This has been tested using Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS but other versions may work as well.

Install Oracle Java on Ubuntu using a Personal Package Archive (PPA)

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

Also ensure your JAVA_HOME variable has been set to:

/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle

For this you can run the following command:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle

To make it permanent you can add the the following to '/etc/environment':

JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle


Install RXTX (native interface to serial ports in Java)

sudo apt-get install librxtx-java
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jni/librxtxSerial.so /usr/lib/
sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER