Going to retire my old Arch server soon, and the new one (my current desktop) is a 64-bit machine (AMD Athlon 64). So I'm leaning towards taking the plunge and installing Arch x86-64 on it. Just wondering though if there's still any major packages that aren't available in 64bit that might make me want to rethink this decision. The only package I'm aware of that I use frequently and is not available in 64-bit is flashplugin. 1) Anyone aware of any other notable exceptions? 2) Is there any workaround to be able to use the 32-bit flashplugin with firefox? TIA, DR
David Rosenstrauch wrote:
Just wondering though if there's still any major packages that aren't available in 64bit that might make me want to rethink this decision. The only package I'm aware of that I use frequently and is not available in 64-bit is flashplugin.
1) Anyone aware of any other notable exceptions?
Also official java plugin. There are some ways to get java in 64b, like gcj, or icedtea packages though. I also tried to get OSS4 running, but adding alsa emulation PLUS combination of OSS4 and alsa emulation for 32 bit apps was too much mess ;)
2) Is there any workaround to be able to use the 32-bit flashplugin with firefox?
Yes, nspluginwrapper and nspluginwrapper-flash from AUR. I also got flash 10 beta running with nspluginwrapper without any problems. There are some issues though, like heavy CPU usage sometimes.
Thanks much for the quick response, Jakub. Jakub Schmidtke wrote:
David Rosenstrauch wrote:
Just wondering though if there's still any major packages that aren't available in 64bit that might make me want to rethink this decision. The only package I'm aware of that I use frequently and is not available in 64-bit is flashplugin.
1) Anyone aware of any other notable exceptions?
Also official java plugin. There are some ways to get java in 64b, like gcj, or icedtea packages though.
? I don't understand. Both the jre and jdk packages are available in 64-bit. Are you saying that they work, but that the browser plugin that comes with them does not? That'd be annoying for me, but not catastrophic. Any workaround that you know of?
I also tried to get OSS4 running, but adding alsa emulation PLUS combination of OSS4 and alsa emulation for 32 bit apps was too much mess ;)
Never even heard of oss4, so no issue for me.
2) Is there any workaround to be able to use the 32-bit flashplugin with firefox?
Yes, nspluginwrapper and nspluginwrapper-flash from AUR. I also got flash 10 beta running with nspluginwrapper without any problems. There are some issues though, like heavy CPU usage sometimes.
Hmmm ... this might not be such a big issue then. I don't use flash that often (especially on my server box; I only really use it as a desktop occasionally) so as long as it *mostly* works, I should be OK. Is that really the only major outstanding issues? If so, I should be in good shape. Thanks, DR
David Rosenstrauch wrote:
? I don't understand. Both the jre and jdk packages are available in 64-bit. Are you saying that they work, but that the browser plugin that comes with them does not? That'd be annoying for me, but not catastrophic. Any workaround that you know of?
64bit JRE/JDK doesn't include browser plugin at all. This is 5 year old bug/feature request now: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4802695 The workaround is not to use official Sun's JRE/JDK :)
Hmmm ... this might not be such a big issue then. I don't use flash that often (especially on my server box; I only really use it as a desktop occasionally) so as long as it *mostly* works, I should be OK.
It works fine.
Is that really the only major outstanding issues? If so, I should be in good shape.
I haven't run into anything else (or I don't remember) :)
Jakub Schmidtke wrote:
David Rosenstrauch wrote:
? I don't understand. Both the jre and jdk packages are available in 64-bit. Are you saying that they work, but that the browser plugin that comes with them does not? That'd be annoying for me, but not catastrophic. Any workaround that you know of?
64bit JRE/JDK doesn't include browser plugin at all. This is 5 year old bug/feature request now: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4802695
The workaround is not to use official Sun's JRE/JDK :)
Just wondering: is there any way to also install the 32-bit jre/jdk (and firefox) and use those when this functionality is needed? Thanks, DR
David Rosenstrauch wrote:
Just wondering: is there any way to also install the 32-bit jre/jdk (and firefox) and use those when this functionality is needed?
It is possible. For example you could install one of swiftfox packages, for example. Unfortunately 32 bit JDK/JRE packages conflict with 64bit, so you can't have both. With some manual tweaking it should be possible though :)
participants (2)
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David Rosenstrauch
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Jakub Schmidtke