Installing JMRI on RedHat Fedora Core 3

Jonathan Miner
November 23, 2006

Introduction

JMRI is a Java-based software package that interfaces with many popular Digital Command Control system. Since it is written in Java, it will run on both Windows and Linux systems, and purhaps others. My personal preference is use Linux because of its stability and reliability. I'm running it on an old DELL Inspron 5000 laptop with a 500Mhz CPU, and 96MB of RAM. This system interfaces with my personal Digitrax system with an MS-100¹, and with the Concord Model Railroad Club's Wangrow System One.

Obtaining Software

Java Development Kit

Go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp
Click on "Download JDK 5.0 Update 6"
Read the license, click the "Accept" radio button, then click the "Continue" button.
Click on "Linux RPM in self-extracting file", and save the resulting file.

Java Communications API

Go to http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/index.jsp
Click on the "Download" button to download "Version 2.0 for Microsoft Windows and Solaris/x86"
Again, read the license, click on "Accept" radio button, then click the "Continue" button.
Click on the "Solaris x86 Platform" version, and save the resulting file.

RXTX Serial and Parallel I/O Library

Go to http://rxtx.org
Click on "Download" from the top menu bar.
Click the link for "source only for late 1.4 and current 1.5 JREs rxtx-2.0-7pre2", and save the resulting file.

JMRI

Go to http://jmri.sourceforge.net/download/
Under the "JMRI 1.6 - Stable Production Release" section, click on "Linux"
Select a mirror site, and save the resulting file.

Installating Packages

Java Development Kit

Execute the following commands as "root" to install the Java Development Kit.

# chmod +x jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-i586-rpm.bin
# ./jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Review the license, then answer "yes", press <Return>

Java Communications API

Execute the following commands as "root" to extract and install the communications library.

# zcat javacomm20-x86.tar.Z | tar xf -
# cp commapi/comm.jar /usr/java/jdk1.5.0_06/jre/lib/ext
# echo "Driver=gnu.io.RXTXCommDriver" > /usr/java/jdk1.5.0_06/jre/lib/javax.comm.properties

RXTX Serial and Parallel I/O Library

Execute the following commands as "root" to extract and build the RXTX library.

# export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_06
# PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
# tar zxf rxtx-2.0-7pre2.tar.gz
# cd rxtx-2.0-7pre2
# ./configure
# make
# make install

You will also want to add the JMRI user to the uucp and lock groups, and optionally, change the permissions on the desired serial port. You may want to see David Zuhn's site (http://stpaulterminal.org/software/jmri/) for more information on building the RXTX libraries.

JMRI

Execute the following commands as the JMRI user.

% mkdir JMRI
% cd JMRI
% PATH=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_06/jre/bin:$PATH
% tar zxf {path_to_files}/JMRI.1.6.tgz
% cd JMRI
% chmod +x *.csh

and that's it! At this point, you should be able to run any of the JMRI tools. If you have any problems, see the JMRI Linux FAQ, at http://jmri.sourceforge.net/install/FAQLinux.html

Notes

¹ The only problem I have with the MS-100 is that JMRI can not set the right baud rate. However, there is an easy work-around. Start the JMRI application, then wait for the baud rate error message. Now, in another window, run these commands:

% port=/dev/ttyS0
% setserial $port divisor 7
% setserial $port spd_cust
% stty speed 38400 < $port

This sets the serial baud rate to be 16457 (115200 / 7), which is close enough to the Digitrax Loconet speed. Now, press on the "OK" button, and continue using the application.