Test Drive Adobe Flash Player 10 Beta 2 in Ubuntu
Adobe has released Flash Player 10 Beta 2 (10.0.0.525) for Linux. On top of features from Beta 1, this Flash 10 release adds windowless mode (transparency and page elements on top of a Flash applet), better Linux webcam support, new languages, and speed/stability improvements.
Previously I tested the first beta of Flash 10 and was impressed by the new 3D features and performance. Here’s an even easier way to test out Flash Player 10 Beta 2 in Ubuntu 8.04:
- Remove any previous versions of Flash. If you installed it from the repositories, this is not necessary because the package you will be installing is a newer version. If you know you installed Flash manually, see Adobe’s instructions for manual removal on Linux.
- Flash 10 will be included in the upcoming Ubuntu 8.10 release, and has
already been packaged. You can install this DEB package in Ubuntu 8.04 by
downloading it manually.
Download and install the DEB package from the page below; scroll down to the
downloads section and select your CPU architecture and a mirror:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/flashplugin-nonfree - Restart Firefox to load the new version of Flash.
Flash 10 Beta 1 worked great, so I was surprised that this version is unusable for me. With Compiz desktop effects turned on, applets freeze up or slow down Firefox. With Compiz off, some graphical effects still stutter and Firefox will occasionally crash. I’ve also noticed some applets display blurry and with other visual bugs. Also, Flash 10 also is now unusably slow in my Ubuntu virtual machine.
Having problems and want to downgrade to Flash 9? Remove the new package, and install it again from the normal repository:
sudo apt-get remove flashplugin-nonfree
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
How’s Flash 10 Beta 2 working for you?
Archived Comments
djuniah
I have the same issues with flash10 beta2. When loading any facebook page, the CPU hits 100% and stays there (compiz on). Also, anything that uses the newly enabled wmmode functionality, appears blurry. Flash10 beta1 worked a lot better than 9 (speed wise), but its now impossible to find online anywhere. Does anyone know of a good mirror?
S
Beta 1 worked better for me too. This version gives weird artifacts when viewing some flash videos. Also some sites that worked well in Beta 1 don’t work as well now.
patrickem
My system upgraded itself to beta 2 last week and then two days later it downgraded saying that the upgrade was unstable.
Tom
Kemal:
According to this Adobe blog, V4L2 is partially supported in beta 2:
http://blogs.adobe.com/penguin.swf/2008/07/paparazzi_v2_1.html
djuniah:
It’s too bad that Adobe doesn’t keep their older released online, I’m missing
beta 1 now also.
empty_tank
it worked for firefox 3 and opera 9.51 using hardy 8.04.1 amd64. thanks
mike
Same issue as S. I get some white artifacts happening on dark youtube clips. Downgraded back to the packaged 9 version and all good again.
maek
Yeah Beta 2 is a bit of a failure … kept crashing Firefox 3 although I did notice that the performance was slightly better in Beta 2 than Beta 1.
Tenplus1
Beta 1 was a lot smoother but had keyboard problems with some flash content… Beta 2 has fixed the keyboard glitch but tends to crash on some flash movies…
slumbergod
I tried beta 2 just so I could see if my webcam was now supported in meebo (using Tokbox). Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to try that. I was trying to load a flash demo of a product I was interested in and it was hopelessly slow. I had to roll back to the older version.
At least Adobe are making an effort to support Linux.
Kemal
v4l webcams are not working with the beta 2. A developer from Adobe stated: “For the release version 10, v4l will be supported.”