UPDATE 7th May, 2010: I now have this working correctly from a repository. This solution will continue work, but if you want the ability to update Flash automatically when the repository is updated, then this solution may be better.
Why is it that Flash and Linux seem to have such a complicated relationship? Despite the large and increasing userbase, it seems that getting Adobe to recognise Linux is only slightly easier than getting Microsoft to recognise Wine, which, in turn, is only slightly easier than pulling a fully-laden oil tanker up the North face of the Eiger using your tongue! I had issues installing Flash in Jaunty and Karmic, so it wasn’t a surprise that Lucid would have the same problems.
I attempted to install Flash Player 10 from Adobe’s site. Everything looked good – there was even an option to install a package for Ubuntu 9.04 and above – until I was helpfully informed that “Package adobe-flashplugin is virtual”. The problem appeared to be linked to the fact that the downloads were for a 32-bit edition of Linux, whereas I’m now using 64.
A quick search turned up this wonderful shell script, which installed Flash Player perfectly for me. Here are the instructions on how to use it:
- Right click on the above link and choose “Save Link As”. Save it to your home directory.
- Close your web browser.
- Open a teminal window and type:
chmod +x ./native-64bit-flash-installer.sh
- Now execute the script.
Both Firefox and Chrome run Flash happily now.
REFERENCES
http://mattrudge.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/installing-flash-player-on-ubuntu-10-04-64-bit/
