

Adobe has taken its Linux version of AIR out of beta with an official 1.5 release for popular Linux distros, which puts Air for Linux on par with its Windows and Mac counterparts.

Adobe AIR allows you to seamlessly run Flash and Javascript-based applications on the desktop. Like regular desktop apps, AIR applications are downloaded and installed on your hard drive and can take advantage of desktop tools like drag and drop support and more. But, unlike traditional desktop applications, AIR apps are powered by web technologies, so they can handle rich media like video and audio much better. They also feature more "web-like" user interfaces with customized scroll bars, buttons and controls.

AIR 1.5 was released for both the Mac and Windows platforms last month and offers some nice new additions that Linux fans have been clamoring for — like a faster Javascript engine and encrypted database support. To see how AIR for Linux stacked up with the Windows and Mac versions I took the new app for a spin.

The first thing that becomes readily apparent about AIR for Linux is that the installer hell many have complained about with Adobe Creative Suite 4 is not limited to CS4. The Adobe AIR installer downloads as a .bin file, which Adobe suggests you double-click to install.

Unfortunately, double clicking the installer icon will just get you an error message in both Ubuntu and Fedora. In fact, you need to make the file executable before it will open (something Adobe does point out in the fine print of the release notes, but not on the download page). To fix that problem, open a terminal window and type:

chmod u+x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Once the file is actually executable you should be able to double click it and install. According to Adobe anyway. In our experience that didn't work either, so we went back to the terminal and used this line:

./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

After that, the Adobe AIR installer ran without issue. Well, except for the fact that we needed to also upgrade our Flash player, which meant uninstalling the version from the Ubuntu repositories and then downloading and installing the new one from Adobe.

We know what you're thinking, it's Linux, everything is more complex. But making application installation easy is actually something Linux excels at and, if you give up on AIR long before heading to the terminal, we can't say we blame you.

There's just no excuse for that kind of convoluted installation process, and, were we not obligated to install AIR and report our experiences here, we would never have bothered jumping through Adobe's hideously awkward install process.

Linux's package management systems (like automated application installers basically) offer the simplest application install process around. Why didn't Adobe just package AIR in .deb, .rpm and others like it does for the Linux version of Flash? While it's nice that Adobe is supporting AIR for Linux, the installer is a disservice to Linux users. In contrast, the Flash for Linux installer is quite slick, why Adobe decided to mangle the AIR installer is anyone's guess. It would seem that Adobe is married to its custom installers.

Once you've jumped through all the hoops, Adobe AIR 1.5 for Linux does run much better than its beta predecessor. There were some issues with screen blinking/flickering when AIR applications launched, but that happens on our Mac as well, and otherwise there were no crashes or missing features.

Our favorite AIR apps, TweetDeck, Twirl and Kuler, all worked without issue and performance was on par with both the Mac and Windows versions of AIR.

Adobe AIR for Linux works out of the box with Ubuntu 7.10+, Fedora 8.0+ and openSuSE 10.3+. Because the .bin installer includes both .rpm and .deb installers it should also work on other Linux distros (like Debian, Mandriva and more), however, Adobe will only be formally supporting the first three.

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