Applets fail on Firefox + Debian

Question

Hi all,
I'm trying to develop an applet but it seems that ALL applets fail.
I keep getting the same exceptions: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException.
To prove my point, i directed the browser to the sun applet test page, titled "How do I test whether Java is working on my computer?" (http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml) and still get the same exception (full stacktrack on the bottom of the post).
I'm running Debian lenny, Firefox 3.6 and java 6 update 18.
As it stated in the tutorial, I created a symbolic from within the firefox plugins page to the appropriate file under the jre.
It's important to add that other java applications that i run on the machine (not under a browser) works just fine, that is eclipse is running just fine and I use it to develop java applications which also cause no problems with the current jre/jdk.
I pretty much spent the whole day searching the net for related posts but could not find anything that helps.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Complete stack trace for the applet test page:
basic: Added progress listener: sun.plugin.util.GrayBoxPainter$GrayBoxProgressListener@15d0ff7
network: Cache entry not found [url: http://www.java.com/applet/testvm2/Main.class, version: null]
network: Connecting http://www.java.com/applet/testvm2/Main.class with proxy=DIRECT
network: Connecting http://www.java.com:80/ with proxy=DIRECT
network: Cache entry not found [url: http://www.java.com/applet/testvm2/Main/class.class, version: null]
network: Connecting http://www.java.com/applet/testvm2/Main/class.class with proxy=DIRECT
network: Connecting http://www.java.com:80/ with proxy=DIRECT
basic: load: class testvm2/Main.class not found.
load: class testvm2/Main.class not found.
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: testvm2.Main.class
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.findClass(Applet2ClassLoader.java:152)
     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307)
     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:248)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadCode(Plugin2ClassLoader.java:444)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager.createApplet(Plugin2Manager.java:2940)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Plugin2Manager.java:1444)
     at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Network is unreachable
     at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
     at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.doConnect(PlainSocketImpl.java:333)
     at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(PlainSocketImpl.java:195)
     at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(PlainSocketImpl.java:182)
     at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:366)
     at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:525)
     at sun.net.NetworkClient.doConnect(NetworkClient.java:161)
     at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(HttpClient.java:394)
     at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(HttpClient.java:529)
     at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.<init>(HttpClient.java:233)
     at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.New(HttpClient.java:306)
     at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.New(HttpClient.java:323)
     at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getNewHttpClient(HttpURLConnection.java:860)
     at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.plainConnect(HttpURLConnection.java:801)
     at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.connect(HttpURLConnection.java:726)
     at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:1049)
     at java.net.HttpURLConnection.getResponseCode(HttpURLConnection.java:373)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.getBytes(Applet2ClassLoader.java:458)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.access$000(Applet2ClassLoader.java:46)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader$1.run(Applet2ClassLoader.java:126)
     at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
     at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.findClass(Applet2ClassLoader.java:123)
     ... 6 more
Exception: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: testvm2.Main.class
Ignored exception: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: testvm2.Main.classEdited by: nitzan on Mar 1, 2010 9:54 AM

Answer 1

baftos,
I'm sorry for not mentioning this in my original post, but i first encountered this exception when trying to run the applet I'm developing, this applet is part of a firefox extension and is being called from a chrome url (chrome://) which is basically local, and i know for a fact that the browser can reach that url because when the address is pasted into the address bar you get the "download file" dialog.
Also, when I try to load the page of the test applet using the same computer but under windows (using VirtualBox) the applet works just fine with firefox 3.6 (windows).
Thank you.