Lenovo vs Apple (Why I chose a Lenovo)

Don't get me wrong, I love the design of Apple products but when my trusty Lenovo T400 had a problem, I chose to replace it with a Lenovo T410 instead of an MacBook Pro.
I realise that a 15" Apple MacBook Pro hs a better screen resolution than the Lenovo 14" and the Apple also has better graphics capability. One could also argue that the MacBook Pro has a better construction. Even so, these are the reasons that I STILL chose the Lenovo:

1. Keyboard - The Lenovo has a great keyboard that feels a lot more positive than the MacBook keyboard. There are more keys on a Windows machine so I don't have to remember short cut keys (i.e. keys like PgUp and PgDown are missing on the Mac Keyboard). The Mac has backlit keyboard but I touchtype so the "ThinkLight" is fine for me.
2. Price - The MacBook Pro with very similar configuration (500GB hard drive, 8GB RAM) was about £500 more expensive and I would still not have built in 3G Connectivity
3. Analogue VGA out - The Lenovo has an Analogue VGA out compared to the micro digital display out plug of the Apple. The VGA analogue socket of the Lenovo has much better compatibility to most projector systems that I may find on customer premesis. The MacBook Pro may actually have a better signal but I would need to carry some sort of adaptor cable.
4. Second internal hard drive capability - The Lenovo, by virtue of it's multi-bay, allows me to swap the DVD drive for a hard drive. This allows me to run with a second hard drive. The MacBook Pro DVD drive cannot be replaced.
5. Swappable bay options. The Lenovo swappabl bay can also support an extra battery and even a BluRay drive (albeit very expenseive). These options of course do not exist with the MacBook.
6. Better warranty - Whist Apple and Lenovo both support three year warranty, only the Lenovo is next day on site and also has options for "Accidental damage"
7. Better connectivity - My Lenovo has the option of built in 3G support which means I do not have to use a dongle to connect to the internet via EDGE or GPRS networks. Much neater without the dongle and it has always seemed to me that dongles can be broken off so easily...
8. Security - By this I mean the fingerprint reader. It is a great security feature of the Lenovo and is yet to appear on a MacBook Pro. Not sure if MacBook Pro has build in Anti-Theft Technology but I know the Lenovo has it.
9. Portability - The MacBook beats the Lenovo on chic factor but is slightly bigger and certainly more stealable... I needed a laptop that would be easy to use on the Train.
10. Usability - This is of course subjective and I know Apple are world renown for usability but this is from the perspective of a Windows/Linux guy that expects a right click! I am also a fan of the tiny joystick in the center of the Lenovo keyboard which I would really miss on an Apple.
11. The Aluminium case - A masterful piece of engineering and beautiful to behold. However, scratch it and you will feel gutted (and it is SO EASILY scratched).
12. Compatibility - I am in no way a Windows fan but there are SO MANY applications that I want to try that mandate Windows...
13. Mini-DVD capability - Don't use this much but when necessary, I really want the DVD drive to handle small DVDs and CD's. Unfortunately the Apple built in drive can only support full sized DVD's
14. Lenovo Enhanced Experience - Windows is actually usable again with fast boot and shutdown.

Other things that I needed to consider
a) Since I run virtual machines, I wanted a laptop with 8GB memory. Added to that, I need a hard drive that will store those VM's This menat a 500GB hard drive at 7200 minimum!
b) Latest offering from Lenovo (T410) comes with multi-touch capability (for the apps that support it)
c) I already have a 256GB SDS drive that I wanted to use as my primary drive and the 500GB drive would then become my secondary drive - This meant that I had to have a laptop that would support a secondary drive

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 on ubuntu meerkat 10.10 x64

This is how I got Lotus Notes 8.5.2 working on a brand new installation of ubuntu 10.10.
Open Synaptic Package Manager
Search for libstdc++5
Install libstdc++5 from Synaptic Package Manager
Shut Synaptic Package Manager

Then install some libraries:
$ sudo apt-get install ia32-libs libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-0 ttf-xfree86-nonfree

Go to http://frozenfox.freehostia.com/cappy

Download
getlibs-all.deb
Double click to install.
Now get some 32 bit libraries:

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

Now install Lotus Notes

$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-notes-8.5.2.i586.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-activities-8.5.2.i586.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-cae-8.5.2.i586.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-sametime-8.5.2.i586.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-symphony-8.5.2.i586.deb

You will also need this fix for opening screen

$ cd /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/jvm/lib/i386
$ sudo mkdir usr
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib32 ./usr/lib

You should now be able to start Notes from the Applications/Office menu in gnome.

At the time of writing, there is a bug with the shipped ia32-libs version. Which gave me an error im-ibus.so issue but whilst this gives an error in the console, Lotus notes seems to run happily.

Enjoy

Creating virtual machines with ubuntu

When you have ubuntu as the main operating system, you have several ways of creating virtual machines for testing:
KVM (free and built into ubuntu)

• VMWare player (free player)
• VirtualBox from Sun (now Oracle)

I have used all three and it appears to me that (amazingly) VMWare player is the best of the bunch. WHY?

• Quicker boot
• Snappier screen response
• Better support for USB devices
• Allows cut-and-paste operations between ubuntu desktop and the virtual machine
• Nice user interface for managing the virtual machine parameters
• Easier transfer of virtual machines to Windows Hosts (i.e. your colleagues)
  

My tests were with jaunty and karmic. Maybe meerkat has improved things...

The best blackberry trick

I see so many people with blackberries scrolling with their thumb like crazy. They scroll down through hundreds of emails and then need to scroll back up to the top.

The best blackberry tip for all those guys is to use the shortcut keys:

T - jumps to the top of the list

B - jumps to the bottom of the list

U - jumps to the oldest unread mail in the list

Try it and save your thumb!

Some new features of IBM WCM 7

Whats new in WCM 7?

Just playing around with WCM 7 running on portal 7 and I have noticed the following new features

Some major changes to note with V7.0 are:

1. Sites have gone!
We only have site areas
2. Presentation template construction changed
Instead of XML style tags for accessing WCM elements and components, we now use square brackets
So for example, to access the "Body" element:
with V6.0 and V6.1:

But now with V7.0:
[Element context="current" type="content" key="Body"]
3. When viewing a Presentation template the tag that referrs to a component itself becomes a clickable link to that component.
4. Hover pop-ups now appear all over the place to show you some information about that item without the need to open it.
5. Gone is the tabbed control to show open windows. This has been replaced by a new "Open Views" control on the left hand vertical menu.
6. Folders have been introduced to provide hierarchical storage of Authoring Templates, Presentation Templates and Components.
7. Portlet configuration is now been moved from its normal location top right of the portlet to a "Preferences" control on the left hand menu.
8. A Help link has been added to the left hand navigation menu and this opens a pop up of the WCM Infocenter.
9. Views have changed to allow an all library perspective rather than the old version which always filtered items by a currently selected library.
10. A new "projects" feature has been added to provide the grouping of multiple items to be treated as a single publishable entity.
11. The creation of a new item ("New" button) is now available even though an item is open. This is now located in the new control on the left hand menu.
12. Number of rows displayed can now be changed between 10, 25 and 50 without having to enter "configure" mode of the portlet.
13. Components can now be workflowed
A new "Add Workflow" button has been added so that any component can be workflowed
14. Authoring Templates can now set as "resource templates". These are templates that can be used for binary files.
15. Presentation templates can be set as defaults for the Authorting Template rather than forcing you create template mappings in site areas.
16. Field names can be localised allowing different editors to see different field captions on the same authoring template.

Notes about creating a new library in WCM 7
A new feature has been introduced to automatically create some items into a new library.

This is the first of what I feel will be many posts describing features of the new version of WCM 7 that can optionally be installed with IBM Portal 7.

New library creation feature

You create WCM libraries using the "Web Content Libraries" portlet.
The interface has been changed and now has background coloured buttons to indicate most used actions. For example the "Create new library" button has a blue background with white lettering but the other buttons "View locked items" etc. are black text on grey buttons.
When creating a WCM library you now have an additional option:
"create default items in new library"
Previously, new WCM libraries were entirely empty and you needed to create each of the various items in a particular order.
Typically:

* Create workflow action
* Create workflow stages and include actions
* Create workflows and include stages
* Create authoring template and add default workflow
* Create menu component
* Create presentation template
* Create site and add template mapping of authoring template and presenation template
* Create site areas
* Create content

With WCM 7, when you use this new option the library is created and popluated with the following items:

Workflow Action = "Expire"
Workflow Action = "Publish"
Workflow Stage = "Draft Stage".
Workflow Stage = "Publish Stage". This is pre-configued with the "Publish" workflow action
Workflow Stage = "Expire Stage". This is pre-configued with the "Expire" workflow action
Workflow = "Express Workflow". This is pre-configured with the "Publish State" workflow stage.
Workflow = "Three Stage Workflow". This is pre-configued with the following workflow stages: "Draft Stage", "Publish Stage" and "Expire Stage".
Presentation Template = "Article Presentation".
Component (Authoring Tool) = "Article toolbar"
Component (Menu) = "Articles List"
Authoring Template = "Article"
SiteArea = "Articles". This is pre-configured with the mapping of "Article" and "Article Presentation".
Content item "Sample Article"
Content item "Sample Article 2"

Thats it for now. There are so many other features that it is going to take many posts to cover them all.

Have fun!

Getting AOL working with ubuntu 10.04 Evolution

For those of you that may be struggling with AOL and ubuntu lucid evolution...

Since AOL is IMAP compatible it works with Evolution email. Just enter the following parameters:

Receiving E-mail
Server: imap.aol.com
Username: {your on screen name}
Use Secure Connection (SSL encryption)
Authentication Type: Password
CHECKED "Remember password"

Sending E-mail
Server: smpt.aol.com:587
CHECKED "Server requires authentication"
Use Secure connection = No encryption
Authentication (PLAIN or Login)
CHECKED "Remember password"

Thats it!

Installing Notes 8.5.1 onto ubuntu lucid lynx x64

I thought I should document a step by step guide on how to install Lotus Notes 8.5.1 onto ubuntu 10.04 lucid lynx x64.
I am not sure if EVERY step is actually needed, however, I do know that by following these steps you will get Notes working on ubuntu lucid 10.04 x64

Firstly, download the following files from IBM account:
CZ5S5EN - Notes (Debian) 8.5.1.
This saves as a file named lotus_notes851_linuxUb_CZ5S5EN.tar
Open this file with Archive Manager and Extract to a temporary folder

CZDP6EN - Notes (Debian) 8.5.1 FP2.
This saves as a file named lotus_notes851FP2_linuxUb.tar
Open this file with Archive Manager and Extract to a temporary folder

Next, download getlibs-all.deb from:
http://frozenfox.freehostia.com/cappy/
Install getlibs by double clicking on the deb file

Next you will need access to libgnome-desktop-2-11 libraries. These are only available from ubuntu karmic so go to:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/libs/libgnome-desktop-2-11
and download both 64 bit (amd64) and 32 bit (i386) versions.
Install the 64 bit version by double clicking on the deb file.
To install the 32 bit version manually you have to do the following:
Open the 32 bit deb file in Archive Manager
Double click on data.tar.gz
Double click on .
Double click on usr
Double click on lib
Drag the libgnome-desktop-2.so.11.4.2 file to a temp folder
Copy the file to /usr/lib32
Create a symbolic link named libeel-2.so.2 like this:
cd /usr/lib32
sudo ln -s ./libgnome-desktop-2.so.11.4.2 ./libgnome-desktop-2.so.11

You will also need libeel2-2 which is only available from the ubuntu jaunty packages. However, the libeel2-2 library itself is dependent on the libeel2-data library. You must first download that by going to:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/libeel2-data
Then click on the all and choose a mirror to download the "deb" file. Once downloaded, double Click on the file to install libeel2-data deb file

Now you need libeel2-2 so go to
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/libs/libeel2-2
Go to the bottom of the page and use the links to download both the 64 bit (amd64) and 32 bit (i386) versions (you will need to choose a suitable mirror)
Install the 64 bit version by double clicking on the downloaded deb file.

To install the 32 bit version manually you have to do the following:
Open the deb file in Archive Manager
Double click on data.tar.gz
Double click on .
Double click on usr
Double click on lib
Drag the libeel-2.so.2.26.0 file to a temp folder
Copy the file to /usr/lib32
Create a symbolic link named libeel-2.so.2 like this:
cd /usr/lib32
sudo ln -s ./libeel-2.so.2.26.0 ./libeel2.so.2

Now get some required libraries with
sudo apt-get install libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprint2.2-0 ia32-libs ttf-xfree86-nonfree

Next, install the needed 32 libraries with:
sudo getlibs -p libavahi-client3 libavahi-common3 libavahi-glib1 libbonoboui2-0 libcroco3 libdbus-1-3 libdbus-glib-1-2 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-murrine libesd0

From the temporary folder used above to extract the notes tar file, install Notes 8.5.1 with:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-notes-8.5.1.i586.deb
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-sametime-8.5.1.i586.deb
And if you need composite application editor:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-cae-8.5.1.i586.deb
And if you want symphony:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-activities-8.5.1.i586.deb
And if you want support for activities:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-symphony-8.5.1.i586.deb

Next install Notes 8.5.1 fix pack 2 with:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-notes-fixpack-8.5.1.i586.deb

It appears that Lotus Notes will only work with 2.17 versions of gnome and you can download these from either:
http://www.benkevan.com/upload/lotus_notes
or
http://www.freetechie.com/upload/lotus_notes

Get the following gnome 2.17 libraries (note the size)
116732 libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0
67240 libgdk_pixbuf_xlib-2.0.so.0
679940 libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
4579940 libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0

Copy each to
/opt/ibm/lotus/notes

Lastly, create the following symbolic link
cd /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/jvm/lib/i386
sudo mkdir usr
sudo ln -s /usr/lib32 ./usr/lib

You should now be able to start notes installation with
cd /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/framework
../notes

Thats it!

Upgrading to ubuntu lucid x64 and Lotus Notes

Today, I upgraded my trusty lenovo T400 from ubuntu karmic koala x64 to lucid lynx x64.

The upgrade went pretty smoothly but I had to re-install my ATI drivers.

Problem I had was that after the upgrade Lotus Notes 8.5.1 no longer worked!

In order to get a better understanding of what may be happening I opened a terminal and typed:

cd /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/framework

../notes

This indicated that there was a missing library - libesd0

To get Lotus Notes working again, all I did was

sudo getlibs -p libesd0

And it worked again.

Since I did an upgrade my assumption is therefore that my previous post about getting Lotus Notes working on karmic x64 will still work with this single addition.

I tried this on a brand new KVM/QEMU virtualised machine running ubuntu 10.04 x64 and found that those instructions together with the fix above will give you a running Notes 8.5.1 on lucid x64

Recovering from a lost password with IBM Portal 6.1.5

I tried installing IBM Portal on openSUSE 11.2 recently. Just created a virtual machine with VMWare player on my ubuntu karmic 9.10 x64 laptop and installed openSUSE from a downloaded ISO.
I could not install using the GUI so I used:
./install.sh -console
instead and the installation went without any issues - or so I thought.

Strangely, I was not able to login with the portal adminstrator username and password - even though I was very careful with the admin password.

I thought that maybe I got it wrong, but I reinstalled again and had exactly the same issue.

I remembered that the default Portal installation uses the WIMFileBasedRealm as a user repository. This is basically a set of XML files that define users and groups.

So I hacked myself into the portal simply by following these steps:

1. Use the "sign up" option and create a new user.
2. Ensure that you can log into the system with that user.
3. Logout
4. Locate the fileRegistry.xml file in the folder /config/cells/{your_cell}
5. Edit the file and locate the
6. In this section you will find tag
7. In this tage will be the uniqueName specified for the group members
8. Add yourself to this tag by copying an existing entry:



9. Change the uid to your new uid
10. shut down the server by killing off the java process
11. Restart the server, log in again and then change the wpadmin password using Portal admin tools.

There are other ways to decode the password in the "" tag but I found the aforementioned method much simpler.

Generating a DTD from an XML file in ubuntu karmic x64

If you do an internet search for anything that will generate a DTD from an XML file, you will get a whole raft of different editors and utilities.

The most interesting thing is that if you have ubuntu then you probably already have a command line utility that will do the same:

mkdtdskel inputfile > outputfile

I imagine this stands for "make a DTD skeleton".

Amazingly you DON'T get a reference anywhere in the internet search engine for this utility! Strange because it is extremely fast and already installed with the distro.

If you need to do this type of thing try out out.

WCM syndication SERV_FAILED_REFERENCE_UPDATE_4 Error

I tried to no avail to get more information on this error so I thought I would post my findings here instead.

This error is generated when an item of content in a library referred to in the syndicator makes reference to a WCM item in another library that exists on the syndicator.

This in itself will not generate an error unless the library in which the reference is made does not exist on the the subscriber.

To illustrate.
On the syndicator, you have an HTML component (comp1) in Library1 which makes reference to an HTML component (comp2) in Library2.
The syndicator is set up only to syndicate Library1
The error message SERV_FAILED_REFERENCE_UPDATE_4 will now occur when the syndicator attempts to syndicate comp1. The failure occurs because the subscriber can not create the necessary internal reference to comp2.

To fix this, you must either:
Add the library to the syndicator (to allow that library to syndicate to the subscriber)
or
Remove the reference from the offending item(s)

Hope this helps someone

Lotus notes 8.5.1 on ubuntu 9.10 karmic x64

I revisited the installation of Lotus Notes 8.5.1 onto a brand new installation of ubuntu 9.10 karmic x64 and thought that some of you may like to know how I did it.

First of all it can definitely be done! Here's how:

In order to do a successful installation, you will need both the 64 bit AND the 32 bit versions of libstdc++5 from ubuntu jaunty repositories;
Get them from

http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/libs/libstdc++5

For the 64bit version just click on the deb to install
For the 32bit version, open the deb with Archive Manager, navigate to data.tar.gz
keep drilling down to /./usr/lib and copy out the file libstdc++5.so.5.0.7 to /usr/lib
next create a symbolic link:

cd /usr/lib
sudo ln -s libstdc++5.so.5.0.7 libstdc++.so.5

Next open a terminal and run

sudo apt-get update

Install some fonts using

sudo apt-get install ttf-xfree86-nonfree

Install the 32 bit helper with

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Install libgnomeprint2.2-0 and libgnomeprintui2.2-0 with:

sudo apt-get install libgnomeprint2.2-0 and libgnomeprintui2.2-0

Download notes client for linux (it is a 32 bit client)
Download and install getlibs-all.deb from http://frozenfox.freehostia.com/cappy/

Now you will also need libeel2.2 from jaunty
For libeel2.2 to be picked up correctly with getlibs, do the following:
Use System > Administration > Softw
Add the following:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubunty jaunty main
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main

Now do this from a terminal
sudo 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

You also need libeel2-2. Go here first:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/libeel2-data
click the "all" link and download the deb file
Run the deb file by double clicking on it. This is a dependency of the libeel2-2 that is to be loaded next

Now go to
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/libeel2-2
Download the 64 bit version and the 32 bit version
Install the 64 bit version by double clicking on the deb file

To install the 32 bit version manually you have to do the following:
Open the deb file in Archive Manager
Double click on data.tar.gz
Double click on .
Double click on usr
Double click on lib
Drag the libeel-2.so.2.26.0 file to a temp folder
Copy the file to /usr/lib32
Create a symbolic link named libeel-2.so.2

Next install the notes deb files and force the architecture:

sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-notes-8.5.1.i586.deb
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-activities-8.5.1.i586.deb
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-cae-8.5.1.i586.deb
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-sametime-8.5.1.i586.deb
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm-lotus-symphony-8.5.1.i586.deb

After installation, you must now copy some files into /opt/ibm/lotus/notes as follows:

Next some other hacks
cd /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/jvm/lib/i386
sudo mkdir usr
sudo ln -s /usr/lib32 ./usr/lib

Lastly go to
http://www.benkevan.com/upload/lotus_notes
or
http://www.freetechie.com/upload/lotus_notes

You need to get the gnome 2.17 libraries. They are the following four files (note the size)

116732 libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0
67240 libgdk_pixbuf_xlib-2.0.so.0
679940 libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
4579940 libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0

Copy each to
/opt/ibm/lotus/notes
Thats it!
Now you can start Lotus Notes 8.5.1 from the Applications > Office menu item

If you wish to install the fix pack then download from IBM and then use:

sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture ibm_lotus_notes_fixpack-8.5.1.i586.deb

Performance of DB2 and Portal 6.1.5 with ubuntu karmic x64

Installation of portal was done using instructions on my previous post.

Installation of DB2 9.7 was also done using instructions on my previous post.

Performance of my laptop is astounding:

DB2 9.7 (x64) and Portal 6.1.5 when started together on my SSD drive takes only 1 minute 47 seconds.
Shutdown of Portal and DB2 takes 41 seconds.

Installing skype of ubuntu 9.10 karmic x64

Installation of Skype onto my new ubuntu 9.10 karmic x64 laptop was unbelievably easy:
Download the program

http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-beta-ubuntu-64

Save the file:
skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.81-1_amd64.deb

Then run by double clicking on the file.

After the installation you can find skype on
Applications > Internet > Skype

Voila!

Installing ubuntu 9.10 karmic x64 onto a SSD

Now I know ubuntu karmic boots very fast (with promises of even faster boot times with 10.04), but on a laptop the major bottleneck is always the hard disk. If I could remove that then we will have a little flying machine that takes less battery and is more resistant to the occasionional knock.
The new crcuial solid state disks (SSD) now support SATA transfer rate of 6Bb/s in a 2.5 inch hard disk format. My laptop has a SATA 3Gb/s hardware interface and the new crcuial claims a read speed faster than that. It basically should mean that the bottleneck for my laptop is no longer the hard drive, but the hardware interfaces, processor and memory. The processor on my Lenovo T400 is an Intel Centrino 2 dual core 2.4GHz and I currently have 4GB of memory - although it can take 8GB (hmmm maybe a later upgrade that)
Installing ubuntu onto the SSD was unimaginably easy.
Pop in the drive,
Pop in the 9.10 desktop CD
Boot the laptop
Go through the wizard

The entire process to a working system took less than 15 minutes

Now the boot time.

After the bios stuff, ubuntu now starts up in 15 seconds. Am I happy or what?

Everything on my laptop works except the fingerprint reader - which I didn't like anyway.

Next was the update.
So I did the following
Adminstration > update manager
Click on "Check" and then enter your password to authorise the update manager to proceed.
There were 244 updates that needed download.

Download on my broardband took about 5 minutes

Installation took another 3 minutes

So in less than 30 minutes I had a brand new installed and updated laptop that will now boot in 15 seconds.

Sweet!

Uninstalling vmware from ubuntu karmic x64

A little tip on how to uninstall VMWare player from ubuntu karmic 9.10 x64.

Follow these steps
Open a terminal and type:

$ sudo /usr/lib/vmware/installre/vmware-installer -u vmware-player

A pop up window will be displayed indicating the uninstallation process
Thats all there is to it.

Setting up WCM syndication in a cluster

If you need to set up WCM syndication in a cluster, bear in mind the following:

• For all cluster members ensure that WCMConfigServices.properties is changed so that the syndicator URL , the subscriber URL and the itemgatherer URL all point to the load balancer for the cluster.
• From the WAS deployment manager, create a replication domain (Environment > Replication Domains) and ensure that Data Replication Services is set on for the cluster and set for push replication.
• Ensure that cachespec.xml has the following embedded section to disable servlet cache for ?MOD operations:

<component id="MOD" type="parameter">
<required>false</required>
<not-value>Subs</not-value>
<not-value>Synd</not-value>
<not-value>ItemDispatcher</not-value>
<not-value>Syndication</not-value>
<not-value>M emberFixer</not-value>
<not-value>VersioningEnablement</not-value>
<not-value>WorkflowEnablement</not-value>
<not-value>PlutoUploadFile</not-value>
<not-value>PlutoDownloadFile</not-value>
<not-value>AJPECatSelect</not-value>
<not-value>RefreshAllItems</not-value>
<not-value>Template</not-value>
</component>

• Ensure that for the following WCM cache objects (Resources > Cache Instances > Object Cache instances) are DISABLED : abspath, absreverse, draft sumary, global, libparent, missed, module, processing, session, site, strategy, summary
• Ensure that for the following WCM cache objects, are ENABLED (as Push): menu, navigator

Where are the standard IBM Portal File Base User definitions?

On a standard IBM WebSphere Portal installation (directly from CD), the resulting portal is not connected to an LDAP server. Instead, it uses an XML file to hold user information.
Just for reference, this file is located at the following location:

/config/cells/{your_cell_name}/fileRegistry.xml

So now you know!

IBM WCM 6.x - How to reset syndication

If you are having issues with WCM syndication you may need to reset the connection. The best way to do this is as follows:

• Stop authors updating content
• Stop syndication
• Ensure that no pre-rendering or other WCM maintenance tasks are being done.
• Delete the WCM syndicator and WCM subscriber defintions on the respective machines
• Reset the WCM event log on syndicator and subscriber by running the ConfigEngine with
  

ConfigEngine.sh wcm-reset-event-log (linux)
ConfigEngine wcm-reset-event-log (windows)

• remove the subscriber cache by going to the subscriber and removing all directories under:

/PortalServer/wcm/ilwwcm/system/subscriber

(This folder is used by the syndicator to store content items retrieved from the subscriber prior to being saved to the JCR. If you look at this folder during a syndication, you will see it fill with files as they are being retrieved by the subscriber. You will also see this folder start to empty as items are moved from this temporay location and stored in the JCR

• Lastly re-create syndicator and subscriber

Other things you may want to check

• Make sure you have the latest fix pack

If your syndicator or subscriber is clustered then also:

• Ensure that you have load balancer names/addresses + ports defined in WCMConfigService.properties, syndicators and subscribers.
  
• Ensure that you have disabled syndicator and subscriber cache using cachespec.xml
• Ensure that Data Replication Services is enabled for the cluster.

IBM WCM - "Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager"

ContentServic E Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager.: Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager.
javax.jcr.StaleValueException: Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager.: Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager

If you get this error in your SystemOut.log then it may relate to the use of the WCM API in the context of an EJB with transcation type set to "Container Managed"
When using the WCM API in this manner, the API does not work as expected and you must set the transaction type of the EJB to "Bean managed".
Source: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21303035


If you get the following message on a SUBSCRIBER

PlutoSubscrib W IWKPD1043X: Could not save the updated subscriber for update id: Error: com.ibm.workplace.wcm.services.repository.StaleValueException: IWKMU1062X: Message: Could not save object in repository., Cause: javax.jcr.StaleValueException Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager

It may be that there is more than one attempt to update the subscriber .
This is a bug and has been fixed with a fix pack (V6.0.1 fix pack 6, V6.0.1 fix pack 7 and V6.1.5 feature pack)

Source: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1PK80443

If you get the following meessage on a SYNDICATOR

RepositorySer E Exception caught while saving node
javax.jcr.StaleValueException: Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager.: Error while calling a function updateItems of PLS data manager

It appears that more than one task is attempting to update the node at the same time. You should apply the fix pack indicated above.

Installing ATI drivers 10.1 for ubuntu karmic x64

For some strange reason, a recent update to the latest ubuntu kernel disabled the ati driver on my thinkpad T400.

Just for the record. This is what I did to reinstall it:

First, go to:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
Use the page to select your driver:

For Karmic 9.10 x64 and i386 it will be:
download ati-driver-installer-10-1-x86.x86_64.run

Ensure you are fully up to date with

$ sudo apt-get update

Ensure that you hvae the QT4 libraries with:

$ sudo apt-get install libqtgui4

Copy the downloaded file into it's own folder. From a terminal change to that folder and then create deb files with:

$ sudo sh ./ait-driver-installer-10-1-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/karmic

That will create the necessary "deb" files.
Lastly install these with:

$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Now reboot.
After a reboot, I had to re-run the Compiz Manager to reset all my options.

You can check that it is all working using

$ fglrxinfo

My display showed the following:

display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1.9026)