so i tried uninstalling and reinstalling arduino, arduino-core, and rxtx from the debian packages available here: Arduino Playground - Ubuntu
unfortunately, the arduino debian package doesn't see the rxtx package that I installed!
$ sudo dpkg -r arduino
[sudo] password for user:
(Reading database ... 305279 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing arduino ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus ...
$ sudo dpkg -r arduino-core
(Reading database ... 305239 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing arduino-core ...
$ sudo dpkg -r librxtx-java
dpkg: warning: there's no installed package matching librxtx-java
$ sudo dpkg -i librxtx-java_2.2pre2-11_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 304441 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace librxtx-java:i386 2.2pre2-11 (using librxtx-java_2.2pre2-11_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement librxtx-java:i386 ...
Setting up librxtx-java:i386 (2.2pre2-11) ...
Processing triggers for doc-base ...
Processing 2 changed doc-base files...
Registering documents with scrollkeeper...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
$ sudo dpkg -i arduino-core_1.0.1+dfsg-6_all.deb
Selecting previously unselected package arduino-core.
(Reading database ... 304441 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking arduino-core (from arduino-core_1.0.1+dfsg-6_all.deb) ...
Setting up arduino-core (1:1.0.1+dfsg-6) ...
$ sudo dpkg -i arduino_1.0.1+dfsg-6_all.deb
Selecting previously unselected package arduino.
(Reading database ... 305240 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking arduino (from arduino_1.0.1+dfsg-6_all.deb) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of arduino:
arduino depends on librxtx-java (>= 2.2pre2-3); however:
Package librxtx-java is not installed.
dpkg: error processing arduino (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
arduino
what's going on?