1) Copy the Linux self extracting binary file to /usr/java/
eg. jre-6u22-linux-i586.bin
2) set executable permission for all
eg. chmod a+x jre-6u22-linux-i586.bin
3) Run the self-extracting binary as root
eg. sudo ./jre-6u22-linux-i586.bin
4) set path for all users by appending to /etc/profile
eg. export PATH=$PATH:/usr/java/jre1.6.0_22/bin
5) create a symbolic link to the required plugin in the browser plugins directory
eg. /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins/ (plugin directory for chromium)
eg. sudo ln -sf /usr/java/jre1.6.0_22/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so (the plugin that works with chromium)
