fxlange,
Thanks that was it. The example in the instructions, "for this installation these instructions (http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-oracle-java-7-in-ubuntu-12-04.html) were used", show installing java 1.7 and that is what I had installed. Once java 1.7 was removed and java 1.8 install everything appears to be working.
The same instructions work but you just have to change the last step to:
sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
I may be dense but it took me a while to realize that you need to go to File -> New -> Other and then under C/C++ is where you find openFrameworks.
Thanks
digitalhack