I have found a web-site with a step by step
installation process that works, to wit:

Editor Note: the following is a copy-paste from said site.

How to install Google Earth on 32 bit Ubuntu and Linux Mint systems:

For 32 bit Ubuntu and Linux Mint systems, all you have to do is download the deb package and install it via command-line. I prefer gdebi over dpkg, due to the fact that it also handles dependencies:

$ sudo apt-get install gdebi

$ wget http://dl.google.com/dl/earth/client...rrent_i386.deb

$ sudo gdebi google-earth-stable_current_i386.deb



How to install Google Earth on 64 bit Ubuntu and Linux Mint systems:

Due to the fact that the ia32-libs library (which was enabling the users to easily install 32 bit apps on 64 bit systems) is not available anymore on Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10 and derivatives and Google Earth is available only for 32 bit systems, we have to install all the 32 bit libraries via apt, download the Google Earth deb package and install it via command-line (dpkg or gdebi):


$ sudo apt-get install gdebi

$ sudo apt-get install libfontconfig1:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxext6:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglu1-mesa:i386 libglib2.0-0:i386 libsm6:i386

$ wget http://dl.google.com/dl/earth/client...rrent_i386.deb

$ sudo gdebi google-earth-stable_current_i386.deb


If Google Earth displays ugly fonts, install the Microsoft TrueType Core Fonts:

$ sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer


Editor Note: I have Ubuntu 14.04, it and Google Earth, are doing just fine.
the only bad part was downloading Gate's crud, but the terminal said that it is already loaded,,,chit

link: http://linuxg.net/how-to-properly-in...ative-systems/

pls double check my work, thanks


p.s. if I have posted this in the wrong forum, please feel free to move me.

Peter T

Debian and Ubuntu provide googleearth-package. After installing it you run make-googleearth-package and it takes care of downloading what's necessary and creating a .deb file which you then install with dpkg. I don't know if it's better than what you read, but it's the easy way and it worked for me.
Best regards

@ elucches,

Thanks for your input.
My only motive in posting this 'howto'
was my reading of post's on the web
that did-not produce favorable results
I found plenty of questions, but no solutions.

Maybe our input, has helped someone.

Peter T

It is possible to install the 64 bit Google Earth package, and it is truly 64 bit, on Debian at least by editing the .deb file to remove the ia32-libs dependency that the idiots at Google have left in there. Sadly, in my experience, the 64 bit version crashes 99% of the times it is opened. The morons at Google also seem to have based Google Earth on a library that nobody has yet so Panaramio photographs are no longer available. It appears that Google want to kill the Google Earth application and get everybody using their pathetic web version.

@ 273

When He died in the Wounded World He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less. Each thing, from the single grain of Dust to the strongest eldil, is the end and the final cause of all creation and the mirror in which the beam of His brightness comes to rest and so returns to Him. Blessed be He!
C. S. Lewis
...
no 273, you ARE a free man.
we are all children in the this school we call life/existence.

'there is a saying that we are all brothers,
no one goes his way alone.

what we put into the life of others,
comes back into our very own'

...

i have had no,nada,naught,none errors in running Google Earth as mentioned in my 'tip-sheet'.
i would however,like to hear/read how to get to your said .deb file.
i am a 20+years user of windows software, and by no means an expert
but trying to find a file in Linux/Unix, is a real challenge for me, with the user,root,bin,path that Unix uses.

any help on this would be greatly appreciated...

Peter T

There's a 64 bit .deb file on Google's download page here:
http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html
Whether it works without editing or not I cannot say but they may have fixed it.

I installed Google Earth years ago using the Mint 17.1 repository. Very easy and everything worked out fine. Upgraded to 17.3 and never got Google earth to work again! Decided to wait until the Linux Community introduced a fix or upgrade which never happened.

Recently, I needed directions find a Doctor's office, so I went to "Google Maps". Was surprised at what Google had done to add features to Google maps. Satellite photos can be seen, 3D is there, ground level views can be viewed, clicking on a map location brings up the lat long coordinates, and the most interesting and extremely easy to use new feature is its ability to calculate the total distance of any route desired.

I tend to take long walks and now can just right click on any location on the map and select “measure distance" from the pull down menu. Then left click on as many legs of the route as you wish, and Google Maps will add up total distance of the entire trip you have selected.

Getting back to the title of this post, “why even bother to try to install Google Earth” when most of its features are now available on Google Maps? No hassle as to which versions are compatible, no work around issues, no need to store a program on your hard drive, and Google Maps runs a lot faster than Google Earth (at least it does for me). I use a 64 bit desktop, running “Rosa” so I cannot say if these features are available for smart phones, I pads, tablets, or whatever else is out there.

The drawback to Google Maps is that when as you said "I tend to take long walks and now can just right click on any location on the map and select “measure distance" from the pull down menu." , Google tracks you all the way.

Don't forget, when it comes to such web apps, YOU are the product.

Not really sure of your point? I do not own a smart phone, or anything else that is portable such that I could load a Web App into it. I know that I am way behind the times, but still like to sit down behind a desktop and do my thing there. When I take long walks, I can still remember the routes I took, and when I get back home, Google Maps (on my desktop) very quickly sums up the total distance I walked.

Since I am a commercial fisherman and own portable hand held GPS units that could do the same job and log in my total travel distance covered on its log page; but why take along extra electronics if not needed.

In fact, Google maps provided a more accurate measurement than my tracking hand-held units! I could not understand why Google Earth (or Google Maps) would always indicate less mileage than my Garmin hand held GPS. When walking, I tend to swing my arms while holding the GPS in my hand, (same would be true for wrist mounted GPS) and wondered what would happened if I placed the GPS on my belt. Then there was near perfect agreement between Google and Garmin.

One of my main purposes of having Google Earth in the first place, was to have satellite photos showing semi-submerged rock piles, sand bars, channel markers, and other naval items of interest. Google maps never had the ability to give lat-long coordinates, while Google earth did. Thing have now changed, and for the better!

Sitting at my desktop, I could plan my next fishing trip, input the exact locations I wish into my GPS and be off and running the next time out.

I would suggest that anyone having problems installing Google Earth on a desktop, first look into using Google Maps and see all that it can do for you.