Adobe releases alpha 64-bit Flash plugin for Linux

It's been a long time coming. For ages, users have been forced to use nspluginwrapper to enable the 32-bit Flash player in their browser. With the official alpha release from Adobe, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Adobe's increased attention to Linux may have something to do with the fact that nearly a quarter of all Firefox crashes on Linux systems are related to the Flash plugin.
Availability of the 64-bit version is yet another boost for Flash on Linux. Version 10 made significant strides in terms of performance and compatability.
Linux users can get their hands on the plugin from this page at Adobe Labs.
Since I've recently installed Vista Ultimate x64 on my workstation, I'm hopeful that Adobe will do the right thing and roll out a Windows version as well. The company has stated that next major release the plugin will feature 64-bit versions for all three major platforms.
[ via Ars Technica ]












Comments
7
Subscribe to commentssupernova_hqNov 21st 2008 2:00AM
So, Sun ... Where's my 64 bit java plugin?!?
I know, different company and there are open source plugins, but I still have to load a 32bit firefox session to upload anything to my school's blackboard system! :(
Lee MathewsNov 20th 2008 2:39PM
Agreed...Sun really needs to step up on that one. It's hard to believe that Java hasn't gone native 64 bit yet.
SuperevilNov 20th 2008 4:07PM
Have they fixed the bug that stalls Firefox everytime I try to load a flash video on Ubuntu Hardy?
supernova_hqNov 21st 2008 2:00AM
I hate posting twice to the same article, but I can't get the flash player to work, so I guess Sun gets (almost) a tie here.
Freaking .so file segfaults!!!
VadiNov 21st 2008 9:14AM
Even though this is 'alpha' quality as labelled by Adobe, this is already faster and stabler than nsplugin. ofc thanks to nsplugin we at least had *some* kind of flash (otherwise, not a lot would be on 64bit linux..)
rendezvous65Nov 23rd 2008 9:34PM
I have this version of Flash. However, I had to compile my own version of libflashsupport.so since I use OSS which is the only sound system that works with my X-Fi. It works nice but OSS is not allowing me to have a media player and flash. Still working on that though.
rendezvous65Dec 7th 2008 5:47PM
OSX and Windows are also going to get a 64 bit Flash plugin but not right now. A beta version of Flash 10 64 bit could be released for windows. I'm sure the beta versions of Flash 11 will have 64 bit support natively for OSX, Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD. Flash Player 11 will be native 64 bit. The OSX 64 bit support will require an Intel mac.