Flash Player on Debian

[Xcallibur]

Hi all, if flash player is working on Debian http://wiki.debian.org/FlashPlayer, then why on the Raspberry Pi doanloads page is there a quote stating Flash Player will not work on Debian?

I realise the Debian OS is ported to the ARM V6 architecture, but isn't the Debian based flash player reliant on the operating system and not the processor?

[JeremyF]

However, no version has been compiled for ARM.

http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... in-nonfree
http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... in-nonfree

[Xcallibur]

However, no version has been compiled for ARM.

http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... in-nonfree
http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... in-nonfree

So the applications that run on an operating system must be compiled for different processor architectures? Why isn't it as simple as running the i386 flashplugin-nonfree package on the ARM Debian operating system; since I thought it is the operating system that is rewritten for the different processor architecture and not the applications that run on it.

[itimpi]

However, no version has been compiled for ARM.

http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... in-nonfree
http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... in-nonfree

So the applications that run on an operating system must be compiled for different processor architectures? Why isn't it as simple as running the i386 flashplugin-nonfree package on the ARM Debian operating system; since I thought it is the operating system that is rewritten for the different processor architecture and not the applications that run on it.

No - applications are processor architecture specific as well. In many cases this means the application just needs recompiling for the target architecture, but this will not work if it has architecture specific code.

[willrandship]

There's another, much larger issue: Flash is owned by Adobe, meaning we can't just recompile the code. We would either have to get a port from them, or alter an existing Flash build for android, for example.

By the way, usually, between distros of linux the binaries don't need to be recompiled. For instance, many Fedora packages require no alterations to the contents to work on debian. It's the packaging itself that needs changing at that point.

However, hardware differences are often enough to break any chance of using a program on another architecture. For example, the reason you see tons of ports of Snes9x, but not zSnes (A faster emulator, by the way) is because zSnes is written with tons of x86-specific code, and Snes9x is written in C.

It's almost always about hardware, not software.

[Aux]

There is absolutely no way of getting Flash for RasPi. Adobe is a closed-source developer and the only version they made for ARM CPUs is Android one which requires ARMv7 CPU with NEON extension. That makes RasPi unable to run it even if someone ports Android.

[sharix]

Not true, I have flash on my armv6 android phone (zte blade).

[JeremyF]

Not true, I have flash on my armv6 android phone (zte blade).

Flash Lite maybe? Anyway, that's probably because the manufacturer licensed it, but idk.

[Aux]

Not true, I have flash on my armv6 android phone (zte blade).

Flash Lite != Flash

[donde]

I can't even run Earthlink Webmail, for parts of the application require Flash. Another great web site, "Astronomy Picture of the Day" does not work. It requires Flash and suggests HTML5!

I know this great project, Raspberry Pi was meant for kids to learn programming, but I'm afraid the roadblocks we see might not keep their interest. I don't even see an audio player yet in the GUI. But, I'm confident of progress. Just an observation.

[AlexBerry]

Vlc plays audio very nicely in gui... But I agree, having flash would be nice.

[crazy4chrissi]

I got Flash working on my Raspberry Pi (Debian Squeeze).
Well, not Flash exactly, but Gnash does the job of playing SWF as well. It's just very slow (have not tried it on Raspbian yet, might be faster there). Read my blog post for details: http://blog.christosoft.de/2012/08/flas ... pberry-pi/

[fransschreuder]

what about the files that can be found here?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr ... ?t=1504968

[pix]

Out of curiosity, I've been hunting around for an ARMv6 build of libflashplayer.so from Android, but all the ones I've found posted on XDA listed as being for ARMv6 phones are actually compiled for ARMv7... which is quite odd.

Code: Select all

$ readelf -A libflashplayer.so | grep Tag_CPU_arch:
  Tag_CPU_arch: v7

Often the other libraries in the APKs such as libstagefright.so are actually ARMv6 binaries, however.

Trying to dlopen these libraries on a Pi gives a "file not found" error, and strace shows that it bails after it reads the ABI information from the library.

I'm trying to get hold of an ARMv6 Android phone with Flash to see what is going on there.

pix

[cep33920]

hello,
is anyone finally succeded in running adobe flash player on pi ? (ecard service of my bank need it, gnash and lightspark do not work...)
thanks

[itimpi]

hello,
is anyone finally succeded in running adobe flash player on pi ? (ecard service of my bank need it, gnash and lightspark do not work...)
thanks

No. Adobe Flash does not run, and since Adobe have no interest in producing a version for the Pi you should assume there will never be a working version on the Pi.

[DIYSciBorg]

Wow nice. Crazy easy to install too.. apt-get found it right away

I got Flash working on my Raspberry Pi (Debian Squeeze).
Well, not Flash exactly, but Gnash does the job of playing SWF as well. It's just very slow (have not tried it on Raspbian yet, might be faster there). Read my blog post for details: http://blog.christosoft.de/2012/08/flas ... pberry-pi/

[redhawk]

No. Adobe Flash does not run, and since Adobe have no interest in producing a version for the Pi you should assume there will never be a working version on the Pi.

The Pi is powered by an ARMv6 processor this is too slow to run Flash Player which is why Adobe are only bothering to support ARMv7 / Cortex A8.
It's the same situation with the many Android phones and tablets powered by ARMv6 they can't run Flash Player either, which is one good reason why Broadcom shouldn't lift a finger to support Android on the Pi (unless the Pi gets a processor upgrade).

Richard S.