Firefox, Java, Ubuntu, 64bit
 

Man I have read tutorial after turorial, and installed (im sure more than needed) a lot of different packages trying to get Java to work in Firefox.

My system:
Ubuntu 7.10 64bit
Kernel:
2.6.22-14-generic
Firefox:
2.0.0.6
Java:
java version "1.4.2-02"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build Blackdown-1.4.2-02)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build Blackdown-1.4.2-02, mixed mode)

I can see in about:plugings "IcedTea version 1.4" with Java installed with it, but no sites that have Java show the Java applets. I have restarted my browser, numerous times.

This is really getting aggravating.

Help me please.

You should install the latest IcedTea (version 7), that should work a lot better.

Where do I find version 7?

I believe it's in the repositories. Not quite sure since I've been using Fedora for the last couple of weeks but I do seem to remember that the repositories is where I installed it from. Just look for IcedTea 7 (or was it Icedtea? or icedtea?).

By the way, now that I think of it, you may need to switch your java environment. The most convenient way of doing that is installing galternatives. Launch it from the menu and select the desired plug-in version. For all I know this may be what is keeping your blackdown jre from working. Still, blackdown is out of date so it won't hurt to use a more recent JRE and plug-in.

I checked the add/remove programs list, couldn't find it anywhere.

You lost me on the second paragraph. How do I install galternatives and what menu?

Sorry, when it comes to Desktop Linux, I'm a total newb. I, for the most part, can do the server side stuff. Sometimes.

Hmm, I could have sworn... It should be called icedtea-java7-plugin, actually. Is that why it couldn't be found? Have you searched on the "java" keyword?

As for galternatives, that is a GUI front-end to the update-alternatives command. Update-alternatives is a nifty little application that can select the java version that you want to use by default when you have multiple versions installed. The thing is that Ubuntu - nor any other Linux I have used recently - will automatically switch to the latest version you installed so you need to do it yourself or you'll find yourself scratching your hair. You could run it from the command line as well but the GUI is a lot more convenient if you need to switch multiples items. Just launch it from the menu, select jre & plug-in from the left column and set it to the version you want your distro to use.

Also, icedtea-java7 should be preferred. Java 5 is the standard nowadays, if not yet Java 6. Using an older version is very likely to cause frequent issues. In fact, you may find that even icedtea-java7 has its limitations as it is not a simple clone of the Sun JRE and plug-in.

Yea I did search just the keyword java, but it didn't come up. Only some JAVA DEV installs and a few other things popped up, nothing icedtea though.

Wait a second.

I just ran, sudo apt-get install icedtea-java7-plugin and it told me that it was the latest version installed.

Yet, when I go to about:plugins in firefox, it says "GCJ Web Browser Plugin (using IcedTea) 1.4"

That's weird.

Hmm, this reports some issues with icedtea but, well, I think it also shows that it should really be there:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...a7/+bug/152362

The only thing I can think of is that you are missing a repository. Check System > Software sources. It's quite possible that it isn't in the main repositories yet since it's quite new.

This almost makes me want to just uninstall Ubuntu 64bit and install the 32bit version.

Yeah, the java plug-in is sadly one area (possibly the only one) where 32 bit is still a lot more straightforward than the 64 version.

Alternative: install 32 bit firefox and jre:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=202537

Thanks a million buddy, I just installed the 32bit version of FF on here and everything works like it should now. Awesome.

I just went through the same hassle and wound up installing 32 bit firefox as the solution (for now).

I found this guide very straightforward. It got java working for me on the first pull.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AM...efoxAndPlugins


If you've been doing a lot of installing and uninstalling of various java packages you should go into Synaptic and do a search for 'java' and mark all the java packages you have installed for removal (IcedTea, Sun-Java, Blackdown, Gcj...whatever you can find) except for 'java-common'. Then start following that guide to install 32 bit firefox on 64 bit Gutsy.


I kinda feel like the fonts in firefox32 aren't as crisp as in 64 though.

Thanks for the other link, though I've been running 32Bit Firefox on here for the past week now with no problems so far. Don't really notice the crisp of the fonts, running on a cheap 15" Dell 1504FP 1024x768 LCD, so nothing really looks pretty on it.

I did follow jay73's link to get the install, it was much easier. All you had to do was download one file and run it, it did everything else automatically for you.

I don't need java applets to run in the browser very often, but when I do, I find the easiest solution (even tho I use Gnome) is to simply fire the web page up in Konqueror which doesn't need a plugin.