These are some notes on how I was able to get Webex to work on my Fedora 10 laptop. Webex is a java application so to start we need to install java. I usually opt to use the real thing because I’ve never been able to get Ice Tea to successfully work with the webex app.

Installing Java

So to start I download java from java.com. Specifically I downloaded version 1.6u14. This will offer up a file, jre-6u14-linux-i586.rpm.bin. After saving that to disk you need to convert this file to it’s native RPM format. This can be accomplished with these commands.

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# unpack RPM file
sh jre-6u14-linux-i586.rpm.bin
 
# install RPM
rpm -Uvh jre-6u14-linux-i586.rpm

Firefox Java Plugin

Once we have the java JRE installed we need to get the java plugin to be picked up by firefox. This can be accomplished by creating a unix link in firefox’s plugin directory, /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. Additionally I also usually create a link in my home directory, ~/.mozilla/plugin. I occasionally run into problems where firefox seems to get confused about which plugins are available when I only install them to the firefox’s main system directory, so I’ve just gotten in the habit of installing them in both directories.

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# install plugin to firefox's main plugins dir
cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_14/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so
 
# install plugin to user's firefox plugins dir
cd ~/.mozilla/plugins
ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_14/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

At this point do a quick restart of firefox and you should see the plugin under the pull-down, Tools -> Addons, under the plugins tab.

java plugin added to firefox

Testing Webex

Now we can run a quick test to see if the webex demo works. To start, first go www.webex.com and click the View Demo link.

main page of webex.com

Next you’re presented with a form that you need to fill out. I usually just put some bogus info into this form.

webex demo form

After clicking the “Join Now” button the actual webex application will begin downloading. You’ll see this screen while it’s being downloaded.

webex app download

Finally the webex java app will start running and you’ll be presented with a dialog box asking if you want to trust the host which is serving the java app.

webex trust dialog box

This is pretty standard fare for Java’s webstart technology, which is the technology behind how java applications are served. You typically only get this dialog the first time, subsequent runnings of the webex app will go much quicker because the webex app will remain cached on your system. The only time you’ll be required to re-download it is when a newer version gets released by webex.

One final note: from this point the webex demo will come up. The demo does appear to only be available during business hours. I’m guessing 8:00AM EST to 5:00PM EST. During these times you’ll be directed to an actual webex presentation where you’ll see other people that are attempting to use the demo. You can chat etc. with these other users. Outside of these times the demo is just a video demo.