Im new to Linux and I am using Mepis 3.4. Having Just recently moved from a Windows OS (XP professional to be exact), I've noticed that Java could be a little trickier to run on a Linux machine. My question is, would it be possible that I already have Java installed on Mepis, and if not, how would I go about getting the newest version. If someone could guide me about accomplishing this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

use your package manager to search for installed (or available) software on your system, and install it if it is not installed. it would be called java or jre. do you want java for webpages etc or for building java applications? go to java.sun.com and download the one you need. it will have exact instructions for how to do it.

at least tell us what you are going to be using java for and we can provide links to the download file and tutorial for installing.

Well, I did a google search to find some stuff and this was one of the pages i found: http://www.mepislovers-wiki.org/inde...new_JDK_or_JRE
Starting, I read that this was good for the jdk and jre so i got the lastest of both of them. Next, I tried jre 1.5 first. I followed all the steps and everthng ran smothley untill step 4. When I did that, was it supposed to show the files seperating from their package like in Windows? The reason is because the package still looked the same in the temporary Java folder I made in /home/Justin folder. It was like a small yellow box. Did it extract and I just didnt see the extracted files in that folder or did it just not extract? and when i ran that test it still said i had 1.4...Oh, about what i am using it for, mostly for making applications. Kinda new to Java so I'm not too advanced in it.