Installing Eclipse

Read this document in its entirety before installing Eclipse.

Although you can use Eclipse at school (see Launching Eclipse) we highly recommend you install the Eclipse environment on your computer. Accessing Eclipse remotely through the campus network is theoretically possible, but extremely slow.The Eclipse installation process has two steps:
  1. Install Java 6.0 SDK.
  2. Install Eclipse 3.4.

The files you will need to download are quite large so it is necessary you have a fast internet connection. For those with slow internet connections we can provide a limited number of CDs with the required software or you could copy the files to a CD from one of the wam labs on campus.   Please contact your instructor or teaching assistant for more details.

Below we describe the installation process for Windows and for Mac OS X.  If you have a different system (e.g., linux) see the "Software Sources" section below.  Feel free to skip the section that does not apply to your system.

For simplicity the Eclipse zip files we have provided include the software (course management plugin) necessary to submit projects. In addition we have included a UML design tool (Amateras) plugin. Installing Java and unzipping the appropriate Eclipse zip file will complete the installation process.

Installation Process for Windows (XP/Vista)

  1. Install Java 6.0 (Note: If you have installed previous versions of Java you might want to uninstall them.)
    1. Download the filejdk-6u7-windows-i586-p.exe.
    2. Double-click on the previously downloaded file and follow the installation instructions (basically select next until installation is complete).. You don't need to register the JDK.
  2. Install Eclipse 3.4 software
    1. Download the file eclipse-sdk-3.4-win32-withcsplugins.zip
    2. Once you have unzipped the previously downloaded file, you will see a folder where you will find the eclipse application (a big blue dot).  We recommend you create a shortcut on the desktop to simplify the launching of eclipse.  Notice that unlike Java, Eclipse does not have an installation process.  Once you have unzipped the file you are done.

Installation Process for Mac OS X

  1. Install Java 5.0 (Yes, 5.0 and not 6.0) as at the moment there is only a 64-bit Java 6.0 version. YOU MAY HAVE JAVA ALREADY. Keep in mind that Macs already have java installed so you could skip this step if java 5.0 is already present in your machine. You can check the java version you have by opening a command window and executing "java –version". Also, you may want to go ahead, install Eclipse (see next step) and then check the version you have.
    1. If you have a Mac and are planning to use Java 5.0 you must use either Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger) or Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard).
    2. Follow the instructions on the web page (J2SE) 5.0 Release 1
If you would like to install 6.0 (you don't need to) you may want to check the site http://landonf.bikemonkey.org/static/soylatte/. Notice that there is a Java 6.0 version for 64-bit, Intel-based Mac computers (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1856)
  1. Install Eclipse 3.4 software
    1. Download the file eclipse-sdk-3.4-macosx-withcsplugins.zip
    2. Once you have unzipped the previously downloaded file, you will see a folder where you will find the eclipse application (a big blue dot).  We recommend you create a shortcut on the desktop to simplify the launching of eclipse.  Notice that unlike Java, Eclipse does not have an installation process.  Once you have unzipped the file you are done.

Installation Process for USB Drive

You can have Eclipse and Java in an USB driver and run Eclipse from a PC with a USB port.  Keep in mind that it can be slow to access Eclipse following this approach.  To get Eclipse working in an USB Drive:
  1. Copy the Eclipse folder to the USB Drive.
  2. Copy the Java JDK (e.g., C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_07) from your PC to the USB Drive. 
  3. Bring up Eclipse and define the jre present in the drive as the one to use for projects.

Installation for Linux

  1. Install Eclipse from the main Eclipse site (see Software Sources section below).
  2. Install the Course Management/Clover Plugins (See Software Sources section below).
  3. If you are taking cmsc132 you may want to also install the Amateras UML editor plugin.

Software Sources

At some point you might be interested in looking at the following sites.  In particular, those using a platform different from Windows or Mac OS X or those trying different Eclipse versions might need to access software from: