> The problem is - how do I get from A to B.
>
> I am new to playing with Java at all - is this just a case
> of getting .jar files into the right place on the WIndows
> and Linux machines? And then the above 'command' will run

Ok, then here's what you need:

a) JDK (either Sun or IBM, people say that IBM is faster for
server-side applications); set $JAVA_HOME env. variable.

b) cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@...:/cvsroot/firebird co
client-java

c) cd client-java/src/build

d) ls -l build.sh, if it is not executable, chmod 755 build.sh

e) ./build.sh

f) if everything is ok, you find your driver in
client-java/output/lib/firebirdsql.jar

g) in addition, in classpath you need:

client-java/src/lib/concurrent.jar
client-java/src/lib/connector.jar
client-java/src/lib/jaas.jar
client-java/src/lib/jmxri.jar ? (not sure, probably you can ommit it)
client-java/src/lib/jta-spec1_0_1.jar
client-java/src/lib/log4j-core.jar

You can extract all these classes into one directory and then jar them
again, so you get only one jar file with all needed inside.

> What is jmx and jbossmx and where do I find them?

JMX - Java Management eXtensions, something like SNMP, but for Java.
If you're using JDBC driver outside J2EE application server, you
should not need it. Specs are available from http://java.sun.com

JBossMX - JMX microkernel for JBoss application server. Application
server is a collection of JMX MBeans. Available for download from
http://jboss.org or http://jboss.sourceforge.net

> Any useful resources on jdbc?

I do not know any, but I'm sure there are a lot. I just have no idea
where to find them. :)

Best regards,
Roman