Configuring java plugin for iceweasel on amd64

[Peter Tenenbaum <quarkpt@gmail.com>]

I've been trying to get Java to work correctly on iceweasel (I'm using squeeze and amd64).  I managed to get the sun-java6-plugin downloaded and installed.  Currently, I see /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/libjavaplugin.so, which is a link to /etc/alternatives/iceweasel-javaplugin.so .  my ~/.mozilla/plugins directory does not contain any Java-related libraries or links.  When I check Iceweasel's add-ons GUI, I see Java Plug-in 1.6.0_20, and when I do about:plugins I see Java Plug-in 1.6.0_20.  In my preferences, Java is enabled.  However:  when I navigate to the Java test webpage (http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp) and push the big red "verify java version" button, it errors out after about 2 minutes.

Is there some other configuration work which needs to be done to make Iceweasel fully Java-functional?

Thanks in advance,
-PT