Need help with Web Browser - Java and more
 

Hi all,

I'm in need of some help setting up my Debian system, especially with Java and other plugins for Iceweasel. I am installing on a new system, Intel PD 940 3.2GHz with 3Gig memory and a clean 80Gig HD. Made an ISO disk by downloading Debian 4.0 r6 i386 from the Debian Web site, and the installation seemed to go OK. Currently have most functionality with some notable exceptions.

The main problem I have is that I am trying to get a Web Browser working that can do Java. It seems Iceweasel should fit the bill, so I am working on that now. I have downloaded the Linux Java self-extracting binary, extracted it into /usr/local/sbin, and tried to install it by setting up some symbols in the Iceweasel plugin subdir per the instructions at
http://www.java.com/en/download/help/5000010500.xml. The Iceweasel prefererences have Java and Javascript enabled, but no luck. I restart Iceweasel as instructed.

Here are the symbols I set up (trying two methods here, neither worked.):

Lennie:/usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins# ls -l|more
total 12 {{only java related ones shown}}
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2008-12-29 16:28 java -> /usr/local/sbin/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2008-12-29 16:28 libjavaplugin_oji.so -> /libjavaplugin_oji.so

From the java directory:
Lennie:/usr/local/sbin# ls -l
total 19664
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root staff 11 2008-12-29 10:07 java -> jre1.6.0_11
drwxr-xr-x 8 root staff 4096 2008-12-29 06:56 jre1.6.0_11
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root staff 20106959 2008-12-29 06:55 jre-6u11-linux-i586.bin


So, what do I do to get Java working?


Other questions:

Trivial one. When I type in java directory manually, it doesn't work, but when I cut-and-paste from the ls list, it does. Anyone know why? (ex. output below)

Lennie:/usr/local/sbin# ls
java jre1.6.0_11 jre-6u11-linux-i586.bin
Lennie:/usr/local/sbin# ls jrel.6.0_11 <--type in
ls: jrel.6.0_11: No such file or directory
Lennie:/usr/local/sbin# ls jre1.6.0_11 <--cut-and-paste
bin javaws LICENSE plugin THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME.txt
COPYRIGHT lib man README Welcome.html
Lennie:/usr/local/sbin# ls java <--symbol works...
bin javaws LICENSE plugin THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME.txt
COPYRIGHT lib man README Welcome.html

I am also having problems with the Adobe Flash Player (AFP) plugin. When I access LinuxQuestions.org for ex., I get a bar across the top saying I need to get a plugin. I click on it and it pops up a window saying I need AFP, so I click on install. It seems to work but after restarting Iceweasel it still doesn't work.

Also, I am trying to get the gcc command to work (i.e install the GNU gcc pkg) but the aptitude program doesn't seem to work.

I'm not sure if all these problems are related or not. Any help will be appreciated.

Kirk Shanahan

First off you might want to consider upgrading to Lenny, Etch/stable is pretty old and Lenny will be the new stable soon.

For Java you need non-free contrib in your /etc/apt/sources.list

the do aptitude update && aptitude install sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin

For Flash I would suggest adding the debian-Multimedia.org repo then doing

aptitude update && aptitude install flashplayer-mozilla debian-multimedia-keyring

For GCC you probably need build-essential and you might want module-assistant

If you want multimedia plugins I would suggest aptitude install mplayer mozilla-mplayer


If your not sure howto edit your sources.list just open any text editor as root and open /etc/apt/sources.list

and make sure it looks like

#Stable
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
#Stable Sources
deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
#Security Updates Stable
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free

# Marillat For info visit http://www.debian-multimedia.org
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org stable main


You may need backports for something later on so go ahead and add it as well
# Debian Stable Backports
# For information visit
# http://www.backports.org/dokuwiki/do...d=instructions
# apt-get install debian-backports-keyring
#deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib non-free

You can see my signature for more sources.

Thanks for the help Craig. I now have functioning Java and Flash plugins. However, when I tried to do the multimedia plugin, I got stuck when the system asked for the 'Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r6 _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20081219-16:03' CD. I only downloaded the first CD from the Debian Web site, and it worked every other time I was asked for this.

(http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/...-1.iso.torrent)

Any suggestions as to what it is looking for?

TIA,
Kirk Shanahan

--- error msgs during 'aptitude install mplayer mozilla-mplayer' ---


WARNING: untrusted versions of the following packages will be installed!

Untrusted packages could compromise your system's security.
You should only proceed with the installation if you are certain that
this is what you want to do.

libxvidcore4 mplayer libavformatcvs51 libpostproccvs51 libx264-54
mozilla-mplayer libavutilcvs49 libavcodeccvs51 liblame0 libfaac0 libfaad0

Do you want to ignore this warning and proceed anyway?
To continue, enter "Yes"; to abort, enter "No": Yes
Writing extended state information... Done
Media Change: Please insert the disc labeled 'Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r6 _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20081219-16:03' in the drive '/cdrom/' and press enter
{{I put the CD in the drive here...}}
Media Change: Please insert the disc labeled 'Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r6 _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20081219-16:03' in the drive '/cdrom/' and press enter

[1]+ Stopped aptitude install mplayer mozilla-mplayer

I may have spoken too soon. Flash and Java seem to work on my account OK, but when I created some new accounts, I lost sound. Video plays but no sound. Yet when I log out and log back in under my account (not root) I still have sound. Ideas?

Update-3/20/2009 - problem was due to user account settings - had to enable sound and CD use.