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6.5.2 on the Mac 12 Jun 2004

IBM Lotus Notes 6 logoI’m performing a clean install of Notes 6.5.2 on my Mac (OS X 10.3.4) as I type. So far so good, although why the damn installer still feels the need to quit all other running applications before it can do anything is anyone’s guess — such behaviour from a new house guest is just so… rude!

Ahem, anyway, installation was successful, and was very quick: precisely the time it took to type the paragraph above in fact. The client configuration wizardry went without a hitch (but see point #3 below), and I’ve been able to connect to my DDN server OK. So, all in all, looks goof! Now for some testing. But first, I’ll provide some basic tips for anyone looking to do the same on their Mac:

I’ve installed various versions of Notes 6.x on various versions of OS X. Almost without exception they’ve all worked. However, I’ve always performed these steps:

  1. Removed all evidence of previous Notes installations: not only the application folder and contents, but also all prefs and plist files from ~/Library
  2. Ensured that my account has full permissions over the Notes ID file I wish to use (copied from my Windoze machine)
  3. The client configuration wizard: this is where things consistently go awry. To avoid random errors at the ID file selection stage (“You are not authorized to perform that operation” usually — when attempting to connect to my server), I always elect to set up Notes as a stand-alone installation. Kicking off the client reconfiguration wizard then goes OK, and that takes care of server connections etc.

So, the process goes pretty smoothly for me, but only because I’m aware of the pitfalls. The Mac is still very much the second-class citizen when it comes to Notes, but at least we have a client, and at least it runs better than R5. Why the hell we still get reams of Java-related extensions and JAR files though, I’ll never know: we still can’t run Java in Notes on the Mac. Which is rubbish!

Finally… fonts are OK by default at last!!!

Previously… Notes 6.5 on OS X.

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Comments

  1. Actually, I take back my comments re fonts: they still look diabolical, I just hadn’t checked everything at the time of posting.

    Lawks, I hope Lotus get the hang of fonts by the time the rich client turns up.Ben Poole#
  2. I was just about to tell you that I had not noticed anything about the fonts. :-) You spared me a fresh install since I only had upgraded to .2 from .1 .

    I believe there are two major problems:

    1. It is a carbon app.
    2. All fonts are 2 pt too small.

    #1 can be solved with Unsanity Silk and #2 with your database or with Ninix.


    Volker Weber#
  3. Before I forget: I don't see the rich client is in my future. Volker Weber#
  4. Before I forget: I don't see the rich client is in my future.
    Possibly not in mine either, given that at work we still use Notes / Domino 5.0.11 ;-) Here’s hoping we get with it.Ben Poole#
  5. Well, I was either more foolhardy or just irrationally willing to trust the Lotus installer but, either way, I installed Notes 6.5.2 on my Mac using the "Upgrade existing installation" option and even chose the "Easy setup" option.

    No errors…everything installed were it needed to, the Keychain confirmed that Notes had been upgraded and did I want to allow it access to my password and everything works great.

    Pet peeve: would it really be SO hard to fix it so that you *could* choose Safari as your browser and have it work when you clicked on a link from inside Notes?

    I agree, fonts need work.Luis V. Aguila#
  6. Luis, good point.

    Has anybody been successful in making links work from Notes?Volker Weber#
  7. There used to be a few hacks out there (e.g. choose “Other” as the browser and navigate to a webloc file instead of an app) but I they don’t seem to work in 6.5.2.

    Why is this so hard for Lotus to implement? Either develop a client for the Mac, or don’t: why give us the option to select a browser other than Notes or IE, when any attempt to use the functionality results in “Unable to invoke program.”Ben Poole#
  8. In order to make links work from Notes, I created this Applescript:


    on run URL
    	tell application "Firefox"
    		activate
    		open location URL
    	end tell
    end run


    Set that as your browser, and it works. This is the best hack I've found to make this work more or less automatically.Javier Pedemonte#
  9. I've been using 6.5 and 6.5.1 on two laptops both on 10.3.4 plus Pi Messenger (stable but basic) or Mercury (pretty but fragile) for the Sametime client.

    I've also been testing the v 7 client on Win2k, which is far less stable (but this may be more a W2k vs OS X issue?)

    Both Notes Clients have their foibles but after a period of settling in both work with few crashes. Is there any major benefit in going to 6.5.2?

    P.S. The current trial version on LDD is 6.5.1 Is there a legal download for 6.5.2?Peter Glock#
  10. Javier (#8): thanks, works a treat!

    Peter (#9): assessing the benefits of moving up a version is a personal thing I guess: your best bet is to check out the fix list.

    As far as the Mac version goes, 6.5.2 is only available on the Passport site. I’m sure Lotus will eventually update the publicly-available updater and trial version, but this always takes time in my experience.Ben Poole#
  11. Small fonts in Lotus Notes on a Mac are maddening to me. I used Notes many years ago and recently started using it again (unfortuntately). Anyone know how to stop this jaggy, tiny look I'm seeing in a lot of my documents? Is it something our Notes developers need to change on their end?

    ThanksAlex#
  12. Uh, just follow the font links above. They’ll take you here:

    http://benpoole.com/bp.nsf/articles/notes6macBen Poole#
  13. Is IBM Every gonna come out for a Sametime client for Mac OS X. I'm kinda tired of Pi Messenger…

    Why can't the integrate Sametime with Notes, like they have done for the PC version..

    Any one got any inputs?

    Please mail me. - binuv@yahoo.comBinu#
  14. You haven’t been following this site or vowe.net then?

    http://vowe.net/archives/004802.htmlBen Poole#
  15. Hi Ben

    I am attempting to install Notes 6.5 on my G3 600mhz 640 meg ram Ibook running Mac OS 10.3.7. This is a trial of sorts, I am starting school in the near future and the school runs notes on the windows platform. They are not too happy about me brinning a mac on to the network but will tolerate me as long as I support myself.
    Anyhow, when installing Notes 6.5 Client the initial install goes well until I attempt to launch notes. It then gives me a dialog box that says "Notes cannot find preference file do you want to use the existing or set up new" and gives me two buttons. Choosing either causes Notes to crash. I have downloaded the preference editor from IBM but cannot edit the preference file in Users/username /Lib/preference. directory as it greyed out.
    Made sure I had full permissions when installing and reaired permissions after install.

    Any help would be appreciated

    Markmark leonard#
  16. Hi Ben,

    I have installed Notes 6.5.3 on my brand new PowerBoon G4 and everything seems to work fine other than one thing.
    It's not reading any non-English mails!
    I get emails in Korean a lot but all the korean characters are shown as '******'.
    Is there any solution??

    Thank you!

    Jin#
  17. Jin, sounds like you need to ensure that the default multilingual font you're using in Notes doesn't support all international char sets. Either that or the mails you're being sent don't have proper encoding set.Ben Poole#
  18. Thanks Ben,
    I am using a korean specific font so that rules out your first point..
    So if the mails I recieve don't have proper encoding set, does it mean I just have to ask the sender to re-send with the right encoding?
    Thank you!Jin Lee#

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