Java rxtx serial problem set up

Hi,
I followed the instructions here Arduino Playground - Java

I am using debian linux.

It seems to say in the guide that if you have the arduino ide installed. (i do and it communicates perfectly over serial with my uno)

That you should have no problem compiling the example SerialTest.java
Just by using javac SerialTest. java

Does anyone have experience of this working as they say?
I get a compilation error that says it cant find gnu.io package.

Thanks for any help.
Most instructions i have read online have been vague or addressing windows

Hi.
I don't have experience with this, but I remember that one year ago I follow that instructions only to see if it works. I don't remember very well but I think that it works very well. I only had problems with the "driver", I think it made some kind of conflict with the driver that the Arduino IDE used. After a will I figured out how use the driver from the IDE and after that it work very well.

Now I use Linux Mint 17 (64 bits) at the time of this experiment, I don't remember very well what Linux I used.

For the error you describe maybe you meed to install some dev packages.

Yeah I have no idea the guide is very vague.
it says if you have the ide successfully installed it might work...

and then some stuff about if you installed rxtx on its own, which I cant imagine many people doing since it installs with the ide package, id guess most people use the ide.

And, like I said, it was at many months ago, but my "problem" becomes from the rxtx be different from the one that came with the IDE. But except from that it was very straightforward.

yeah its not working for me =(

The likelihood is that your Java program can't find the version of RxTx that is part of the Arduino IDE. When I install RxTx on Linux I just extract the .zip file to a directory and I don't go through any installation process. Also note that the Arduino IDE 1.5.6 uses JSSC rather than RxTx.

A simple solution may be to put a copy of RxTx in the lib directory of your Java program.

Alternatively do whatever is necessary to tell Java where the RxTx within the IDE is located. (I can never remember that stuff).

...R

Hi
I think this is the solution. Im just going to start again and dowload the rxtx zip and set it following the instructions as though it were any other external package.
Hopefully that should work, I lost my will to live messing with it last night, but I feel hopeful I can set it up this morning
Thanks for the help guys

ok guys I got it working.
I only have one problem in that the test program throws a warning about rxtx version miss match. but the program works and runs.
I am going to try and sort that part out now.
When I am done I will post a complete and clear guide as I found the one on arduino playground to be a bit confusing. Its a lot simpler if you ignore that guide and just google how to install external java packages and follow one of those generic guides.

cheers

Hi,
you can also take a look here: Ardulink

There are instructions to install rxtx on Raspbian that is a Debian distro for Raspberry PI. You can skip steps for Ardulink.

Ardulink:
Hi,
you can also take a look here: http://www.ardulink.org/how-to-install-arduino-pc-link-on-raspberry-pi/

There are instructions to install rxtx on Raspbian that is a Debian distro for Raspberry PI. You can skip steps for Ardulink.

Thanks for the help, its all sorted now, but im sure that link will help anyone else googling this who might come across this thread.
Thanks

ok I said id post my solution incase anyone googling the problem comes across this thread.

If you are using Debian linux it just a case of:

Install arduino IDE (sudo apt-get install arduino) it installs the RXTX lib package for you, (called: 'librxtx-java')
OR
install the RXTX lib package on its own (sudo apt-get install librxtx-java)

copy RXTXcomm.jar from /usr/share/java
TO
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64/jre/lib/ext

insert whatever java you have where it says 'java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64'
that happens to be the java I have installed.

You are now done! and should be able to run the sample code off arduino playground Arduino Playground - Java

The tutorial on playground probably is easy for most people and you might think Im retarded for not getting it, but there is plenty of people in the world as stupid as me, so hopefully this will help those people when they google the problem.

Thanks for everyones help and contribution
(i figured this out btw, just by googling how to install external libs in java, not following the playground tutorial)

I don't bother to put my Jars (such as RXTX) in a central location.

In each project I have a directory called lib (but the name is not important) and I have a shell script that adds that to the system variable before opening a terminal at the project directory

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$PWD/lib;

I'm not recommending this as better - just different. (And it means I can use any of the three versions of Java on my PC).

...R

Hi,
Thanks for the reply, yeah that is definately a good alternative.
I use that export stuff when Im working derby database so am familiar with it.
Il try it out,
Thanks