Install AdobeAir & Balsamiq on ubuntu 14.X

In this post I will be providing a quick set of instructions and a script to install AdobeAir & Balsamiq on a Unbuntu desktop. These instructions should work for any version of ubuntu from 12.X to 14.X & higher.

I'm currently working on a new application for a client and due to the fact we are still in the conceptual stage of the application, I wanted to create some wire frames of the application in a attempt to refine the basic functionality required and visualize the interface and the screen flows.

I usually use Balsamiq a rapid wireframing tool to quickly develop wire frames and prototypes of applications.  Due to the fact I was working outside of my office  and not using my usual desktop,  therefore unfortunately Balsamiq and all it's pre-requisites were not all installed on the particular laptop I was using.  I had to go through a bit of laborious process of installing all the prerequisites and the application.

The whole process in total set me back about 15 minutes, therefore I figured I needed to smooth the process a bit, so the next time I'm out an about I could just quickly run a script to automate the whole process.

I have developed a script  to conveniently enable the automation of the  installation of AdobeAIr & all it's dependencies seamlessly.   To run the script all you need to do is open your terminal window (Ctrl + Alt + t) and run the following  two lines.

wget -O adobe-air.sh http://static.threenine.co.uk/downloads/adobe-air.sh
chmod +x adobe-air.sh;sudo ./adobe-air.sh

What is AdobeAir

The Adobe Air runtime enables developers to package the same code into native apps for desktop operating systems as well as for smartphones & Tablet devices  such as Android & iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, and other devices, reaching the mobile app stores for over 500 million devices.

The downside is that AdobeAir is no longer supported Linux. However AdobeAir is available from the archive repositories. The script above downloads and installs the AdobeAir & its dependencies from the archive repositories.

After installation of AdobeAir the remainder of the installation is  Balsamiq is now as easy as going to the website and downloading and installing the relevant debian install package for your environment.  (I may extend the script to automate the whole process in the near future).

Download Balsamiq

I highly recommend purchasing a licence for Balsamiq and downloading the desktop application. The web interface is good, but I personally prefer having the application installed on my desktops & laptops.  At $79 for a single user licence and free updates forever, I personally feel it is rude not to take advantage of such a deal!