Ubuntu
adobe-flashplugin package

Is there any version of linux that will play flash with transparency? Yes there is using Flash 10 64bit Astro

Asked by jrm453

I've been recouping from some knee surgery and have had plenty of time to try various fixes offered throughout launchpad and the forums. It appears that FLASH WITH TRANSPARENCY IS NOT POSSIBLE WITH LINUX. I'm working to develop some applications which would involve many boxes running flash but they must run it well and with full transparency (alpha channels), like I am currently able to do with WindowsXP. I am not happy about having to pay for licensing so many boxes and the never ending grief that is the Window's world. I was really hoping that ubuntu would handle this and must say sadly disappointed and feeling a bit misled by all the hype that ubuntu was a valid operating system. From all the posts I've read, I'm certain I'm not the only one who feels that an operating system in today's markets must have full flash capabilities considering how entrenched flash is as a development tool... not just for the web but for mobile apps as well.

So, this is my last plea for HELP. Does anyone know which version of linux (if any) will run flash as well as Windows will?

I reeeaaallly hate windows but if linux can't compete then what other choice do I have but build Windows based systems?

Thanks For Everyone's Comments.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu adobe-flashplugin Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
jrm453
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#1

Not sure to understand correct, you'd like to have a flash video open, e.g. as popup, and it should be transparent?
How about opacity settings in Compiz?

Revision history for this message
jrm453 (jrm-mahonstudios) said : 		#2

To answer: I'm trying to get a .flv file to play from within an html using a swf document. Standard Flash creation stuff. But before I go into a lengthy explanation, I believe I have solved the problem... almost.

Here's what has finally worked: I manually downloaded the 64 bit flash ver10 Astro ( libflashplayer-10.0.22.87.linux-x86_64.so.tar.gz ) from the adobe website, unpacking and placing the libflashplayer.so file into the mozill/plugins folder. I rechecked the Package Manager to be sure nothing changed (no flash enabled) and started Mozilla. Did "about:plugins" in the URL box and it had installed fine.

After some experimenting with various flv files in with and without transparency I was excited to see that it was working as it should. Pretty darn fast but also taxing the system processors a bit. However my flv's are quite large so I'm not surprised.

System: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.60GHz 2gig ram
Intel 82g33/g31 Express Onboard Graphic card

In the flash design I have a flv slideshow component playing over a background in the swf. Any files that don't have transparency, ie. flv files with an alpha channel, have always worked fine. However, with the latest release of Flash 10 Astro for Linux I now have transparency!

One hopefully minor problem: The files with alpha channels will play over a static background image but the same files playing over another movie will play, but the background movie will not.. so I get text over a black background instead of my nifty animated background.

At this point I'm feeling pretty good that Adobe will fix this issue which works fine on windows and mac machines.

So I'd like to apologize for my previous "boo hoo-ing" about Linux and flash transparency. IT CAN BE DONE! I had just gotten a bit frustrated with all the time spent trying to make it work. I have not spent a lot of time testing this but from what I can tell, this Astro version is very far along. I'll be putting it through it's paces over the next week to check stability etc.

THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT FLASH 10 ASTRO DOES A NICE JOB WITH FLV FILES THAT HAVE ALPHA CHANNEL TRANSPARENCY ON THE LINUX UBUNTU OS.

Revision history for this message
jrm453 (jrm-mahonstudios) said : 		#3

YES, Flash transparency ie. flv files rendered with apha channels enabled, is working well on Linux Ubuntu platform. The key is to use the most recent release of Flash 10 64bit, code named Astro.