Install Blackberry PlayBook Simulator in Ubuntu 10.10

Today we are going to install the Blackberry Playbook Simulator, so you can create and test applications for this awesome device before running on the real device. This device is awesome, the specifications are very impressive, check all in the blackberry - playbook web page http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/, and like blackberry always say this device is Enterprise Ready :D.

The good news with the last update of the Blackberry Playbook site is the linux release of both products: the simulator and the sdk (i have been waiting for this!!!). So let's install the Blackberry Playbook Simulator in Ubuntu 10.10.

Requirements:

• Blackberry Playbook Simulator.
• VMware Player 3.1.3. If you have problems installing VMware Player in Ubuntu 10.10 check this.

The machine that i use for this installation has Ubuntu 10.10 - 64bits installed. 

The first we need is to install the Simulator, open the terminal change the directory where you download your installer and run the following command:

chmod +x BlackBerryPlayBookSimulator-Installer-Linux.bin  

This command will give execute permissions to our installer. Now execute the installer:

./BlackBerryPlayBookSimulator-Installer-Linux.bin  

 Now you get the installer interface:

Click next and read the License Agreement, click in the I accept radio button and then click next, the next screen is very important:

Select in which folder do you want to install the Simulator, well the only thing you will get is the image for the simulator, click next and review the Pre-Installation Summary.

Click install, once the installer finish click the Done button, now go to folder where you just install the Simulator, in this folder find the BlackBerryPlayBookSimulator.iso, now we start our VMware Player.

Now create a new virtual machine click the Create a New Virtual  Machine button this will show the new Virtual Machine Wizard,   click Next and this will bring the following screen:

Select the Installer from iso and then click Browse and select the BlackBerryPlayBookSimulator.iso image, this will display an alert we fix this later. Now click Next and the following screen appear:

Take care about the Operating System and Version options both must be Other and Other then hit Next.

In this screen you have to specify the name and the location of the virtual machine then click next.

Here specify the disk size and the type of virtual disk, make sure you select the single file virtual disk and click next.

In this screen click the Customize Hardware button.

Here there are some settings you must check in your virtual machine:

• At least 1 Gb of Ram is recommended.

• In the Display category check the Accelerate 3D graphics.

Then click Save and Finish the installation, during the installation a new screen appeared, just say yes:

Now wait a moment.... and the Blackberry PlayBook simulator will be running in your VMware Player :D.

In my next post i will show you how to install the Blackberry PlayBook SDK and create your first application for this simulator of course in Linux and specifically in Ubuntu. If you have any question about this tutorial let me know.

Package your Air 2 Applications for Ubuntu

Update: UbuntuPackager v0.2 is out take a look here
When we develop AIR applications, we see that is very easy to deploy the same application in windows, mac and linux, the only thing we have to do is run the air application. But when air 2 was introduced there were some new features these includes the ability to launch or interact to native process.

You can build native installers with the comand line is not hard but some time you can mess up your installer with wrong arguments and other things. Inspired in Serge Jespers Package Assistant Pro, i develop a litle air 2 application that generates a native .deb installer for debian based systems and an .apk for android phones with air 2.5 installed. 


So watch the demo:

Some considerations:

• This software is still in alpha, but for the most of the cases works.
• It actually work with pkcs12 certificates.
• It works with android too, but i use the -debug flag to it can work in emulators and devices (Sorry but in Peru there is no phone with android 2.2)

Here is the file

    Packager Ubuntu

Tell me if this works for you.

Sorry for my english is not my native language.