For most people installing the newest Java JDK isn't much of an issue. It is one for developers. The next problem I faced was more of a nuisance than a real problem. I like the netBeans IDE. Fortunately their Linux version works with Ubuntu, unfortunately in the PPC version of Ubuntu, Sun does not provide a PPC version of the Java runtime. Good for us that IBM has been working so hard on Java, and they use PPC chips.
You have to sign in, but the steps are first you have to go to the IBM site where you can get the PPC JDK here: IBM JDK 1.5 (5.0) PPC You have to choose the version for the iSeries / pSeries. Download the .gz version. Then the next step once you have the JVM is to make a Debian package out of it, and follow the install instructions here: Ubuntu JDK 1.5 Install Instructions .
That should do it. If you need to install netBeans, then it will install, but the problem is that netBeans won't start unless the Xalan package is removed from the classpath. it should be under the {java.home}/lib/ folder. I'm working on that now. For info on that, here is the link: netBeans problem with Xalan.
