Installing JMRI on Ubuntu 12.04

Ok, this is as much for my benefit as anybody elses, as having spent quite a time trying to get JMRI running properly on Ubuntu, I feel I should record what the solution was, so I can do it again if needed...... done I must add with a lot of help from the guys on the JMRI Users Group.

 Maybe it will be useful to others, who knows.

Step 1. Ignore everything on the jmri.org website.

Step 2. Install the latest Java relaese by following the steps on this website.

Step 3. Download the newest release of JMRI from here Unzip it to somewhere you'll remember.

Step 4. Add yourself to the 'Dialout' user group:
sudo useradd ralph dialout

Step 5. Make sure you have the correct permissions to access the serial ports:
sudo gpasswd -a ${USER} dialout

That should do it!

For one step better refined, create a desktop icon that will launch the JMRI app you want - DecoderPro3 in my case  (thanks to Dave from Australia on the JMRI Users Group):

[Desktop Entry]

Version=1.0

Type=Application

Terminal=false

Icon[en_AU]=/opt/JMRI/resources/dp3_48x48.gif

Exec=/opt/JMRI/DecoderPro3

Name[en_AU]=DecoderPro 3

Comment[en_AU]=JMRI DecoderPro

Name=DecoderPro 3

Comment=JMRI DecoderPro

Icon=/opt/JMRI/resources/dp3_48x48.gif

The above works for JMRI located in a JMRI folder in /opt (and you'll need root permissions to do that). Save this text as a file in /usr/share/applications.  You should then be able to drag it to the Unity launcher and off you go.

Phew.

Runs a whole faster than it did on Windows too.