The state of 64-bit Desktop Linux

[Marc Lanctot]

Andrew Overholt wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> * Marc Lanctot <lanctot-yfeSBMgouQgsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> [2009-02-11 10:53]:
>> - Can I use an up-to-date Sun 64-bit Java plugin for Firefox (let's say  
>> "up-to-date means" 5.0 or later)
> 
> I use OpenJDK (6) with the IcedTea browser plugin and it works fine on
> x86_64 Fedora 10 out of the box.  I'm told on good authority that the
> proprietary Sun JDK/JRE 6u12 and up releases now also include a 64-bit
> browser plugin.

Just some installation notes on my 64-bit Ubuntu 8.10 install on my new 
Dell T3400.

I didn't have to do any repartitioning for Windows (XP x64) because I 
just re-used disks I had in my old machine. So now I have a dual-boot 
and left Windows on the disk that it came on.

I will confirm that Sun's 64-bit Java plugin (JDK/JRE 6u12) is now 
working in my newly installed Ubuntu 8.10 amd64 and it passes the "Text 
Twist test" I mentioned before. Thanks to Giles Orr for confirming it on 
his Debian machine. I found it hard to find the right way to install it 
from the manual downliad.. because it has changed from previous 
versions, the file names are different and the docs on their site nor 
the READMEs don't seem to be updated. After a bit of search (the /sixth/ 
link on Google, oh my!) I found it on their dev site:

   https://jdk6.dev.java.net/plugin2/#INSTALLATION

So the  file you have to symlink is now 'libnpjp2.so' instead of 
'libjavaplugin_oji.so' for anybody else that will have to do this 
manually any time soon. Of course, they include a file 
'libjavaplugin_jni.so' in their package but that's not it. :) 
Documentation 1, Sun 0.

Nobody mentioned that Adobe doens't have a 64-bit reader yet .. forget 
just the plugin, there is no 64-bit acroread period! Luckily I can do 
without that for the most part..... I hope. There are some monster-sized 
PDFs my girlfriend has to deal with for work purposes that have given me 
trouble in the past for any reader other than acroread.. but now they 
seem to work fine in evince. For some reason it didn't work well before.

There is no 64-bit lightning or Google Provider yet. You can build them 
from source. Luckily they've been contributed:

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/0.9/contrib/linux-x86_64/

For some reason the i686 Google Provider works with the 64-bit Lightning 
within 64-bit Thunderbird. Not sure how this works; maybe there's no 
actual library or shared object installed in it?

Mplayer with the 64-bit essential codecs works, check.

64-bit Adobe Flash 10 plugin seems to be OK so far though I have not 
used it much yet.

The printer was already setup and working after the install. FYI, this 
printer (Canon 3-in-1 PIXMA MP-520) is awesome for the price. And so far 
works quite well in Linux. I have not tried the scanner yet.

Everything else is working like a charm. There's a noticeable increase 
in speed, and the thing is so quiet that we can't even tell if it's on. 
I can compile, play music, write email, cook, and play games without any 
noticeable slowdown. This machine rocks. I'd recommend it. I don't 
expect it to get sluggish or loud after I leave it on for several days 
but we'll have to see what happens.

Marc

-- 
Theory is when you know something, but it doesn't work. Practice
is when something works, but you don't know why. Programmers combine
theory and practice: Nothing works and they don't know why.
   -- Anonymous
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