There are several possibilities for creating Flash Content under Linux. The best choice for you depends on what language you’d like to program in, and what ActionScript Virtual Machine you’d like to target.

AVM1 is the original virtual machine that runs ActionScript 1 and 2 bytecode. AVM2 is the more sophisticated updated version that ships inside Flash Player 9 and features just-in-time compilation.

Generally, movies that target AMV2 are 10x faster than those that target AMV1.

MTASC is an open source ActionScript2 compiler that can compiles directly source code to the SWF format.

It can be used together with SWFMill, which can build a SWF library containing graphics assets from an XML description.

• http://mtasc.org the MTASC Home
• http://swfmill.org the SWFMill Home

With the release of Flash Player 9 for Linux, it’s finally possible to do end-to-end development with ActionScript 3 on the linux platform by using Flex2. By using the freely available tools provided by Adobe, you can both author Flash Player 9 content and view it via the latest Flash Player.

To author content for Flash Player 9, download the Flex 2 SDK (free) from the Adobe web site: http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/sdk/

To view content created for Flash Player 9, download the Flash Player 9 beta for Linux: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer9/

• Here is a video showing James Ward compiling a YouTube video player on Linux: http://www.cayambe.com/wordpress/2006/10/19/flash-flex-free-for-all-even-linux/
• If you use VIM as a code editor, check out the actionscript.vim syntax file by Manish Jethani: http://mannu.livejournal.com/350826.html
• The Adobe Labs wiki contains information about using Flex 2 for Linux. Keep an eye on this page as it should be fleshed out in the next few days: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flex_2_for_Linux
• Flex 2 compilation ANT Script from Simeon B. This was created with OS X in mind, but should work well for Linux with little or no changes (or serve as a starting point for your own): http://www.simb.net/client/index.cfm/2006/9/28/My-Updated-Flex-Compiling-Ant-Script
• Keith Peters has an ActionScript 3 Project Template for OS X for building applications with the command line compiler and ANT. This should be a good starting point as well: http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=882

Create a good tutorial from start to finish using both Flex 2 and MXML, and using just ActionScript 3.

haXe is an open source programming language that can be used to compile source code to the SWF file format. haXe supports Flash Players 6 to 8 generation, but also latest Flash Player 9. (you can also use haXe to compile Javascript/AJAX code and on the Server-side)

• http://haxe.org the haXe Home
• Getting Started with haXe/Flash
• Using haXe for Flash9
• Using haXe with the Flex2 framework
• the haXe Documentation

NeoSwiff is a C# compiler that can compile C# code into .swf files. The NeoSwiff Framework is a free download that includes a Makefile as well as a wide variety of samples that demonstrate how to compile C# code on Linux into Flash applications.

• http://www.globfx.com/products/neoswiff/ NeoSwiff Home