*** NO TIME FOR FORMATTING ***
Sun Java has finally been uploaded to the Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat official Partner repository.
From UI:
To install (Sun) Java in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat you'll have to enable the Partner repository: open Ubuntu Software Center and go to Edit > Software Sources, then on the "Other Software" enable the Partner repository (it should be the first on the list; it looks like this: "http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner".).
Then, click "Close" and when asked, click "Reload" and finally install Sun Java6 in Ubuntu 10.10 by searching for it in Ubuntu Software Center.
From command line:
sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list
Uncomment
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin
sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun
You also need to setup JAVA_HOME and PATH variable. Open your $HOME/.bash_profile or /etc/profile (system wide) configuration. Open your .bash_profile file:
$ vi $HOME/.bash_profile
Append following line:
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
