linux Flash 9.0.115 issue?

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Posted by fbroce, 01-06-2008, 11:54 PM
I have been experimenting with Fedora 8 as a desktop (64 bit). It is quite good. The only problem I have encountered is using the latest flash. For some reason it actually turns off the computer randomly. I reverted to an older version and it doesn't happen. I am running kde, it behaves the same with gnome or xfce so I know it's not the desktop I am using. It could be nspluginwrapper however, I uninstalled that and tried 32 bit Firefox and it also crashes. I probably should be in the Fedora forum but I was wondering if anyone else had seen this. I am running AMD X2 5000, 4gb ram, NV 7300.
Posted by Tim Greer, 01-07-2008, 12:31 AM
I run CentOS systems in my office, at home, and I also have a 64 bit system. Simply put, flash doesn't work in a stable way. They have very little interest in supporting Linux, let alone 64 bit. You can try running your browser in a 32 bit environment, but I've found that doesn't help either. I was able to get Flash to install and work after a little fiddling with it (and I have to do it for each new version, which isn't fun, and I don't care enough to make notes, flash is worthless in my opinion and too many people force it on people via their web sites). However, mine will, every few days, simply stop working and prompt me to download the plugin each time (not the solution). It will indeed crash the browser (not my system in any way, just the web browser). Even when it works, it doesn't play sound, because I use a different sound driver. Unfortunately, not knowing in advance, I used the most used sound drivers for Linux, and they used the other most used one (I have no care to change it, since I think flash is worthless). Sorry I can't offer any better help with it.
Posted by fbroce, 01-07-2008, 12:39 AM
Well. This system is funny. I think it may be a quirk in the cheap ECS motherboard (Fry's special) although it is totally stable with the older flash. It plays sound, flash video like youtube, movie trailers, etc in the 64 bit browser. I did try Centos 5 on the same box and it seemed less refined that Fedora on multimedia stuff. This is mostly an experiment. I may try a different motherboard. It seems strange you could actually shut down the system totally with flash. It shuts off like you pulled the plug. Actually I find linux is much faster than XP with a similar system. I did try the 32 bit browser and same results with the latest flash but the older beta version works fine. Thanks for your input.
Posted by fbroce, 01-11-2008, 09:05 AM
I think I solved my problem. It must have be a combination of hardware issues. I swapped video cards and reflashed the bios to a previous version. This seems to have totally cleared up the problem. I also enabled cool and quiet in the bios. I guess I should experiment futher and determine which of those three steps cured the problem however having a totally stable linux desktop is so nice I don't want to go back.