I finally decided to get my desktop running pure amd64. No more 32-bit libraries cluttering the system. It was all too easy:

• sudo apt-get remove --purge nspluginwrapper ia32.* lib32.* libc6-i386

Now to enjoy pure 64-bit goodness.

Once again I tried to come up with a good flash playback option for my desktop which is running Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) amd64. And once again I’ve failed to find an option that I can call good. The only benefits I can see about Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) is that there will be newer versions of swfdec (0.5.4 up from 0.5.1) and gnash (0.8.2 up from 0.8.1) and that users will be able to use the update-alternatives command to switch between them. However I’m not convinced that either version will be usable though I’m really ready to be done with having a ton of extra packages installed to use nspluginwrapper.

Since I couldn't get the amd64 version of Ubuntu running under VirtualBox OSE I tried the i386 version. The installation went fine but when rebooting into the system I got this message, "PANIC: CPU too old for this kernel." I was hoping to have Ubuntu running under VirtualBox to spare me from always using my system for tests. It looks like it might take some research to accomplish that goal.

I just tried to install a 64-bit OS (Ubuntu Server) under VirtualBox OSE 1.5.0 and received the message, "Your CPU does not support long mode. Use a 32bit distribution. I tried toggling the "Enable VT-x/AMD-V" setting but that didn't help. I haven't investigated this yet but I will be disappointed if this is a limitation of VirtualBox OSE.