Alice on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

This really isn't a bug or report of a problem. I'm just writing this to start a thread for people trying to install and run Alice on Ubuntu 8.10.

I have a Lenovo T61 Thinkpad. In the past I have had Alice run on Ubuntu, but there were glitches. In particular, the graphics were not rendered properly on certain 3D models (while about half of them looked just fine). Also, it would simply refuse to start at times.

I just did a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10 and copied over my alice folder from a flash drive. When I tried to run alice, I got only error messages, mostly from the python file not be able to import the string module.

However, I downloaded Alice 2.0 and put it in a folder in my home directory. I deleted my old folder. I right clicked on it and chose "extract here". After the new Alice folder was created, I clicked into the Required folder and found the "run-alice" file. Clicking on it brought up "run in terminal", which I chose. Alice ran perfectly and there are none of the 3D rendering glitches that it suffered in earlier Ubuntu versions.

The nice thing here was that I never had to use the command line. Although I love to use the command line in Linux, my students that use Ubuntu are not big fans of using the command prompt.

I just upgraded from Hardy Heron to Intrepid Ibex, (both 64-bit). When I open a world, the world doesn't appear in the window until after I've played it. When I play it, nothing moves. I get dialog boxes and sound, but no movement.

Now it starts Alice, but when I open a world it gives me a brief glimpse of the scene in the world window, and then it turns black, and the rest of the screen blanks out.

When I run it in the terminal, I get a bunch of error messages before Alice starts, and no further error messages when I attempt to start a world:

attempting to register mp3 capability...
Registered succesfully
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/rt.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/rt.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/jsse.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/jsse.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/jce.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/jce.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/charsets.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/charsets.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/dnsns.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/dnsns.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/sunjce_provider.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/sunjce_provider.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/localedata.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/localedata.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: processing modified jar, '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/sunpkcs11.jar'
*sys-package-mgr*: can't write cache file for '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/ext/sunpkcs11.jar'
Locking assertion failure. Backtrace:
#0 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 [0x7fb78d6f99fc]
#1 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0(xcb_xlib_unlock+0x24) [0x7fb78d6f9ab4]
#2 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0x268) [0x7fb78db47698]
#3 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so [0x7fb78e053d7b]
#4 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so [0x7fb78e040e9c]
#5 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so [0x7fb78e040ffe]
#6 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so(Java_sun_awt_X11GraphicsEnvironment_ini tDisplay+0x9) [0x7fb78e0411c9]
#7 [0x7fb7b6360f7b]
Locking assertion failure. Backtrace:
#0 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 [0x7fb78d6f99fc]
#1 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0(xcb_xlib_lock+0x17) [0x7fb78d6f9b77]
#2 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 [0x7fb78db468c0]
#3 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6(XGetVisualInfo+0x2e) [0x7fb78db3d08e]
#4 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so [0x7fb78e0401f7]
#5 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so [0x7fb78e040431]
#6 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so [0x7fb78e041099]
#7 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.16/jre/lib/amd64/xawt/libmawt.so(Java_sun_awt_X11GraphicsEnvironment_ini tDisplay+0x9) [0x7fb78e0411c9]
#8 [0x7fb7b6360f7b]

Any help would be much appreciated!

Originally Posted by dmathews

I just upgraded from Hardy Heron to Intrepid Ibex, (both 64-bit). When I open a world, the world doesn't appear in the window until after I've played it. When I play it, nothing moves. I get dialog boxes and sound, but no movement.

I gave up on the 64 bit version for a while, even though my laptop is 64 bit. Apparently Java 7 will have 64 bit plugins for browsers. If you want to try running 32 bit Java on 64 bit Ubuntu, this may help:

http://java.dzone.com/tips/32-bit-jd...bit-ubuntu-sys

For me, though, it has been sticking to 32 bit Ubuntu and turning all visual effects off in System/Preferences/Appearance/Visual Effects.

I'll be going to Carnegie Mellon next week and will have to chance to talk face to face to some of the Alice team members. Last time I was there I encouraged them to keep working out the bugs in the Linux version, as several of my students use Ubuntu. I suspect, though, that many of the problems with Alice on Linux are really problems with Java on Linux, but I could be wrong.

Well, I've been Googling the two different types of error messages, and it appears that the first one has something to do with jython and the second is an Ubuntu bug. What I can't figure out is why Alice worked fine in Hardy Heron, (64-bit), but isn't working now. I'm wondering whether the Sun Java 1.5 JRE is a different release than the one I had before.

Well, a friend of mine also running Intrepid Ibex on a 64-bit machine is able to run Alice no problem. I installed Hardy Heron as a second operating system on my machine, and Alice worked fine. I then enabled the proprietary ATI driver, and it didn't work. Then I disabled that driver and it worked again. I was hoping disabling the driver would fix the problems in Intrepid Ibex, but it made no difference. Nonetheless, since my friend is having no problems whatsoever, and since the driver for my video card did affect its running in Hardy Heron, it is possible that the problem has to do with my Radeon HD 3200 card and whatever drivers are running it.

Whoops, my friend just remembered that he switched to a 32-bit install a few weeks ago. So the issue is still open...

Originally Posted by dmathews

Whoops, my friend just remembered that he switched to a 32-bit install a few weeks ago. So the issue is still open...

You had my hopes up there!

I'll see what I can find out at CMU next week. I'm also having trouble with certain scenarios in Greenfoot running correctly, so I'm working on that, too, as Greenfoot is pretty important in the AP Comp Sci class I teach.

Ok, I've tried, but I keep getting java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError followed by a listo of over 90 related error messages:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/sun/gluegen/runtime/DynamicLookupHelper
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:637)
	at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:277)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:73)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:212)
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:323)
	at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:268)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:336)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:637)
	at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:277)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:73)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:212)
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:323)
	at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:268)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:336)
	at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
	at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:186)
	at javax.media.opengl.GLDrawableFactory.getFactory(GLDrawableFactory.java:111)
	at javax.media.opengl.GLCanvas.chooseGraphicsConfiguration(GLCanvas.java:520)
	at javax.media.opengl.GLCanvas.<init>(GLCanvas.java:131)
	at javax.media.opengl.GLCanvas.<init>(GLCanvas.java:90)
	at javax.media.opengl.GLCanvas.<init>(GLCanvas.java:83)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.scenegraph.renderer.joglrenderer.OnscreenRenderTarget.getAWTComponent(OnscreenRenderTarget.java:57)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.util.RenderTargetPickManipulator.setRenderTarget(RenderTargetPickManipulator.java:74)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.util.RenderTargetPickManipulator.<init>(RenderTargetPickManipulator.java:45)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.util.RenderTargetMultiManipulator.<init>(RenderTargetMultiManipulator.java:33)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.editors.sceneeditor.CameraViewPanel.renderInit(CameraViewPanel.java:867)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.editors.sceneeditor.SceneEditor.setAuthoringTool(SceneEditor.java:215)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.JAliceFrame.guiInit(JAliceFrame.java:157)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.JAliceFrame.<init>(JAliceFrame.java:71)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.AuthoringTool.mainInit(AuthoringTool.java:456)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.AuthoringTool.<init>(AuthoringTool.java:408)
	at edu.cmu.cs.stage3.alice.authoringtool.JAlice.main(JAlice.java:131)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.sun.gluegen.runtime.DynamicLookupHelper
	at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:217)
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:323)
	at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:268)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:336)
	... 42 more

I'm Googling it, but not finding anything very helpful, just a bunch of people asking similar questions. If anyone has any clue where to even start ...

I'm running Xubuntu Ibex on a AMD64 system.

I'm wondering if it's time to post this on the Ubuntu Forums. The technical expertise there is pretty high, and the response time is fast. In the past when I've approached the Ubuntu community about Alice, most were not familar with it and skeptical. If we emphasise that it is free and open source (unlike BlueJ or Greenfoot, which are merely no-cost), we might get more help.

Originally Posted by ShelJ

I'm Googling it, but not finding anything very helpful, just a bunch of people asking similar questions. If anyone has any clue where to even start ...

I'm running Xubuntu Ibex on a AMD64 system.