Make VPNC work in NetworkManager

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 07:26:39 +0000

I was dealing with some issues with NetworkManager (used in various Linux distro’s).
When I configured a VPNC connection in NetworkManager it couldn’t connect with all various errors like no VPN secrets is the famous one. I found a workaround so it works now.

If you have a config like mine you’re probally affected. We have a static group password and a OTP (One-Time-Password) for the user password.

If you create a connection put all items on Saved and enter a value. If you save it now it will ask you (if you use it for the first time) for access to the keyring. For my config I’ve to put a dummy user password.

Once saved you can edit and set the user password to Always ask.

Tested on Ubuntu 9.10 & 10.04 and openSUSE 11.2

Installing IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 on Ubuntu 64bits

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:48:17 +0000

Here is a small how-to install IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 on Ubuntu Jaunty 64 bits

Sometimes I need to bite my tongue and this is on of those occasions. The icon text on the workspace is still an issue even with the final code drop 12. To make sure I was not at fault I did a few things today to work around the issue. I deleted, moved, copies, restored every desktop*.dsk file to no avail. The last test was to install Notes 8.5 on a clean system. The only one I had available was a new 64Bit Ubuntu system I have installed. For those in the know, Ubuntu sever does not come with a GUI. The options are to install the server version and then install the desktop. I use a different approach. I installed the 64Bit Ultimate Edition 2.0 version and then simply installed the Server Kernel. Works brilliantly. Here are the hurdles you will have to overcome to run on a 64bit system.

Download Notes 8.5 for debian platforms and extract the files.

sudo dpkg -i –force-architecture ibm_lotus_notes-8.5.i586.deb

sudo dpkg -i –force-architecture ibm_lotus_activities-8.5.i586.deb

sudo dpkg -i –force-architecture ibm_lotus_cae-8.5.i586.deb

sudo dpkg -i –force-architecture ibm_lotus_sametime-8.5.i586.deb

sudo dpkg -i –force-architecture ibm_lotus_symphony-8.5.i586.deb

However, you will find that you would not be able to start Notes.

Install the requisite 32 bit libraries.

apt-get install ia32-libs

You need to download the extra 32 bit libraries first. Use Getlibs

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=474790

Once installed then issue this command.

getlibs -p libavahi-client3 libavahi-common3 libavahi-glib1 libbonoboui2-0 libcroco3 libdbus-1-3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libeel2-2 libgnome2-0 libgnomecanvas2-0 libgnome-keyring0 libgnome-menu2 libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeui-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-dev librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common libselinux1 libsepol1 libstartup-notification0 libxkbfile1 gtk2-engines-ubuntulooks gtk2-engines-murrine

Depending on how you did the install the icon would not have been created but all is not lost. Start a Terminal session and change to:

/opt/ibm/lotus/notes/framework/

Now enter

../notes

If you are lucky then a separate console will startup and ask you to accept the license agreement.

Because you are starting Notes from a Terminal session you will see how the process starts up and this will help with diagnostics. In any event I had to issue the command three times before Notes would start but I am pleased to say the blog entry is being typed from an Ubuntu 64 bit server so It does work. Time to bite my tongue again.

After you’ve done this there are some steps to make it almost perfect.

Fonts fix. Install ttf-xfree86-nonfree package (Thanks Bram!)

yum install ttf-xfree86-nonfree

Fix Open attachment option. You cannot open attachments from the browser (this has also been seen on 32 bits systems). To fix this remove openwith in the notes directory and make a symlink to gnome-open

rm /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/openwith
ln -s /usr/bin/gnome-open /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/openwith

And for the last, start notes with linux32. This fixes that last library issues. Browser works and Sametime.

cd /opt/ibm/lotus/notes
linux32 ./notes

This is tested on Jaunty 64bits

JavaWithMarcus » Linux

Make VPNC work in NetworkManager

Installing IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 on Ubuntu 64bits