Google Picasa for Linux is just Google Picasa for Windows that comes with Wine. Since the latest version of Google Picasa for Linux is 3.0 there is no sense to use it in Linux.
Try to install the latest version of Picasa using Wine.
- Download Google Picasa 3.6 for Windows
- Install Wine
- Install Google Picasa using Wine
Tested in Ubuntu Linux 10.04, Wine 1.2, Picasa 3.6.