Trying AIR Again

OK, so it seemed like it was easy to install AIR, but after installing one application I couldn't get it to install  others.

Turns out I used the right process for 32-bit processors, but I'm using a 64-bit processor.  Getting AIR to work with a 64-bit system takes a little more work.

Fortunately, I found some help at OSSRemblings.  It's actually step-by-step instructions for installing an AIR app called TweetDeck, but it starts with all the steps to install AIR on 64-bit Linux systems.

I'm planing to install TweetDeck anyway.

Leap into AIR with Ubuntu and Linux

Installing Adobe Air in Ubuntu Linux is simple.

You download the installer from here (it's called AdobeAIRInstaller.bin and it's hosted on http://get.adobe.com/air/).

Gov to wherever you downloaded it and make sure you have permission to run it:

In Nautilus right click on the file

• choose Permissions
• Check the box that says Allow executing program as a file

In the terminal

• chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Then all you have to do is run the installer program:

In terminal:

sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Accept the licensing agreement and it should install just fine.

AIR stands for Adobe Integrated Runtime.  "Runtime" here means an environment for running applications.  Adobe's runtime environment let you run on your desktop applications that you normally run from the web using your web browser.

It handles programs written in Flash, Flex, JavaScript and other normally web-based scripting languages. These are sometimes called Rich Internet Applications.