I am looking at starting to learn J2ME so that I can purse a few midlet ideas I've got brewing. I am starting with this tutorial at linux.com:

Linux.com :: Writing J2ME applications in Linux

So my first question for anyone else who is currently developing midlets on linux for their BB, which do you recommend from this page:

Java SE Downloads

JDK6/4 or JDK6/4 with JavaEE? Doesn't look like NetBeans IDE is supported for linux.

While not conversant with J2ME development, I am heavily involved with java appservers under linux and the JDK. You want just the basic JDK 6 update 4, you don't need the the EE versions.

Here's how I maintain java on a linux box:

1) download the "self extracting archive" version, not the RPM or other ones
2) use symlinks to have your system find the java tools; it's easier if I just show you the commands.

Assuming you've downloaded the self extracting JDK archive to /tmp/ (replace as necessary), do this as root:

This unpacks the JDK to /usr/local/jdk1.6.0_04, symlinks "java" to the numbered JDK, then places symlinks in /usr/local/bin/ to 'java', 'jar', 'javac', and so on - all the tools. When you need to upgrade/downgrade the JDK, all you do is follow the same steps and change the symlink /usr/local/java to point at the desired JDK and everything falls into place.

If you want it to work smoothly everywhere, I suggest adding two lines to /etc/profile (or /etc/bashrc. but I like /etc/profile) to tell all apps where java lives:

Combined with the symlinks above, every time you upgrade java now all your apps will just naturally pick it up. The above assumes /usr/local/bin is in the PATH variable for everyone, which is usually the case with 99% of the linux I've ever encountered.