they're really talentless, they just ship them off to sites like geocities.com) I have personally lost count of the number of times I've had my browsing experience ruined by an annoying as hell animated gif banner ad spawning in the middle of my screen, or a homepage so slowed and crippled by dynamic HTML that I left and never returned.

I suspect most of us would agree with that to an extent, but we don't vow never to look at a webpage again.

Some Flash is very good. Deal with it, move on, use the appropriate browser/plugin to make Flash content optional.

--
Game dev and music blog
Clause 3.g of the EULA by polished+look+2 · 2004-05-27 22:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

You shall not use the Software to develop any software or other technology having the same primary function as the Software, including but not limited to using the Software in any development or test procedure that seeks to develop like software or other technology, or to determine if such software or other technology performs in a similar manner as the Software.
A little short on the badger side by Ghoser777 · 2004-05-27 23:42 · Score: 4, Insightful

There are clearly 11 badgers before the two mushrooms.

So to clarify:

badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger Mushroom! MUSHROOM!

Matt Fahrenbacher

--
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Shockwave player for Linux by IGnatius+T+Foobar · 2004-05-28 00:49 · Score: 4, Insightful

You want the Shockwave player for Linux? This is where the Slashdot Effect can actually help.

Go to the Macromedia 'wish form' and tell them you want Shockwave Player for Linux! Development over there seems to be demand-driven, so fill out the form. If they get enough requests, they might just do it.

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