How to Install Google Earth

English Applications
1

I have tried to install Google Earth several times by various methods.

The default suggestion seems to be the “Apper” installer but I have also tried downloading it.

For whatever reason, the Yast software manager seems to ignore it, and I can’t find my way around it.

And I always seem to end up at the dreaded “Your current backend does not support installing files.”

What is the preferred method for downloading “outside” applications in openSUSE? Simple, step-by-step, please.

http://www.google.com/earth/download/thanks.html#os=linux#linux_dl=rpm_64

Thank you.

2

Totally depends on the app there is no one way to do it. Each should come with instructions.

Been a while since I installed GE but it came as an installer which you simply run. But you do have to follow instruction one of which is to change permissions so that the file can be run.

A downloaded files does not default have run permission. You have to explicitly tell it to allow running of the file. From a GUI nav to the file right click select properties - permissions and tick the allow run box. If you own the file or have the correct permissions it will change.

By default GE is installed in the users home not as a system program so if multiple users you must install for each

3

I would give their repo a shot (this is the 64bit) http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/rpm/stable/x86_64

4

I did exactly this but there was nothing resembling “allow run” to be found.

Would you please assume that I am a complete idiot and tell me step-by-step?

I know where to find the .rpm file in the “downloads” folder.

5

LOL thought I did

navigate to the installer you downloaded right click it select properties. Select permission tab about 1/2 way down you will see is executable. Check that box

Now open a konsole navigate to that file type . hefilenamehee
of course replace thefilenamehere with the name of the file to run

6

Please bear with me. I did not download an installer, unless it came in without my knowledge. What is an installer?

When I click on the appropriate file on the Google Earth site, it immediately asks me whether I wanted to open the file with the Apper Installer or to download it. I have done both, several times each. Either way, I get the “backend does not support” message.

When I later try “open with Ark” it temporarily looks more promising because I am able to go a couple of more steps before getting trapped in a quagmire of “file already exists” loops.

The file is /home/Harry/Downloads/google-earth-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

7

Navigate to that file in Dolphin, right click it, point at “Open With”, then click “Install/Remove Software”. You will then be asked for your root password so YaST can run.
Howard

8

Ok looks like Google has changed things (surprise) since I last installed it

If you have and know where the rpm file you downloaded is you can install with an rpm command. Or you can point zypper to it. Problem seems to be that apper is broken on your machine. Others have reported this also (you have done updates right?)

In any case there is more then one way to do it

here is one

As root in the directory that the rpm is in

rpm -i nameoffile.rpm

You can see all the rpm option with

man rpm

Another is

zypper install fullpathtotherpmfile

Again you can see all zypper option with

man zypper

Hope you are seeing a pattern here

The advantage with zypper is it resolves and if possible fixes an package dependencies that might be needed. With rpm it will just tell you some lib is need if required.

9

The file is /home/Harry/Downloads/google-earth-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

You could install with

sudo zypper in /home/Harry/Downloads/google-earth-stable_current_x86_64.rpm
10

For what it is worth the 7.1 version crashed here but I did advanced setup on the web page and selected the 7.0 version and it down loaded like I remembered as an install script not a rpm and it worked fine,

11

Thank you. This almost worked.

It got what looks like all the way to the end and said: “Can’t open /run/atd.pid to signal atd. No atd running?”

I went to the Google Earth download site but did not find any choice for “Advanced”

Even in Windows, Google Earth seems to be harder to install than almost any other program.

12

This is the line on the GE download page


         Customize your installation of Google Earth with advanced setup

select advanced setup

this give the option of current 7.1 or previous 7.0

oh and this is the download page

http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

13

I just downloaded installed Google Earth 7.1.2.2041-0 from http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

This is on a ThinkPad X41, 32-bit, oS 13.2 KDE.

I saved the file google-earth-stable_current_i386.rpm in a local directory that I had already set up as a YaST repository. I started YaST Software Manager and selected the file for installation. YaST picked these additional packages:

# Status             Package                        | Summary                                  | Installed (Available)     |       Size

[Install]            google-earth-stable            | Google Earth                             | (7.1.2.2041-0)            |  178.2 MiB
[Autoinstall]        glibc-i18ndata                 | Database Sources for 'locale'            | (2.19-16.2.5)             |   10.8 MiB
[Autoinstall]        kdelibs3-default-style         | The default KDE style                    | (3.5.10-83.1.10)          |  356.3 KiB
[Autoinstall]        libjpeg62                      | The MMX/SSE accelerated JPEG compress... | (62.1.0-30.5.1)           |  293.4 KiB
[Autoinstall]        libpng12-0                     | Library for the Portable Network Grap... | (1.2.51-3.1.2)            |  161.9 KiB
[Autoinstall]        lsb                            | Linux Standard Base Core                 | (4.0-26.1.2)              |      104 B
[Autoinstall]        qt3                            | A library for developing applications... | (3.3.8c-135.1.3)          |    8.9 MiB

The installation went correctly, and GE starts and runs.
Howard

14

For what it’s worth:

I have repeatedly tried to install/use version 7.0 and had no luck getting it to run.

I have repeatedly tried to install/use version 7.1. It did install, and I had some luck getting it to run, but it crashes constantly

I always come back to the same solution. I install version 6.x from http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/rpm/stable/x86_64

6…0.3.2197-0-x86_64 installs and runs without issues and is so similar that it’s just as good as the 7.x I’ve seen running on my neighbor’s macbook.

15

On 01/18/2015 08:16 PM, fohat wrote:
>
> gogalthorp;2689955 Wrote:
>>
>>
>> navigate to the installer you downloaded right click it select
>> properties. Select permission tab about 1/2 way down you will see is
>> executable. Check that box
>>
>>
>
> Please bear with me. I did not download an installer, unless it came in
> without my knowledge. What is an installer?
>
> When I click on the appropriate file on the Google Earth site, it
> immediately asks me whether I wanted to open the file with the Apper
> Installer or to download it. I have done both, several times each.
> Either way, I get the “backend does not support” message.
>
> When I later try “open with Ark” it temporarily looks more promising
> because I am able to go a couple of more steps before getting trapped in
> a quagmire of “file already exists” loops.
>
> The file is /home/Harry/Downloads/google-earth-stable_current_x86_64.rpm
>
>



sudo zypper in /home/Harry/Downloads/google-earth-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

all on one line of course.

Ken

16

Thank you all for your responses. I would be dlighted if any of them worked. A previous version of Google Earth would be fine.

I feel like I am 1 inch from the finish line and a force field is preventing me from crossing it.

Last night, I gave up and turned the computer off. This morning, as soon as I booted up, I got a message (not a direct quote) “Hi! I’m Google Earth, do you want me to install myself?” to which I agreed.

Wheels spun for a while, and it looked like it worked. The Kickoff Application Launcher showed the Google icon in the applications and I pulled it out to the desktop. I clicked on it and the wheel turned for a minute or 2, then it just went away without doing anything. I tried this several times.

Then I tried each suggestion listed here several times. I like the idea of telling Yast that \home\Harry\Downloads is a repository, but the older versions do not give me an option of simply downloading a file there.

I tried installing the 32-bit version, but still got the “backend does not support installing” error.

As an aside, one of the thing that is driving me away from Windows is its unrelenting bloat. Here, I feel like I have loaded my computer with dozens, if not hundreds, or thousands, of useless files strewn about, I have no idea where. I would love to find a “utilities” package that would keep things clean. And, another aside, I also get the “trash full” error even though I have deleted everything in there and Dolphin shows it as empty.

17

Let us assume that GE is installed. What happens when you try to launch it from a terminal?

google-earth
18

And, another aside, I also get the “trash full” error even though I have deleted everything in there and Dolphin shows it as empty.

If the trash is empty, it can be possible that the meatadata is the issue. Try removing the directory with

rm -rf ~/.local/share/Trash
19

Great idea!

“We apologize for the inconvenience, but Google Earth has crashed.
This is a bug in the program, and should never happen under normal circumstances. A bug report and debugging data have been written to this text file:
/home/Harry/.googleearth/crashlogs/crashlog-54bd7b6f.txt”

But then whenever and wherever I look for that file, I get “file not found”

20

Nothing shown via the following?

ls -l ~/.googleearth/crashlogs/