Adobe Air - Any version that can work in W98SE?

[jds]

Hi,

Just wondering, does anyone know if any version of Adobe Air can install in W98SE, with or without KernelEx? I've tried a bunch of versions from File Hippo and Old Apps, but no luck.

BTW, this Adobe Air seems to be some sort of alternative to Javascript, from what I can figure. Or maybe even a bit like Java? Just what the world needs, yet another way of doing the same things as already exists, but with the extra opportunities for incompatibility and immaturity.

Joe.

[jds]

Hmmm ... the silence is deafening. I guess that means the answer is a no.

(Sorry Netgear, this means I can't run your ProSafe Plus Utility, which means I won't be buying your ProSafe Plus network switches.)

Joe.

[loblo]

I could install the air runtime without much problems some time ago but, despite the fact it seems to be installed properly (?), it doesn't want to execute air files, always throwing this message box:

Edited December 16, 2010 by loblo

[jds]

I could install the air runtime without much problems some time ago but, despite the fact it seems to be installed properly (?), it doesn't want to execute air files, always throwing this message box:

Yep, that's the error message I get with the ProSafe Plus Utility too.

One version of the install package for Air even gave this same message! The excuse was that this was just a downloader (or was it just an update?), yet the file size said otherwise. Dumb!

As for installing "without much problems", my impression is that older versions silently fail to install, whereas newer versions at least tell you they've failed. As I say, that's just the impression I get.

Joe.

[cdoublejj]

prehaps kernel ex is missing some APIs to allow it to read the correct version on certain programs?

[loblo]

As for installing "without much problems", my impression is that older versions silently fail to install, whereas newer versions at least tell you they've failed. As I say, that's just the impression I get.

Well, all air files apparently get correctly installed (in Program Files/Common Files/Adobe AIR) and the registry entries appear to be correctly written as well (otherwise this message wouldn't popup without the .air extension being correctly registered and the executable handling them correctly in place) so it would seem to me the install is not failing.

Edited December 17, 2010 by loblo

[jds]

Well, all air files apparently get correctly installed (in Program Files/Common Files/Adobe AIR) and the registry entries appear to be correctly written as well (otherwise this message wouldn't popup without the .air extension being correctly registered and the executable handling them correctly in place) so it would seem to me the install is not failing.

Interesting. I'm pretty sure this was the exact same error message given by the Netgear utility after the initial failure to install the included Adobe Air package. However, if you think an earlier version of AA really does install, then the trick could be to fake its version number and fool applications such as this utility.

Joe.

[loblo]

Well, all air files apparently get correctly installed (in Program Files/Common Files/Adobe AIR) and the registry entries appear to be correctly written as well (otherwise this message wouldn't popup without the .air extension being correctly registered and the executable handling them correctly in place) so it would seem to me the install is not failing.

Interesting. I'm pretty sure this was the exact same error message given by the Netgear utility after the initial failure to install the included Adobe Air package. However, if you think an earlier version of AA really does install, then the trick could be to fake its version number and fool applications such as this utility.

Joe.

I think air installed on your system as good as it installed on mine but fails to function properly aferwards. I suppose your installer may work as follows, it first silently installs the air runtime and then does shellexecute on an .air file it includes which calls the air application installer that has just been installed and this one fails with the error message box I posted. And this would mean that the air runtime you have installed should be the right version for the air application it seeks to install/execute since they are bundled together. In my case I installed the then current air runtime and then downloaded air packages which were supposed to work with that runtime and also got the version error message so I don't think version mismatch is the actual issue.

Unfortunately, as I don't have a working 2K or XP system here I couldn't compare an air runtime install on those systems with one on my ME system to see if there is some part of the installation that fails on the latter, hence the bracketed question mark in my initial post, but I wouldn't think this is the case, question mark remaining nonetheless as I can't have 100% certainty.

Edited December 18, 2010 by loblo

[jds]

I think air installed on your system as good as it installed on mine but fails to function properly aferwards. I suppose your installer may work as follows, it first silently installs the air runtime and then does shellexecute on an .air file it includes which calls the air application installer that has just been installed and this one fails with the error message box I posted. And this would mean that the air runtime you have installed should be the right version for the air application it seeks to install/execute since they are bundled together. In my case I installed the then current air runtime and then downloaded air packages which were supposed to work with that runtime and also got the version error message so I don't think version mismatch is the actual issue.

Actually, the bundled AA installation process wasn't silent. The ProSafe Plus Utility installer explained that it needed AA and provided a check-box to enable/disable the bundled AA installation. The AA installation failed with a message saying it needed a newer O/S. However, the ProSafe Plus Utility itself seemed to install and presented an icon on the desktop. Finally, double-clicking the Utility's icon produced the above (perhaps misleading) AA error message, which led me on a quest for an older version of AA that might be able to install. Alas, while some earlier versions of AA don't complain about the O/S when I try to install them, I still get the above error message when I try to run the ProSafe Plus Utility.

So, I can't take that error message too literally, and had thought that in fact, the earlier AA packages were silently failing to install. You've now made me think that perhaps the older AA packages might actually be installing but are not acceptable to the Utility. Next step would be to find a way to test whether older versions of AA really do install and function.

BTW, you seem to indicate that you've actually installed the current version of AA on your WME system? I had to go back to some fairly old versions to find anything that didn't complain when I tried installing it.

Joe.

[loblo]

BTW, you seem to indicate that you've actually installed the current version of AA on your WME system? I had to go back to some fairly old versions to find anything that didn't complain when I tried installing it.

Sorry but I only have an old version of Air installed and I also have air packages downloaded when the runtime I have was current and all fail in the way described above so they definitely are normally compatible with the version of the runtime that is installed, not a version mismatch issue unlike what the error message tends to make one believe..

[jds]

BTW, you seem to indicate that you've actually installed the current version of AA on your WME system? I had to go back to some fairly old versions to find anything that didn't complain when I tried installing it.

Sorry but I only have an old version of Air installed and I also have air packages downloaded when the runtime I have was current and all fail in the way described above so they definitely are normally compatible with the version of the runtime that is installed, not a version mismatch issue unlike what the error message tends to make one believe..

OK, it's agreed. That error message is misleading, since in your case, there shouldn't be a version incompatibility issue.

So, if that error message is thrown up anytime AA is unhappy, I wonder what it takes to make it happy on SE or ME? (Did I mention that sometimes, Adobe/Macromedia's products can be a "pain"?)

Joe.

[jds]

An update :

I now have partial success ...

1. Basically, all versions give that nonsensical error (per first post, above) when running in plain W98SE.

2. Versions 1.0.7.4880 and 1.0.8.4990 seem to install successfully when run in "XP Compatibility mode" under KernelEx 4.5.1.

3. Version 1.1.0.5790 is a mystery, since all versions I've found to download, have actually been a later version, misidentified.

4. Version 1.2.* to 1.4.* are nowhere to be found (1.2.0.3 supposedly did exist).

5. Version 1.5.0.7220 just crashes with an Access Violation.

6. Version 1.5.1.8210 and above, give that nonsensical error, regardless of KernelEx.

So, if anyone knows of genuine versions 1.1.* through 1.4.*, I'd like to give those a try (the two versions that do install for me, aren't adequate for the Netgear software I'm trying to run).

Joe.