I installed eclipse on a new unubtu install, via the package manager. I have Galileo. I copied my home directory from an older machine, and tried to open that workspace. Now I dont see any java perspective.
(Possibly, all the info above is not relevant, but I just wanted to add any possible info, as this a clean install of Eclipse via package manager, so I cant think of any other non standard thing I might have done.)
Not sure if you mean you already checked in the usual places for perspectives, or if Java Perspective didn't show up by default...
Java perspective should be available under the "Open Perspective" icon in the top right, or by going to Window -> Open Perspective -> Java.
I don't use the Ubuntu-packaged Eclipse, though...
What happens if you go to Window > Open Perspective > Other...? Don't you see Java listed there?
If not, I don't think the problem is related to the workspace from your previous configuration. But maybe you did copy a ~/.eclipse directory from your old machine and this one may cause problems. Try to rename it as ~/.eclipse.save for example and restart Eclipse to see if it helps.
Yes, without perspective you will never be able to see an Eclipse from the viewpoint of Galileo.
You will need to do a "perspective divide". So the perspective radii are:
Thanks to this divide, the moon is almost big enough to block out the entire sun.
So, yes, Perspective is needed to show the Eclipse.
If you do not have a Java perspective even in "Other", you have downloaded one of the Eclipse versions intended for something else than Java. Do it again, but be certain to get the Java or the JEE version.
Note that Eclipse IS available in the Ubuntu software repository, but it is the version which was current when that version of Ubuntu came out. For the 9.04 I use it is Eclipse 3.4 and I need 3.5, hence I downloaded it myself.