I want to install Java1.5 and Java 1.6 on my Ubuntu 8.10. And that's he propose in this topic.

1. update or reload Syn Package Manager

Java 5
The Java 5 packages available is listed as follows:
sun-java5-binsun-java5-fontssun-java5-plugin
sun-java5-demosun-java5-jdksun-java5-source
sun-java5-docsun-java5-jresun-java5-src
Java 6
The Java 6 packages available is listed as follows:
sun-java6-binsun-java6-javadbsun-java6-plugin
sun-java6-demosun-java6-jdksun-java6-source
sun-java6-docsun-java6-jresun-java6-src
sun-java6-fontssun-java6-jre-headless
2. install different version Java
So you can install them from Syn Package Manager or commend line as:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-plugin

3. verify Java installation
java -version

4. list all the available Java runtime environments
update-java-alternatives -l

5. change default java version in Ubuntu
sudo update-java-alternatives -s <JRE Version>

6. setup JAVA_HOME and PATH
 setup for all user or Ubuntu in /etc/environment:
JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/

 add /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/bin in the PATH

for my home ~/.bashrc
JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/
export JAVA_HOME
PATH=${PATH}:$JAVA_HOME/bin


all done.