[CentOS] Can't get JRE to install so that FireFox sees it

Hot on the heels of the success of getting sound to work with FireFox, I
am on to getting Java applets to run.

When I go to a page with a Java applet, I get the little Rubik's cube-
like icon that says I can click to download. So I do, but FireFox says
it can't find it, so I have to install manually.

I click on Manual install and I'm taken to a page that allows me to
download the RPM within a ".bin" file. That's new to me, but I'm game. I
download it and follow the install instructions. It makes me create
a /usr/java directory, and open the .bin file there.

I have to go through a whole license text file, but in the end it says
it's installed.

I check in the directory, and there's a jre directory and an RPM file. I
wonder why the RPM file is there if it's already installed. I try to
install using RPM, and it says it's already installed, so I decide I
believe it.

I re-open FireFox... and going to the same web page I was at before with
the Java applet, I'm presented with the same screen saying I need to
install the plug in.

What am I doing wrong with the installation?


Dave