Comment 50 for bug 98688

So far so good. I downloaded the latest .rpm of flash-player from Adobe's website. I converted it to .deb using alien and installed it by double clicking on it. I haven't had it crash once since. We'll see if it can hold up for a week.

Here are my specific steps:
1. install "alien" (via Synaptic Package Manager) if you haven't already
2. download "flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release.i386.rpm" from <http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&P2_Platform=Linux>
3. open a terminal and navigate to the place where you downloaded the .rpm file (i.e. type "cd /home/username/Desktop")
4. use alien to convert the .rpm file to a .deb file (i.e. type "sudo alien flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release.i386.rpm")
5. after alien is done, close the terminal and show the desktop (or wherever you downloaded the .rpm file)
6. double click on the .deb that you just created (it's in the same place as the .rpm file) and click install
7. after it's done installing, navigate to /usr/lib/flash-plugin using your folder browser (it's called nautilus)
8. right click on "setup" and click Open With Other Application
9. click the "Use a custom command" to show the text box
10. type "sudo" and click Open (type in your password if it asks you)
11. it should run on it's own and be over within a second or two (maybe even faster)
12. You're Done!

Here are the same steps if you want to do it all by command line:
1. cd /home/YourUserName/Desktop
2. sudo apt-get install alien
3. wget http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release.i386.rpm
4. sudo alien flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release.i386.rpm
5. sudo dpkg -i flash-plugin_9.0.115.0-1_i386.deb
6. sudo /usr/lib/flash-plugin/setup

You can check that the setup script worked by opening firefox and typing "about:plugins" into the address bar at the top and hitting Enter. On the list below Shockwave Flash it will say "Shockwave Flash 9.0 r115."

You can do these same things for another version of the flash .rpm file if you want. I haven't had it crash yet, so I would recommend the latest one (9.0.115.0). I really don't understand why Adobe releases RPM and YUM but not DEB. Anyway, please let me know if I've missed anything or something doesn't work. I'd also like it if I could get some confirmations about this newest release not crashing.

The installation of the new deb file will upgrade any previous version of flash-plugin installed. If you want to uninstall, you can alway go to Synaptic Package Manager and remove it.

P.S. Yes, I know that the terminal method is shorter, but some of us humans out there will go to great lengths to avoid any command line. I only wish alien had a gui. Also, I've attached the deb file alien created for me :)