The first couple of attempts did not turn out with much success. The browser always had a problem, or the java clone wouldn’t work. Whatever. This weekend, I installed Interactive Brokers TWS on my Linux box.

So download Java from Sun Sun. I say Java and not the other Java clones because in my exp. , Java from sun works better with Java WebStart.

IB Trader Workstation uses a Java technology called WebStart. When you download TWS ( browser version ) you are actually downloading a file that tells Java from where to download the actual file. Java then download the application into a temporary area and runs the program from there. Now this temporary area is called the Cache, and it keeps programs you have run saved there. Why does is store them in a cache ? Because every time you start Trader Workstation, Java checks to see if a newer version exists, and if so downloads it and updates the program in the cache. This is the beauty of Java Web Start. You always have the latest version of TWS on your machine.

So from the IB website, download the browser version of TWS. You will then have a file called tws.jnlp. This is the Java WebStart file that we will be using to run TWS.

First thing we have to do is associate the jnlp file with the java web start program javaws.

Right click on the tws.jnlp file, Select “Open With Another Application”.

Now you have to select “Custom Command” and select javaws. This will be in the location where you installed java in a folder also called javaws.

Now that you have donw that, any time you click on the tws.jnlp file, TWS will check to see if a newer version exists on IB, download if necessary, install and run.

If you have any problems, first make sure you have java installed correctly.

Finally, if you want to check to make sure you have done everything correctly, right click on the jnlp file and select properties…. The application to run this should be ‘javaws’.

Enjoy!

~squid

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