mpide crash on Ubuntu 10.10 at launch

[funlw65]

user@pc:~/mpide$ ./mpide
0 [main] DEBUG processing.app.Base - DEBUG: Logging enabled.processing.app.Base
4330 [main] DEBUG processing.app.Base - DEBUG:start: rebuilding import menu
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at processing.app.Base.rebuildImportMenu(Base.java:1006)
at processing.app.Editor.buildSketchMenu(Editor.java:640)
at processing.app.Editor.buildMenuBar(Editor.java:485)
at processing.app.Editor.(Editor.java:208)
at processing.app.Base.handleOpen(Base.java:732)
at processing.app.Base.restoreSketches(Base.java:393)
at processing.app.Base.(Base.java:310)
at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:208)
^C

SUN Java 6 is already installed on system.

[funlw65]

The original Arduino IDE 0022 is working ok.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZO_jeN8-rUpQrfYEkB1u3viuEaCisaeQQg4wpgp9Ogc?feat=directlink

[ricklon]

Please check if librxtx-java is installed.

dpkg -l | grep rxtx

If not then you'll need to do a:
sudo apt-get install librxtx-java

Just want to make sure it's not missing.

[funlw65]

Wasn't installed but still not working after install.

user@pc:$ dpkg -l | grep rxtx
ii librxtx-java 2.2pre2-1 Full Java CommAPI implementation
user@pc:$
user@pc:~/mpide-0022-chipkit-linux32-20110520$ ./mpide
0 [main] DEBUG processing.app.Base - DEBUG: Logging enabled.processing.app.Base
2153 [main] DEBUG processing.app.Base - DEBUG:start: rebuilding import menu
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at processing.app.Base.rebuildImportMenu(Base.java:1006)
at processing.app.Editor.buildSketchMenu(Editor.java:640)
at processing.app.Editor.buildMenuBar(Editor.java:485)
at processing.app.Editor.(Editor.java:208)
at processing.app.Base.handleOpen(Base.java:732)
at processing.app.Base.restoreSketches(Base.java:393)
at processing.app.Base.(Base.java:310)
at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:208)

[ricklon]

I've dug into this more. Here's what I found:

It's a requirement that you have Java, and librxtx-java installed. There is a bug in Sun Java version that doesn't include it in the path even if you have it installed. It's nicely documented here:
http://colinharrington.net/blog/2010/11/arduino-ubuntu-10-10-maverick-meerkat-no-rxtxserial/

In any case here's what you'll need to do.
If you know you don't have Java installed do:
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk

Check for librxtx-java via:
dpkg -l | grep rxtx

If not found do:
sudo apt-get install librxtx-java

If you have more than one version of Java then you'll need to check which version of Java you are running. You can do this by typing:
update-java-alternatives -l

This will list which version you have installed. Like:
java-6-openjdk 1061 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk
java-6-sun 63 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

In our case the best option is select the java-6-jdk.

The easiest solution is to select java-6-openjkd
sudo
sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-openjdk

Once done you can double check by typing:
java -version

Then run mpide again.

If you have to use the Sun JDK here are the options from the article.

1. don’t use sun-java but default-jre instead. This bug is actually a known bug in sun-java. (bug #325506)
2. add export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/jni to your .bashrc, the .deskop file (in /usr/share/desktop), or on the command line before starting arduino

[funlw65]

Hi,

I did everything and still does not work :( . I have to repeat that Arduino 0022 and Processing 1.5.1 are starting without problems on my Ubuntu. If those are working ok, then is something wrong with the modified version of mpide.

I am curios to see if I'm the only one with this problem on Ubuntu 10.10 but unfortunately, the "fan site" is not yet ready so no community to ask....

[funlw65]

BTW, both mpide for windows archives are crashing on Windows Vista Basic (32bit version). I get a dialog which announces me that the program can not be started and java remains resident in memory because I can't delete the folder where is unpacked - I have to restart the computer to do that.

[ricklon]

The forums are open. You can check them out here:
http://chipkit.cc/forum

[ricklon]

Closed by the creation of issue 38, #38.

.arduino settings folder needs to be changed to .mpide or something reasonable