there are a few ways, so we will focus on one at a time

Number Une: from the website

first, go to:
http://vba.ngemu.com/downloads.shtml

scroll down to Version 1.7.1

download the Linux one to /home/user
in /home/user, make a folder called VBA, or anything you want, but keep it short, yet sweet.

extract the:
VisualBoyAdvance-1.7.1-SDL-linux-glibc22.tar.gz to the VBA folder (right click, extract all)

inside, rename the VisualBoyAdvance file to VBA

make a folder in /home/user called games, and inside games, make on called VBA
(/home/user/games/roms is mine)

now, get a game! save to /home/user/games/VBA (or, what you called it)

now, Ctrl + Alt + T to open Terminal (on easy mode, for advance, go launch > application > system > console)

now type (or Ctrl + c, then in console, type shift (^) and Ins)
/home/user/VBA/VBA /home/user/games/roms/fireemblem.gba
^             ^
what the folder the game is in is called          rom name (don’t forget .gba)

and you should be on!

if you go to VisualBoyAdvance.cfg in the VBA folder, you can change the configuration

————————————————————————————————-

Number Deux: Via synaptic

open terminal (as above) and type:
sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list

copy and paste the code below under the asus ones, or anywhere really!:
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian etch main

now save, and quit.
you may now do one of three things:
open synaptic (sudo synaptic in console, or terminal), find visualboyadvance, and click to install

open aptitude (sudo aptitude i think) and do it on there (sorry, not sure how )

or, in a console/terminal, type:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install visualboyadvance

How to run it:
vba then path to rom, so, in terminal:

vba /home/user/games/roms/fireemblem.gba
again, the ‘roms’ folder and game name is different for you

or, if you want to, type:

gvba
into a terminal and it will launch. I dont use this, as i think it is slow, but there you go

hope this helped, and you installed VBA correctly

any questions, please type