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Adobe Releases Preview of 64-bit Flash For Linux

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the flash-in-the-pan dept.

Rinisari writes "Finally, the day has come. Adobe has released a pre-release version of the 64-bit Flash player. It is available at the Adobe Labs Flash Player 10 download site immediately. Where are the Windows and Mac versions? '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 pre-release, 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 pre-release, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions.' Windows and Mac OS X 64-bit versions will follow, and the final versions all will be released simultaneously. Tamarin, the JIT compiler in Flash, is now capable of producing 64-bit code and nspluginwrapper is no longer required. There are, however, no plans to release a debugger version of the 64-bit plugin."

12 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Silverlight by Ed+Avis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We now have Java and Flash on 64-bit. No more reason to bitch.

    Java is free but Flash is not (gnash and swfdec are getting there, but still not good enough for everyday use). And x86_64 is not the only 64-bit platform; what about Sparc and Itanic users, for example?

    A binary blob for x86_64 is nice, I guess, but better would be for Adobe to give a bit of help to the projects trying to make a free implementation of Flash. So please continue to bitch, if you think that helps.

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  2. Just tested it by NeoBrain · · Score: 5, Informative

    I just tried it on my Fedora 9 64-bit installation and it works just fine. No crashes, no freezes, not like ATI drivers in XServer 1.5 :P Definitely a great move by Adobe, better release a working Flash plugin than a buggy and crashy one!

    1. Re:Just tested it by Radhruin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Confirmed. It's played everything I've thrown at it, and it is also considerably faster. With NSPluginWrapper, when I loaded a page full of flash graphs, the browser became sluggish for some time. With the alpha, the graphs load up instantly. So far I'm very impressed.

  3. Coming up in 6 months by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Where's the 128-bit version?!"

    --
    Summation 2
  4. And they came forth... by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 5, Funny

    Upon a sea of grease and neckbeards I sailed, and I heard the calling in the distant. It was the sound of fat, wolf shirt-wearing nerds crying out in triumph. Their voices merged into one, and I heard them exclaim, "The year of the Linux desktop is upon us!"

    And then everything was silent once more.

  5. Re:Let me be the first to say... by MasterOfMagic · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the Gnash website:

    Streaming Video
            Gnash supports the viewing of streaming video from popular video sharing sites like Lulu.tv or YouTube.com.

    When they stop claiming it as a feature, then they get to be free of my criticism of their broken feature.

  6. Re:Why linux first by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Linux users asked, and adobe listened. Great stuff.

    Other considerations:

    There are fewer Linux users and the average technical skill is higher than with other operating systems. This means that if there are problems, the pool of affected users is smaller than with Windows, the users are more likely to be able to recover without Adobe's help, and they're more likely to file bug reports.

    This sounds like a big win for everyone involved. Nicely played, Adobe!

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  7. Who tagged this 'buggy'? by gblues · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's an alpha release. NO SHIT it's buggy. Live with it and file reports so Adobe fixes it, or wait for the final version.

  8. Re:Why linux first by Shotgun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just to put an emphasis on your post, not only are the Linux users more likely to report bugs, their bugs reports are more likely to make sense and contain relevant data.

    --
    Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
    Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  9. Re:Silverlight by hedwards · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Considering the fact that Flash is essentially mandatory for many websites, I'd say that's moot. They don't make money on the player anyways, it's the tools that developers use that they make them money.

    I'd be more than happy to not ever install flash if not for the sites which just don't work without flash. And don't forget about the poor people needing to navigate flash sites with screen readers.

    Or in other words, most of us would be more than happy to not bitch about a lack of Flash support for our OS of choice if we didn't have to have it to make the most of the web. That didn't used to be much of an issue, a few sites had it and most of them were dumb flash games. Then there were the ads which made it beneficial to not have flash. But now...

  10. Re:Why linux first by tylerni7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bug #3129 in Windows Adobe Flash Player (64bit)
    Affects: My computer
    Importance: Extremely High

    Description: can u release a update 4 this!?!? it doesnt work rite on my computer!!

  11. Re:Silverlight by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Might I suggest open standards so anyone who cares can implement their own?

    You mean like this one? Yes, good idea. ;)

    --
    My blog