What's the timer used for ? for FPS or some other stuff?

As to where to put the timer, I think it depends the thread model you use.

If you use Animator like rendering that call JOGL display in your own thread  then you can put the timer where you like, however, if you leave the rendering thread controlled by system I'm afraid that you have to put the code in display.

ok, found the following on this forum elsewhere, not sure where to put it, but going to mess around with it.
Any hints would be appreciated.  I'm guessing this goes in the display() method.

int frameCount = 0;
long startTime = System.nanoTime();
final int NANO_FRAME_LENGTH = 1000000000/60; //frame length in nanoseconds for 60fps
while(true)
{
// game code
frameCount++;
bs.show();
while((System.nanoTime()-startTime)/NANO_FRAME_LENGTH <frameCount)
{
  Thread.yield();
}
}

OK folks, I think I figured it out.  Seems to be doing what I want...

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import net.java.games.jogl.*;

public class Pong2
{
  static Animator animator = null;
 
  static class Renderer
 
    implements GLEventListener, KeyListener
    {
   
     //Variables
    static GLUquadric q;         // Quadratic For Drawing A Sphere
    float ballx = 0.0f, bally = 0.0f, ballz = 0.0f;         //location of ball   

   
    public void display(GLDrawable gLDrawable)
    {
      final GLU glu = gLDrawable.getGLU();
      final GL gl = gLDrawable.getGL();
      gl.glClear(GL.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL.GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
      gl.glLoadIdentity();
     
     
      int frameCount = 0;
      long startTime = System.nanoTime();
      final int NANO_FRAME_LENGTH = 1000000000/60; //frame length in nanoseconds for 60fps
      //while(true)
      //{
      //       game code
     
         
        //Set up Camera  (first 3 = camara loc, second 3 where we look)
        glu.gluLookAt(0, 10, 10, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0);
          
       //Draw Ball
         gl.glPushMatrix();
          gl.glColor3f(1.0f,1.0f,0.0f);         // Set The Color To Yellow
         gl.glTranslatef(ballx, bally, ballz);
         glu.gluSphere(q, .5f, 32, 16);   
         gl.glEnd();
          gl.glFlush();
          gl.glPopMatrix();
         
          ballx=ballx+.025f;
         
         
         
         
      frameCount++;
      //bs.show();
      while((System.nanoTime()-startTime)/NANO_FRAME_LENGTH <frameCount)
      {
        Thread.yield();
      }
      //}

     

    }
   
   
   public void displayChanged(GLDrawable gLDrawable, boolean modeChanged, boolean deviceChanged)
    {
    }
   
    public void init(GLDrawable gLDrawable)
    {
      final GL gl = gLDrawable.getGL();
      final GLU glu = gLDrawable.getGLU();
      gl.glShadeModel(GL.GL_SMOOTH);              // Enable Smooth Shading
      gl.glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.5f);    // Black Background
      gl.glClearDepth(1.0f);                      // Depth Buffer Setup
      gl.glEnable(GL.GL_DEPTH_TEST);                     // Enables Depth Testing
      gl.glDepthFunc(GL.GL_LEQUAL);                        // The Type Of Depth Testing To Do
      gl.glHint(GL.GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL.GL_NICEST);   // Really Nice Perspective Calculations
      gLDrawable.addKeyListener(this);
     
      //Initialize for Sphere
      q = glu.gluNewQuadric();                                    // Initialize Quadratic
      glu.gluQuadricNormals(q,GL.GL_SMOOTH);                      // Enable Smooth Normal Generation
      glu.gluQuadricTexture(q,false);                             // Disable Auto Texture Coords
    }

   public void reshape(GLDrawable gLDrawable, int x, int y, int width, int height)
    {
      final GL gl = gLDrawable.getGL();
      final GLU glu = gLDrawable.getGLU();

      if (height <= 0) // avoid a divide by zero error!
        height = 1;
      final float h = (float)width / (float)height;
      gl.glViewport(0, 0, width, height);
      gl.glMatrixMode(GL.GL_PROJECTION);
      gl.glLoadIdentity();
      glu.gluPerspective(45.0f, h, 1.0, 100.0);
      gl.glMatrixMode(GL.GL_MODELVIEW);
      gl.glLoadIdentity();
    }

    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e)
    {
      //Checks to see if Escape is pressed
      if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ESCAPE)
      {
        animator.stop();
        System.exit(0);
      }
    }

    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {}

    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {}
  }

  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    //Generic Set up of windowed view
     Frame frame = new Frame("Pong");
    GLCanvas canvas = GLDrawableFactory.getFactory().createGLCanvas(new GLCapabilities());
    canvas.addGLEventListener(new Renderer());
    frame.add(canvas);
    frame.setSize(640, 480);
    animator = new Animator(canvas);
    frame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter()
    {
      public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e)
      {
        animator.stop();
        System.exit(0);
      }
    });
    frame.show();
    animator.start();
    canvas.requestFocus();
  }
}