Last week Ubuntu 8.04 was released, and I have got to say, I am impressed. I've been dabbling with Linux for nearly a decade, and this is the first time I've ever had it work 100% out-of-the-box without having to track down any additional drivers. Graphics card, network, etc... The installation was simple.

Of course, once the OS was installed, my next logical step was to get Flex Builder for Linux working on it. Here's a step-by-step guide to what I did to get Flex Builder working on there.

1) The first thing I did was install the java-common package using the "Synapic Package Manager" application. This will install the latest java common libraries on your OS installation.

2) Flex Builder for Linux requires Eclipse, so the next logical step is to download and install Eclipse. I downloaded "Eclipse Classic" and extracted it to the directory "eclipse" within my user folder. I found this article on the ubuntu forums to tweak your Java settings for Eclipse on Ubuntu. The article describes an older version of Ubuntu, but these exact steps worked for me with 8.04.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=201378

3) Next, download and install Flex Builder for Linux from Adobe Labs. Be sure to check out the release notes before you begin your installation.

Once you've downloaded the file "flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin", you'll need to give it execute permissions. From the command line, use "chmod +x flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin" to grant these permissions. Then launch the installer by running "./flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin" (also from the command line). If your java settings are not setup correctly, you will get a few error messages, and you'll need to go back and tweak them.

Once the installer is running, its easy. Just tell it where to install Flex Builder, and point it to your eclipse directory, and it takes care of the rest.

Once your installation is complete, it's just like using Flex builder on any other operating system. Just go to "File -> New -> New Flex Project" to create a new Flex Project. From here, you're ready to start developing your Flex applications.

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Andrew Trice
Principal Architect
Cynergy Systems
http://www.cynergysystems.com