So you’re running a flavour of linux for the AMD 64bit platform - such as Novell’s Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop ((.. which coincidentally has just won the ‘Best Linux Desktop’ category in Infoworld Technology of the Year Awards )) and you’re about to go visit a frequently used flash powered website, so you launch firefox and.. oh noes, no flash.
So of course one thinks “no worries, I’ll just install it..” and that would be that, right?
Wrong!
Up until recently if one used a 64 bit linux operating system, one was, quite literally, shit out of luck. You see Macromedia Adobe doesn’t1 believe 64bit Linux exists, oh no, it’s some nasty rumour spread by Microsoft employee’s as some kind of sick in-joke.
But.. all is not lost - indeed this slipped under the radar and I only happened across it entirely by mistake. Damn fine mistake, indeed the best one I’ve made today.
This is a prerelease version of the Adobe® Flash® Player 9 Update software. It is being made available for developers and consumers to test their content to ensure existing content plays back correctly and that there are no compatibility issues.
The Flash Player beta is available in all languages; however, the beta installers are only in English and we can only accept feedback in English at this time. Flash Player beta downloads are available for the Linux platform.
Yes, flash 9, for Linux - and it’s 64bit compatible(ish) (( .. stopping past the nswrapper page may be advisable first, given Adobe’s penchant for ignoring an entire hardware platform.)).
So there you go, if you happened to be ripping clumps of hair out, or sitting in corner in the foetal position whilst trying to listen to the mole-people, be not afraid, for there is hope.
Can you tell I’m low on sleep right now? :)
- .. or certainly didn’t up until recently. (↩)
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of annoyances, browsers, hacks, noteworthy, software.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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