Finally did it: got Notes 6 running on OS X again. Some time back, I had Notes 6.00 running quite happily on my old iMac with OS X 10.2. I was foolish however, and tried to get 6.03 up and running on the machine. No dice. The installer would run, and the Notes set-up process would kick in as expected, but then… nada. The thing would crash, and there was no resurrecting it. I tried trashing the Notes preferences file, plists, you name it. So I left well alone, removed all trace of Notes from my Mac, and carried on with things.

Until today. For some reason, I decided to give things another go, and it all went swimmingly. Here’s what I did, in the hope that this may assist others attempting the same. I am now running OS X 10.2.8 and Notes 6.5.

• First, I checked my ~/Library folder and related directories for any trace of previous Notes installations (prefs files and the like). If you have anything, delete it!
• Next up, I downloaded the 6.5 trial client from the LDD downloads area. Don’t bother with the product pages up on the IBM / LDD sites — despite repeated notification to the webmaster et al they haven’t fixed the broken Macintosh download link.
• I got hold of my DDN ID file and stuck it in the Data directory.
• I fixed permissions on said ID file. This is important. I copied the ID across from my Windoze machine, which meant its permissions were all wrong (related to the PC’s OS X account and not mine). I updated the file ownership details once the ID was on my Mac. This seems to be the crucial element in getting Notes running properly, and I guess I’m a dunce for not realising that sooner.
• I fired up the Notes installer, and let it do its thing. Hmmm… why does the installer force all your other apps to quit? No need for that! Oh well.
• Once installed, I loaded Notes and followed the configuration wizard through. I decided not to connect to a Domino box or anything like that, just acted as if I had a disconnected installation. YMMV with this, but I find I have more control over things when I do it this way.
• I opened up the up local address book and set up location documents etc. (A virgin name and address book is a must I think).
• I ran the client re-configuration wizard from the Notes menu in order to establish a TCP/IP port and connection to my DDN server. I don’t use Notes mail, so this is pretty straightforward.
• All done! I could connect to this site and what have you, no worries.

One last step: as a Mac Notes user, of course, one has to sort out those damn fonts!!

Filed underos x, lotus notes domino