After searching an hour or so, I found that after unpacking 1.6.5 into my home directory, I should be able to run it after changing to the directory in the terminal with ./arduino. Unfortunately, I get a java error:
:~/arduino-1.6.5-r5$ ./arduino
./arduino: line 36: ./java/bin/java: cannot execute binary file: Exec format err
Running as Super User gives the same results.
This appears to be a Java problem, but as I understand it, the required java is in the archive. Checking my system showed JRE 6 and 7 are installed.
Searching on the error text has not yet helped either, though I can see this maybe a deeper issue, nothing related to arduino floated to the top.
...sometime later....
I decided to try the 32bit version.
The 32 bit version runs fine!!
Maybe I didn't build a 64 bit system as I thought I did!
Checked with uname -a and guess what! i686 = 32 bit!
Any ideas? Now I know you have a few, and most are likely derogatory!
Cheers and Thanks for your consideration!
-fab