Comments on Flash Player 8.5 Linux (Ubuntu Dapper Drake)

Actually, Wine Is Not an Emulator (WINE), so technically it is running nativly on Linux using Windows APIs. Not as elegant as a Linux binary, but we're at the mercy of Adobe/Macromedia unless a GPL Flash alternative can be made to par with the official player.

I prefer not using Flash. I use Opera, just it, without the Flash plugin. The Gnash plugin should come later this year.

I just compiled gnash with the klash plugin. I can now see adds on my 64 bit debian install :) It actually works well so far. Thanks for the tip! (Time to turn adblock back on in konqueror)

WINE can play with recursive acronyms as much as it wants to, but as long as windows program is running in a simulated windows and is unable to access any of the native linux resources (say run a linux program) it might as well be called an emulator. "Not elegant" doesn't quite describe it. The only thing your so called "solution" does, is enable users to view those few flash movies which require flash8 (mind you, that flash7 plugin is available natively as a linux plugin). Lets see what the downsides are:

* Windows version of Java would have to be installed to accomodate java applet support (adding WINE overhead to the creepy-crawly pace of JVM)

* Any attempts to open downloaded files from the browser using linux programs fail (windows version of firefox obviously is not aware that it is not running under windows, so you cannot point it to the linux stuff). So things like open a PDF or a torrent go right out, unless of course you install windows programs for that too.

* Any linux plugins such as totem or gxine plugins to watch embeded movies do not work and you have to install yet more windows software to run under WINE.

* E-Mail client integration (unless you are using webmail) doesn't work unless you install a windows mailer

So, by the time you get all your features back, you are running a windows browser, windows mailer, windows movie player, windows version of acrobat, windows music player, windows torrent client, windows JVM and god knows what else. Time to ask yourself why did you leave windows in the first place and all of it just to view some lousy flash movies (and once again I will remind you that most flash content out there will work just fine under flash7 running under linux). So? What did you accomplish?

What ever you do dont go near flickr, they bring the thought police out on you when you bring this topic up.

An i totally agree, flash 7 was fine on windows, why the hell did they have to upgrade it.....planned obselence keep people updating and consuming.

Just when you finished using your code scanning tool to look for comprimises, they expect you to upgrade to a non-existant piece of software or get locked out of the internet fun!!!

If you were ever wondering how big brother society would eventuate, then this is it.....everyone is now expected to use windows and a machine with the fritz chip in it....or so it seems.

Anyone noticed this or have you all got your head in the sand?

Actually ... the Firefox used in windows running through WINE is NOT running in "simulated windows". Nothing about Windows is "simulated". All it does is convert calls to the native win32 libraries to open source counterpart libraries provided by the WINE software.

There is a BIG difference between "Windows" and SOME of the libraries that are used to run a win32 application.

This is why we say that WINE is not an "emulator". It does not emulate Windows at all .. it just passes on calls for library function.

I agree, at first I thought "oh, this is great", but then I realized the implications of having the run the Windows version of firefox. I wouldn't have a problem if there was a way to have Wine only handle the flash part, and the plugin still worked with the linux version of Firefox.

There seems to be a piece of commercial software that does this, but it's quite expensive, and outdated (it's compatibility list says it only works with Flash 7, so what's the point, we can get Flash 7 natively).

I think this might confuse noobs. Regular /bin/sh fails on the commands with "~$" appended to them. Should just be 'wine "command"'. You may want to edit that. Or maybe I don't understand that secret tip. Nice tip though. Finally can see some of the sites that I've been missing...

I think that was just part of his prompt that got copied over by accident

thanks for the hint , now i fixed the command line

erm.. to the chap who mentioned openflash - "Open source utility to (re)program flash BIOS chips. Initial support will be for the i-opener network appliance under Qnx since there is an immediate need." sorry....

Well, the title of the article is basically false. "Flash Player 8.5 Linux" implies that either Macromedia released linux version or that you have found some way to actually use flash8 under linux. Instead, all you did was install a windows version of everything in an emulatior. I suppose that you either expect users to open Windows version of firefox every time they encounter a flash8 animation or completely switch to Windows firefox. Not really a solution. In the same spirit, I could start windows in vmware player, open some activex page in IE and claim activex support in linux.

I have been trying to figure this out for soo long. So many web pages are using flash 8.0 now and there is no linux version!

due to the buy-out macromedia.com now points to adobe.com so step 4 is broken.. any idea's on where to find a replacement?

To make this even easier, download Portable Firefox from here. Install with good ol' Wine. Then install the plugin as an extension (get that here [Note: direct link to .xpi file!]). There's a help.html file included with Portable Firefox that explains all that, as well as how to install the Shockwave plug-in.

Well, I use Ubuntu Breezy on AMD64. There is no suitable Flash for me from Macromedia. The open source ones do not work. In the short term, we need for Macromedia to put out a 64 bit Linux version. I have urged them to do this. I also asked them to make it open source. We need to all write to them about this problem. In addition, I have not heard much about OpenFlash, so I wonder how that is proceeding.

I always complain to websites with Flash, but my big gripe is with the Flash only sites. Poor choice.

You can go to

http://www.petitiononline.com/lin64swf/petition.html

and sign the flash 64 for linux online petition

Flash is evil (proprietary), but there's no viable alternative at the moment. This also works on Breezy, I just tested it.

Nice work.

Thanks, I need it for this page...?

Maybe he wanted to point you to gnash

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/

The easiest way is to install wine:-

sudo apt-get install wine

then go to firefox.com download the windows version. It will install easily with wine then just go to a site that uses flash and click the install plugin button!!!!

much much easier and quicker

It isn't too complex at all.  Just look around on the web for help files, there are plenty.  Honestly folks, if you want to be a Linux user you are going to have to put in just a little bit of effort.

 There is a fix for the sound to.  You need to put firefox onto the AOSS sound server, that way it isn't knocked off ALSA by system sounds.  Again there are forums that cover this.

 
Using wine should be a last resort.  Wine is good at what it does, but when there is a flash plugin that runs native, why bother?

 So come on folks, take a deep breath and learn to Linux properly.  It takes time, but it is worth it.

 

The aoss fix and other fixes on the forums do not work for everyone so it is not just about effort... I think that is why people bother with wine.

So, you think linux is only for people who want to spend all day reading forums and blogs and various obscure references of technical details just to get basic functionality like sound or video to work? That is the attitude that will continue to prevent linux from becoming the viable alternative OS that it ought to be.

 If this fix is so easy, why hasn't it been incorporated into the OS or install scripts yet? Why does it just work on Windows and MacOS? 

I totally agree, it's the easiest way to do it. Why bother with all the trouble when we can do it easy! I think wine is great even if there is a flash plugin that runs native, it's much easier.
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Flash rpg

I could do all these steps with no problem and run flash but with no sound!

you do not need to wine the windows version...

 The plugin is here also for linux...

(as far as i know only works for ubuntu based distros)

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
sudo update-flashplugin

I'm running Ubuntu 6.06 on a Pentium-M 1.7GHz laptop and running Flash through Firefox through Wine is incredibly slow! Forget the pro's and cons of relying on Windows libs via wine, it's too slow! If you really want to play flash 8/9 movies/games then get yourself a copy of Windows or just wait until Adobe get off their arses and release Flash 9 for Linux. (I read somewhere that Adobe have 15 developers assigned to Flash for Linux, so I don't think we'll be waiting too long.) I don't like to admit it, but Windows does have its uses...

Oh my gosh man you don't know how much I needed this flashplayer I installed wine earlier and now I've installed flashplayer.Now I can finally download my game from the website that needed Flashplayer so thank you and don't listen to those other people It worked with me so why complain.^^,

I automated the process of installing flash 32bit and 64bit in Ubuntu Desktop. It even works with pulseaudio. It works in feisty, gutsy, hardy, and intrepid.

Automated Flash Install:
http://www.hildoersystems.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:automated-install-of-flash-10-for-ubuntu-desktop-32bit-and-64bit&catid=39:multimedia&Itemid=59

Thank you for the link.

Marius