Hello Linux Geeksters. As you may know, Google Earth is a Google’s mapping service, being available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
In this article I will show you how to install Google Earth stable on Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, Linux Mint 17 Qiana, Linux Mint 16 Petra and their derivative systems, for both 32 bit (i386) and 64 bit (amd64) architectures.
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/current/google-earth-stable_current_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/current/google-earth-stable_current_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