Need Help w/ Java and Mozilla on SuSE 8.2

Question

I am completely and totally new to Linux. Until not very long ago the only computer I ever worked with was MS. I'm running SuSE 8.2 Professional.
I used (after much trial and error) the rpm program to remove Mozilla 1.2 (which is installed by default). This is a machine at home so I have root access and regular access. I downloaded Mozilla 1.3 and installed that without a problem. I download j2sdk 1.4.1.02 (I'm pretty sure those are the numbers). I followed the instruction on how to install java and it appears to have worked correctly. I don't know how to test but there is now a directory called j2sdk1.4.1_02 which has several files and directories inside of it (including jre). I also followed the instructions and installed the java web start program.
Anyway, I've searched the forum for information that would explain how to make mozilla work on website that use java. Most of what I read was greek to me. But there was one that said I should copy the libjavaplugin_osi.so file into the mozilla plugins directory. I did that and when I looked at the "about plugins" page (from Help in Mozilla), it showed a lot of java files. But when I go to any pages that are using java, the page starts to load and then closes. This happened on about 6 different pages (all different web sites). So I think something went wrong. A friend had told me I'm going to have to make a "symlink" (which I don't know how to do). But he's on vacation and won't be back for 2 weeks.
Can anyone help?
Here are the directories where everything is stored. Oh, by the way, when I installed mozilla, java and javaws, I did all of it from the root account. If that was wrong, tell me and I'll fix it.
mozilla is in:
/usr/local/mozilla/
java is in:
/usr/local/java/j2sdk1.4.1_02/
javaws is in:
/usr/local/java/javaws/
Again, as I'm sure you can tell, I'm lost, totally new to linux, mozilla and java. So if you can help, please explain as clearly as possible.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Your friend is correct, instead of copying the .so file you should have made a symbolic link. To do that, first remove "libjavaplugin_oji.so" from "/usr/local/mozilla/plugins"; it's on the way. Then create the symlink with the "ln -s <source> <destination>" command, with your configuration it should be something like:
ln -s /usr/local/java/j2sdk1.4.1_02/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/local/mozilla/plugins/
(you need to be root to do that)
To set up web start in mozilla, it might be easiest to go to the demo page and try to launch one of the applications:
http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/demos-nojavascript.html
When the "what should mozilla do with this file" dialog pops up, click on the "Advanced" button and make Mozilla handle it with the javaws application. Optionally remove the cross in "Always ask before opening .."