Java And Flash On Ubuntu Heron 64 bit Linux
- 4
- Add a Comment
- No Related Post
Not too long back, I had a reader ask me whether or not it was worth it to try one of the Linux distributions released for 64bit architecture vs that of 32bit. I thought the question was rather timely, as I had recent purchased a new notebook from System76.com that happens to run Ubuntu 8.04 64bit by default.
As you will see from this video below, not only does Java and Adobe Flash work, they work great.
To recap however, there are a few things to be aware of:
- The easiest way to get Flash working is to browse to a website that requires it. When prompted, install Adobe Flash. As far as getting PulseAudio working with Flash, do yourself a favor and install padevchooser. Then set it to autostart from Sessions. You might also want to make sure you have pavucontrol installed as well.
- Java IceTea was provided on my system, but I wanted needed Java JRE for my WeatherBug Linux application. So I made sure that my Multiverse repository was enabled from software sources BEFORE trying to install the WeatherBug application. This ensured that I would have the app working without any issues at all. This way there was no need to do any manual installation of Java whatsoever.
About the WeatherBug application:
Tested a while back here as the then beta app, Tempest, WeatherBug for Linux has proven to be a stellar weather application for those looking for more control over their weather application on this platform. Most significant difference with WB vs other Linux apps:
- You pick from a number of local weather stations instead of having one thrust upon you based on your zip code.
- Friendly to use with your proxy server, manually setup the data update frequency and even change layout the UI to best meet your needs.
- Only auto-starts when you choose to make it do so.
4 Comments
Seppe De Loore
May 21st, 2008
at 7:02am
Hi Matt,
I use Ubuntu Heron 64 on an Acer Ferrari 1100. It runs great and Java and Flash run as you described. However, I did run into a very unpleasant 64-bit bug: if you suspend or try to hibernate your laptop, Heron 64 kills the filesystem on the system partition.
So far I haven’t found a solution (other than removing the buttons suspend and hibernate from the gnome interface).
Does your laptop suffer from the same problem? (Back ti up before trying…).
For more information on this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/203537
If you know a solution, please let me know.
Seppe.
Matt Hartley
May 21st, 2008
at 12:06pm
Seppe De Loore: Ah, this is the importance of buying pre-installed. System76 provides us with their own repository that offers a patch that fixes that, along with wireless resume as well after coming out of hibernate.
Je Kang
June 17th, 2008
at 6:04pm
I’ve installed ubuntu 8.04 on three different occasions. Almost everything works fine. The only problem I run into is the flash support. I use the 64 bit version and all the streaming flash videos (from youtube, hulu, etc) are very choppy and in full screen they are unwatchable. I installed the adobe flash plugins as you described, but am not getting the flash performance you claim to have :(. I’ve read many forums pertaining to this issue, but have yet to find a solution. Any help you can provide will be much appreciated
Matt Hartley
July 21st, 2008
at 11:08pm
Je Kang: Actually, this method is very dated. These days, all you need to do is go to a Flash page such as YouTube and install. There is no question that Flash 9 is still crap on Linux, but I am testing Flash 10 and it does not kill cpu cycles like 9 did.