Adding Java to Debian Etch

I've already repeated myself enough about the Flashplugin-nonfree being taken out of Debian Etch and relegated to Debian Backports. and I've decided NOT to install it for the time being mostly because a) I don't really need it and b) Flash runs like crap on this rig (blame the ECS EVEm motherboard).

But I do need Java. Since Java is not a totally free program, you must agree to the licensing terms before the plugin for Iceweasel/Firefox will install. And with that in mind, it's not in Debian's default "free" repositories.

To get Java, first edit /etc/apt/sources.list. Use su to root or sudo (and if you don't have sudo set up, now is a good time to do it).

Here's how to do it using sudo with the Gedit text editor (substitute your favorite editor for Gedit, and ignore the word sudo if you used su to root):

$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list &

Once you're in /etc/apt/sources.list, change these lines to include the contrib and non-free repositories:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free

Then save and close /etc/apt/sources.list.

While you still have the terminal window open, update your package lists:

$ sudo aptitude update

If you want to stay in the terminal, do this to add Java:

$ sudo aptitude install sun-java5-plugin

Or use the Synaptic Package Manager. Instead of using aptitude to update your package lists, after making your changes in /etc/apt/sources.list, start with Synaptic and click Reload. Then search for the Sun-java5-plugin package and add it that way. Even though I'm a big fan of using aptitude instead of apt at the command line, if I'm in a graphical environment I use Synaptic more often than not.

Then close and restart the Iceweasel browser. You should have Java. To check it, I learned from TomCort.com that you can try to play the Java game Jpong. If it works, you have Java.

I needed Java for a variety of things, but the one that prompted me to actually get it was LogMeIn. Without ActiveX (in IE) or Java (in everything not IE), you can control a Windows or Mac OS X computer remotely via "any" Web browser (and do it free with LogMeIn Free), but you can't actually type directly in an application window without ActiveX or Java installed. And instead of LogMeIn actually prompting me about this omission, I was reduced to typing into a little "Send Keys" window to get actual screen input.

I can't imagine that LogMeIn cares at all about the non-Windows and -Mac market. I get that, since a product to remotely control a Unix-like desktop would be a bit redundant with X over SSH and other technologies that are easy to use in a GNU/Linux or BSD environment.

But in my case, in which I'm using the browsers in Linux and OpenBSD to control a remote Windows XP desktop, they need to make it clear to users that unless you have a Java-equipped browser, your experience is going to be very frustrating until you add the required software.

Later: After adding the contrib and non-free repositories, installing the sun-java5-plugin, restarting Iceweasel and navigating to http://logmein.com, I signed in to my account.

After the wait for Java to get going, I indeed was able to start a remote session from my Debian Etch box to my Windows XP box and actually use my keyboard to type into application windows on the remote host (is that what you call it?).

Now I have to add Java to the rest of my GNU/Linux installations.

Java is even available for OpenBSD, at least for i386 and AMD64. I believe you have to add the entire developers kit to get the runtime. I've seen more than a few messages on the OpenBSD mailing lists from Java developers, so it's not an unknown platform for that sort of programming.

There used to be a huge rant here about how Flash only runs on PowerPC chips if you are using Mac's OS 9 or OS X and not in any Linux or BSD. I'm not quite sure what the status is regarding Java on Linux/PowerPC. It seems a bit murky, and I'm looking into it. A cursory Google search indicates that it is available, although not as an actively developed technology.