Two Breezy problems: Acroread and Jedit

[Jack Jackson]

hi
Having difficulties with Acroread and Jedit on an otherwise flawless 
install of breezy on a Dell 5150 Inspiron notebook.

I installed java correctly - java --version shows 1.4.2 and downloaded 
jedit. it installed properly - I can see it installed to the menu and 
shortcuts, but starting it either through a RUN command or clicking on 
its icon, or through right clicking and "Open with JEdit, Programmers 
Text Editor" results in ... nothing.

I also installed adobe acrobat using apt-get and then again manually. 
Manually the files installed fine, and when I launch acroread, for a 
brief, exciting moment I see the splash screen....and then nothing.

ps aux | grep acroread and ps aux | grep jedit as well as top reveal 
nothing running


What gives? What can I try?

Thanks in advance,
JJ