Hi everyone, I'm a big time newb, started linux a few days already, i'm kinda likin it, anyways. I tried to install Java, and I downloaded this from SUN's website:

j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Thats the actual name of the file. I clicked on it install, but that didn't work,
next I tried console, and just typed out

j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin

and that didn't work, and I even tried renaming it without the .bin and ending with .rpm, and that still didin't work. I've read the installation notes on SUN's site, but having mucho troubles. Can anyone help me? Thanx in advance.

Well to get you going on .bin's in general...

You will want to make them executable. To do that issue the following command:

chmod +x j2r(then press Tab)

Now you can open a terminal and type:
./j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin

And it will extract a .rpm file. Then you will need to install that. Are you sure you want to go BETA though? You should be fine using the latest stable version. And you may also want to put your distro in the location field, sometime java questions can be distro specific.

Also if it's for LimeWire, here's a howto:
http://www.mandrakeuser.org/docs/utils/ujava.html

Actually, that how to should cover how to install java for most apps I'd guess.

I executed the commands as you showed MasterC

[root@localhost root]# /j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin
bash: /j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin: No such file or directory
[root@localhost root]# j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin
bash: j2re-1_4_1-beta-linux-i586-rpm.bin: command not found
[root@localhost root]#

And thats the errors I get. I executed the chmod command through a run command first, and that also gave the same errors, next I executed the chmod command in console, and that still didn't work. BTW I forgot I'm using RH7.3 distro, would that make any difference?

I'll try the stable version next unless I can get this beta to work.

That's a . and a / don't miss the period (.)

I don't think so, but maybe chmod is a root only function, so make sure you are root while doing this. Oh, I see you already are. good. The chmod should not be returning with no such file or directory unless you aren't in the directory containing the file.

When you open a term (and yes this is all done in term or console) type LS in lowercase to list what is in the directory. If you are in the wrong directory then type cd /to/the/directory/where/you/downloaded/java/to
Something like
cd /root and issuing ls might be what you need.

lmao, I just noticed you are in Washington, I'm in Los Angeles and its 3 in da morn, what time you got? hehehehehe, this linux is drivin me nuts, but I aint's givin up, Oh this was for to be used with openoffice and also later limewire....

Yeah, me too, it's 320 here. I work nights so I cruise the boards during that time.

Any luck yet? You will need to chmod before you can ./ the file.

Dang this is nuts, it worked MasterC, is .bin like a compressed file format? I couldn't really see the period, darn fonts are way too small, any way to get them to be bigger by default? I've messed with the fonts settings for mozilla, and same thing still same size.

I haven't used Mozilla much, but have you checked in the preferences?

http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html

Ok, I installed Java, but now, programs such as open office and limewire inform that Java is not installed. I read on the above posts or links from them on setting the path. I'm not sure if I'm setting the path right for these programs to detect that Java is definitely installed. At the moment on my systems it's located at /usr/java/j2re1.4.1. There are other directories such as bin, lib, man, and plugin inside j2re1.4.1 directory. I've tried to point the open office installation to j2re1.4.1, and it installed fine, but I'm not sure if I pointed to the correct directory, reason why I say this is because when I start up Open Office the fonts are like really small and hard to read. Is that another seperate issue? Also for limewire, it states I I don't have Java installed. So what I did next was copy the installation file right into j2re1.4.1 so I could install from that path, but still it didn't work. Can anyone help me out with my dilemna?

make the following steps:
[bash]# which java
if it returns no java found in: list of dirs
then run
[bash]# export PATH=$PATH:/usr/java/j2re1.4.1/bin
now if you run
[bash]# which java
it should return
/usr/java/j2re1.4.1/bin/java
But next time you log in the PATH is reset to its original value (w/o java), so to make the PATH permanent as root edit your /etc/profile file (if your shell is bash, which is default on most linux distros) as follows
open the file in your favorite text editor
locate the line
export PATH OTHER_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES
just before this line insert
PATH=$PATH:/usr/java/j2re1.4.1/bin
save the file. Now in terminal as a regular user run
[bash]# . /etc/profile
Note the dot (.) and space before /etc/profile - it is equivalent to
[bash]# source /etc/profile
which updates environment for a user who runs this command
That's all.
now if you do
[bash]# echo $PATH
among the output you'll see /usr/java/j2re1.4.1/bin

I don't see the export line: Below is my profile file, where should i put it now?


# /etc/profile

# System wide environment and startup programs, for login setup
# Functions and aliases go in /etc/bashrc

pathmunge () {
if ! echo $PATH | /bin/egrep -q "(^|$1($|" ; then
if [ "$2" = "after" ] ; then
PATH=$PATH:$1
else
PATH=$1:$PATH
fi
fi
}

# Path manipulation
if [ `id -u` = 0 ]; then
pathmunge /sbin
pathmunge /usr/sbin
pathmunge /usr/local/sbin
fi

pathmunge /usr/X11R6/bin after

unset pathmunge

# No core files by default
ulimit -S -c 0 > /dev/null 2>&1

USER="`id -un`"
LOGNAME=$USER
MAIL="/var/spool/mail/$USER"

HOSTNAME=`/bin/hostname`
HISTSIZE=1000

if [ -z "$INPUTRC" -a ! -f "$HOME/.inputrc" ]; then
INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc
fi

export PATH USER LOGNAME MAIL HOSTNAME HISTSIZE INPUTRC

for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh ; do
if [ -r "$i" ]; then
. $i
fi
done

unset i

it is there

oh ok, sorry, didn't know that was specificly that. Imma try it out now.