We have just ported a PC Notes Client app to Mac OS X Client. Thought I’d share the main issue we found, in no particular order.
Overall we’ve been very pleasantly surprised, so well done IBM and everyone should stop moaning about Mac client. Other than problems with fonts for which IBM really should find a proper solution all other problems have been fixed quite easily.
Platform: Notes Release 6.0.4- Mac OS X 10.3.5
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Install - No problems at all. Worked 1st time and every time (see note 6.1). But, there should be an option to place an Icon in the Launcher thing at the bottom of the screen. It took us longer to find Notes after the 1st install than it did to install it (Well we had never used a mac before and someone wanted to know what GarageBand was (!))
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Use : (colon) not \ (backslash) in path names. ← Recode required (should not have used hard coded \ in the first place)
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SaxParser not supported, ← recode required
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notes://… not supported in URLs → Yes it is but on Local the Url must include the full Path whereas on MS only the path from the data path is needed.
Eg:
MS → turl := “Notes:///TestPath1/TestPath2/testdb.nsf/fstMain?OpenFrameset”;
MAC → turl := “Notes:///Macintsoh HD:Applications:Lotus Notes:Data:TestPath1:TestPath2:testDb.nsf/fstMain?OpenFrameset”;
- Fonts are too small. Thanks to Benpoole there is a solution → Ben Poole, using Display_font_adjustement, but this scales up the fonts and causes it own problems, plus the fonts still look 'orrible.
5.1) Date fields that use Calendar/Time control are not affected by Display_font_adjustment.
5.2) Layout regions, although these are being phased out and replaced with tables, where they are used the Display_font_adjustment does not affect editable fields. Labels no longer fit the the area defined on PC.
5.3) Textured Workspace is not displayed when the Display_font_adjustment is used to increase the font size.
- Delete the following files / paths for a ‘Clean’ install
Macintosh HD:Applications:Lotus Notes ← Delete entire folder
Macintosh HD:Users::Library:Preferences:Notes Preferences ← Delete file
Macintosh HD:Users::Logs:CrashReporter:Notes.Crash.Log ← Delete file (assuming there is a file, but if there isn’t then why are you trying to uninstall notes?)
6.1) The Notes 6.0.4 installer. Error’ed - Not enough disk space to Uninstall Notes using the ‘Uninstall’ option. The process ‘Backup’ file ok then failed during the ‘Removing files’ step.
Had to manually delete the ‘Lotus Notes’ folder then re-run the uninstaller. (Notes had been installed using the same installer with default settings.)
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“Right double-click closes window” not available.
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Scheduled Replicator appears to hang from time to time. We cannot find a pattern yet, but it appears to get halfway through the replication then stop, only to kick off when the user moves the mouse around (?)
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‘The application Notes has quit unexpectedly’ during Replication http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd6forum.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/6d0791f42d04b15785256ef900583aef?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,ajp,mac
- We started to get this regularly on one install. But only after messing around with the Prefereneces file and trying to swtich users. We did a clean reinstall (see 6 above) and the client no longer crashes.
- Finally. We suddenly have a team full of fashion victims who all want to walk round with a PowerBook under their arm. ‘Stinkpads’ just don’t cut the mustard any more, not to mention all the budding composers that have come out of the wood work. GarageBand has a lot to answer for.
PS. - To IBM Lotus Client Mac development Team
Sing along to the following, replacing ‘Spam’ with ‘Fonts’
‘Spam Lovely Spam’ song. http://www.detritus.org/sounds/real/spam-song.ra
Repeat chorus until fonts in the mac client are as nice as all other applications on the Mac.
Fonts, fonts, fonts, fonts,
Fonts, fonts, fonts, fonts,
Fonts, fonts, fonts, fonts,
Fonts, fonts, fonts, fonts,
Fonts, fonts, fonts, fonts,
Fonts, fonts, fonts, fonts, …
