Note: this page assumes you're running a linux operating system, and does not cover setting up Eclipse for MS-Windows.

1. Followed instructions @ http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:getkde to get full kde desktop.

2. Downloaded EasyEclipse Expert Java (easyeclipse-expert-java-1.2.2-2.tar.gz) to My Documents (default) from http://www.easyeclipse.org/site/distributions/index.html#java. Older version used as assumed might be more compatible

3. Right clicked and extracted all to My Documents (default)

4. Navigate to sub directory created easyeclipse-expert-java-1.2.2 and tried to launch by double clicking eclipse

5. Error on load JVM terminated. Exit code=…….. etc

6. Problem caused by Eclipse trying to use jre distributed in download rather than system jre so renamed jre sub directory in sub directory easyeclipse-expert-java-1.2.2 to jre_unused as suggested by Joel Alexandre @ http://easyeclipse.org/site/help/install-distribution.html

(Note: on my 901, this step has not been necessary.)

7. Navigate to sub directory created easyeclipse-expert-java-1.2.2 and tried to launch by double clicking eclipse and it worked!

The next issue that arises is Eclipse's habit of resizing dialogs to fit the screen real estate. Makes some controls in the dialog unreachable.

8. This page: http://tronprog.blogspot.com/2007/08/eclipse-fonts-in-linux.html explains how to use gnome-control-center to adjust fonts for Gtk applications, which includes Eclipse.

Note that this will also affect fonts in Firefox and Thunderbird. It won't change the fonts used in web pages (this is controlled in Firefox's Preferences), but it will affect fonts used in Firefox dialogs and menus and “chrome”: that is, the location (url) bar, the status bar, tab titles, etc.

Note also that, at least using the Xandros Advanced Desktop, while font preferences are retained after rebooting, they are not applied until gnome-control-center is run in the current session. No doubt there's a simple fix for this, but I don't know what that is.

9. To use gnome-control-center, you'll need to install it. This may require having edited /ect/apt/sources.list to add a repository. Assuming you have the correct repositories set, install gnome-control-center by opening a terminal window (ctrl-alt-T or any other method) and typing: sudo apt-get install gnome-control-center

10. Once gnome-control-center is installed, start it by typing: sudo gnome-control-center

11. Click on “Fonts”, and adjust them to 8pt or less.

12. Eclipse should immediately show the new font sizes, without a restart.

The main font used for menus and dialogs is the “Application Font”; the best compromise I've found between small size (font height is the biggest factor for Eclipse dialogs) and readability is FreeSans medium, 8pt. FreeSans bold 8pt also works, but is less crisp. DejaView, both sans and serif, has too high a line height to be usful at 8pt, and is too small at 7pt.

13. To set the text font, used in editors, go into Eclipse, select menu item Window | Preferences, then General | Appearance | Colors and Fonts. Type “text” into the Colors and Fonts filter (not the main dialog filter), then select Basic | Text Font.

Clicking the “Change” button will bring up a font dialog that will set the default text font for all editors.

Alternatively or additionally, you can set different fonts for different editors in this dialog.

I prefer not to use a monospaced font for coding; many will disagree, but I find that reading code is much like any other reading, that is, easier with a proportional font. I prefer Verdana.

14. To make Gtk apps even more compact you can change GTK's theme to a compact theme. This will make applications built on GTK, like Firefox, Thunderbird, and Eclipse use less space for buttons and other widgets.