googleearth on kubuntu

[Brian Norman Wootton]

I have installed googleearth in 3 different ways now, the last using
the googleearth-package that synaptic found which converts a
binary installation file to a .deb file.
 All 3 have got exactly the same problem - viz:
I get the full googleearth functionality when I run it under root(sudo)
but if I run it as a user(me) I get the googleearth window opening OK
but with only the black star background, no picture of earth at all. I
presume there's some file permission(s) wrong somewhere, any ideas
where I might try looking would be most useful.
 This is a proprietary package so kubuntu/Debian can't help, I've sent
a comment off to Google but the Lord knows if I'll get any answer.
brian