i'm test-thrashing the FreeBSD 5.4 beta 2 RC in a desktop mode, Gnome 2.10, on a Compaq s5000 (celeron) 2.5 Ghz 40 GB hd 1GB ram 1 GB swap
uname:
FreeBSD dfowensby.hr.cox.net 5.4-RC2 FreeBSD 5.4-RC2 #0: Sun Apr 10 09:08:14 UTC 2005 root@harlow.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386

5.4 is really sweet and snappy, except for a perplexing java snag: only when i click on a room to chat in Yahoo does it hiccup and return to the chat room welcome/room menu.
it starts loading, the room pageframes & background (pewk yellow) fills in, then burp! Back to the welcome page. this doesn't appear to be a beta-related glitch.
i had a similar situation with www.goes.noaa.gov java loops on it's satellites, but deinstalling Blackdown and loading up sun's self-extracting linux jre1-4-2-08-linux-i586.bin into /usr/local/linux-java, and linking the oji.so to /usr/X11R6/lib/linux-mozilla/plugins seemed to be the universal "cure".
Except for the Yahoo chat rooms
i've tried the 1.3 patches, blackdown, straight loads from the sun linux java download links (1.3, 1.4 1.5) and as i said above, only the linux 1.4 seems to be consistent. i do NOT want to try the complete compile from source route for the bsd mozilla. i hope that's not the answer!
i feel i have just got to be missing something simple, here.

any thoughts?
thanks for looking!
-O.

It is not really a solution for the problem you describe (but it is a workaround)... I use gyach (/usr/ports/net/gyach) for Yahoo chats.

If the chat functionality is something you really need... you might want to check it out. If you are determined to fix the java thing, I can't help too much... I've haven't had it working forever... but games work for some reason.

you need a native jdk

Not necessarily.

I'd try installing java/linux-sun-jdk14 and enable Linux binary compatibility first.

ok! yeah i used the linux-jre 1.4 but not the jdk. didn't think about that (precompiled, too). i tried the 1.3 jdk and seemed to be facing a days-long compile and ports "dependency hell". scratch that.
thanks for the gyach hint. i KNEW i'd missed something, i'd remember seeing that in another thread quite awhile back. i'll take a crack at it.
oh! and it's not critical as to having to lick this thing, i just have this irritating habit of not tolerating an inanimate object getting the best of me!
i figure java works for spam and ads, surveys, apps, and games too, so i deeply resent it when something i intentionally load up Doesn't work.
thanks folks for the info--O.

must be a freebsd thing. nothing works. not even gyach. that was a waste of time.
not even a native self extracting java file. rats.
nothing.
it seems to be a java opened function within a java-based environment, launched within the linux abi, and subsequently by the base system (freebsd).
and bsd seems to handle one layer, but not two or the third. oh well. you get what you pay for.....no complaints on the price here.

rats. i put in a netsearch and gues where i wind up at. this sux. WHY doesn't freebsd schmooze into yahoochat like the rest of the world??