In this installment, I’d like to touch on an oft-forgotten but increasingly important component of the Linux desktop: Java applications. Since Java is largely distribution neutral, what Java code works on Fedora Core works for Debian, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, and any number of other distributions. And, yes, Java applications really do exist, and some are actually good.
In this installment, I’d like to touch on an oft-forgotten but increasingly important component of the Linux desktop: Java applications. Since Java is largely distribution neutral, what Java code works on Fedora Core works for Debian, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, and any number of other distributions. And, yes, Java applications really do exist, and some are actually good.
Due to licensing issues (bundling Java with an operating system is a significant expense), Linux desktop distributions typically omit the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the engine that runs all Java applications. But for our purposes, as end-users, that’s moot: anyone can download and run Sun’s Java 2 Standard Edition for free.
There are actually multiple JVMs you can get. One is the Java 2 Runtime Environment (JRE), and the other is the Java 2 Standard Edition Software Development Kit (Java 2 SE SDK). The first is just the engine itself, and is all you need to run pre-packaged Java applications on a Linux machine. The other, the SDK, is a much larger download and contains not only the JRE, but also the .class files and materials you need to develop Java applications. Building Java applications is beyond the scope of this article, so let’s focus on the JRE version.
To download the JRE, visit http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html and download the latest version. At the time of this writing, Java2 1.4.2 was current and 1.5 was in beta. I’ve found that the beta JREs aren’t necessarily compatible with some of…
Please log in to view this content.
Not Yet a Member?
Register with LinuxMagazine.com and get free access to the entire archive, including:
