apropos prevailing confusion about what java development environment(s)
should be used:
<P>

my suggestions are:
<dl>
<dt>
java version:<DD>		1.1.7

<DT>development kit:<DD>	Blackdown.org. 
			<a href="ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/java/JDK-1.1.7/">ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/java/JDK-1.1.7/</a>.
this kit contains the compiler, interpreter, appletviewer etc. 

<DT>byte-code compiler:<DD>
if you're interested in a fast compiler:	Jikes (IBM research)
 			
<a href = "http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula.nsf/toolpreview/9E352B2BFCB64CD5882566D0007083E0">http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula.nsf/toolpreview/9E352B2BFCB64CD5882566D0007083E0</a>.

jikes also allows you to make Makefiles. it's one of the best compilers
around.

<dt>jit:<dd>
			TYA jit compiler (i haven't used it)
			<a href="ftp://gonzalez.cyberus.ca/pub/Linux/java">ftp://gonzalez.cyberus.ca/pub/Linux/java</a>

<dt>great online book:<dd>	The Java Tutorial (Sun Microsystems)
			<a href="http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/">http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/</a>

<dt>my (Lew) favorite paper book on java:<dd>
<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/javanut2/noframes.html">Java in a Nutshell, O'Reilly</a>
It's about 1000x more useful than any other book on java i have seen, especially if you are
trying to learn the diff from c/c++ to java.  about 50% of the book covers the language and environment
and 50% is a reference for the libraries.  It's in my office if you want to borrow it.. -lew

<dt>IDE:<dd>			Emacs-JDE
			<a href="http://sunsite.auc.dk/jde/">http://sunsite.auc.dk/jde/</a>

<dt>some general stuff:<dd>
<ul><li> JavaSignals: catch Linux signals
			   version 0.2
 			 <a href="http://interstice.com/~kevinh/projects/javasignals/">http://interstice.com/~kevinh/projects/javasignals/</a>
			<li> JavaComm for Linux: use Linux serial ports in
			   a platform independent manner
			 <a href="http://www.interstice.com/~kevinh/linuxcomm.html">http://www.interstice.com/~kevinh/linuxcomm.html</a>
the last two seem interesting... some of the links in the pages are
down, so i haven't been able to find much about them.
</ul>
</dl>