Maximum PC

Late last week, I somehow shorted out my motherboard by plugging my USB external HP LightScribe DVD burner's USB cable into a USB cable that had come with my mp3 player! (Either that, or the CPU died from heat-related issues; since I moved my mobo into a larger case, with MUCH better airflow (# case fans, including a side fan), I still don't understand how that might have happened; in any event, I haven't been able to boot it up since!)

Until my budget will allow me to obtain a new motherboard/CPU combo (preferably one that will allow me to use my existing RAM, video card, etc.), I'm using an IBM Thinkpad A20m laptop, running Xubuntu 8.10, with updates as needed. One Linux application I very much want to install is the Linux version of the new Twitter program known as "TweetDeck". However, Xubuntu simply refuses to let me install it! For example, when (as one online article advised) I checked the "Permissions" section of the "Properties" listing for this program, there was no checkbox saying "Run file as exectable program," although the article in question assured me that it should be there! Since I am fairly new to using Linux, I have absolutely no clue as to what to do next--HEEEELLLLLPP!

Have you installed Adobe Air?