Problems installing Java

[Jared Buck]

Hey all, I am having problems installing Java in Linux.  I have
downloaded the Binary RPM, made it executable, then executed it to
extract the RPM.

I ran the RPM and it installed just fine.  But I use Firefox, obviously,
so I need some way to get it to recognize the java plugin.  I followed
the instructions under configuration on the Java configuration website
and did the ln command as instructed.  Java isn't recognized.  

I configured it as it instructed, to configure it under mozilla 1.7.3.
Am I doing something wrong here, like configuring it for 1.73 when it
should be configured under firefox's plugins directory?

Help would be appreciated here.

Jared