System i Addict

Windows, windows everywhere and not a breath of fresh air to breath. I am tired, and I mean tired of Windows. I rally just don’t like it. I use a Mac at home, I am forced to use a WindowsXP DELL Laptop @ Work and it’s bad enough that I have to use a crappy DELL laptop but to make it even worse is I have to use XP. I have been playing with the idea and tossing it around to move from XP to Ubuntu.

It’s not going to be easy but I am going to give it a go. Let me point out what I am up aginst and how I am going to tackle those challenges.

1. Microsoft Office
2. Microsoft IE
3. Microsoft Sharepoint
4. IBM Client Access or iSeries Access with Navigator (also 5250)
5. Microsoft Outlook connected to Exchange
6. Dameware
7. CISCO VPN
8. Blackberry Connector and PIN Software
9. Adobe Acrobat
10. PUTTY
11. SecureCRT
12. CITRIX
13. Wireless LAN

I may add to this later but this is all I have for now. We also run JDE but that is via CITRIX so I may have to wait to tackle that one.

Codeweavers Crossover Office

I wanted to put this link out there so that we could start to talk about it. If you are in the know then you know what WINE is and this is just WINE with a great interface.

WINE: Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix.

Crossover Office: Our flagship Linux desktop productivity tool. Allows you to run many popular office productivity software applications and games, such as Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Project and Visio, graphics applications like Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, and Adobe Photoshop, games such as World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2, and many more. Not only that, but CrossOver Linux also allows you to use many Windows Web browser plugins, such as QuickTime and Shockwave, directly on your Linux browser. No Windows Operating System license required; CrossOver is a complete replacement for your Windows OS as far as your applications are concerned.

There may come a point when these products come into play. So keep in mind we may have to pony up a little cash to get Linux ready fro prime time.

Microsoft Office

This one should be easy with OpenOffice. I would guess that 90% of what I do in Office now is Word Docs and an occasional spread sheet. Open Office or OO comes with the Ubuntu install and is pretty easy to figure out. Some of the things you have been used to in Word or Excel are there but not where they used to be. So you have to do a little digging at times, but a decent FREE replacement.

Upside : Not having to run Office under WINE but it does work that way pretty well.

Downside: You will confuse your co-workers and some of the menus may make you crazy from time to time.

Microsoft IE

I have this running under WINE. It’s IE6 and it works. No worries. I can also get it running about twice as fast using CrossOver Office. So with that said. IE is easy.

Upside: WINE is a good product. IE in WINE is good. IE in CXO is better

Downside : It’s IE and IE is crap, and it crashes every now and again.

Microsoft Sharepoint Server

I have to use this for a few of the projects I am on. I will tell you later how to get around using it and IE6 or IE7?

So with IE running in WINE I am able to access pretty much anything in Sharepoint. THe problem will come when they stop supporting IE6 in sharepoint because they like all the cool stuff in 7.

Upside: At least it’s working in IE and I have to use this product to update lots of stuff in there using Word and Excel.

Downside: Sharepoint is a poor product at best. We can get into that later why I don’t like Sharepoint and think is just as dumb and Lotus Quickplace. They are both crappy apps written by engineers with not a single user thought anywhere in the product.

IBM Client Access or iSeries Access with Navigator (also 5250)

This is the biggest hurdle of all time. IBM even though some years ago claimed they were going to move the company to Linux has really not delivered much to the Linux world. They have put together some of the 5250 and ODBC stuff for Linux but not much and development is slow at best.

Let me also point out that this is not working at all using WINE or CXO. It is a huge hunk of crap on the Windows platform and is bloated and does not do anything while running under WINE on Linux. I have filled a post with Codeweavers to let them know but it does not work at all under Linux.

iSeries Access for Linux

As I post this the last real update to the page was in October of 2006 some 4 months ago. Let me be frank, the reason there has not been global acceptance is because the development is slow, it’s still hard to install, does not show up in a menu after the install, and as far as I know is still in RPM format. I know I should be able to put RPMs on Ubuntu, but why should I have to spend the day figuring out what some super smart engineer at IBM already knows how to do and should be doing in the first place.

About iSeries Access for Linux: iSeries Access for Linux offers Linux based access to iSeries servers. iSeries Access for Linux allows you to access the DB2 Universal Database® (UDB) for iSeries using its ODBC Driver and to establish a 5250 session to an iSeries server from a Linux operating system. iSeries Access for Linux runs on either Intel or Power PCs (including iSeries logical partitions).

You do have to have an IBM Log-on to download.

Version/Flavors all in RPM:

• Intel based Linux
• PowerPC based Linux
• PowerPC 64Bit with no Emulator
• x86 64Bit with no Emulator

Isn’t the whole reason people use Client Access is for the 5250/Emulator? Oh well I must be missing something?

There is always tn5250, while not the best, it’s FREE and open sourced.

iSeries Navigator

IBM in 1998 created the Operations Navigator as a GUI front end to the AS/400 for Windows admins to be able to maybe admin a real server via a pretty GUI. Today the Navigator has become apart of the iSeries Admins toolkit as they have put features of the iSeries that can only be accessed via the Navigator. I know, why the hell would IBM do that? I know! I have asked the same question to many at IBM and no one has a good answer. So with that said I have to find a way to run it via linux, can I run it in WINE or Crossover Office. As of yet, I have not been able to make it work and I will come back to this later in time to cover my work around.

iSeries Navigator does not work under WINE or CXO. It’s another product Codeweavers is aware of but I don’t know how much they care at this point since there are no masses crying for it to work.

The only work around I have is Citrix or setting up a WindowsXP shared desktop and using remote desktop or VNC for iSeries Navigator.

Microsoft Outlook connected to Exchange

Now the most common way and the most obvious way would be to use Evolution from Novell, as Todd pointed out, to just replace Outlook, but I am going to have to really put it throught it’s paces before I sign off on that.

Two possibilities here: Evolution or Outlook on WINE

Dameware

This for you who don’t know this is a dekstop sharing tool, much like VNC but with more stuff I think, but at the same time, it’s clunky and not enterprise level in the version we have. It’s junkie at best.

Still Testing.

CISCO VPN

I think there is client that is built for Linux. Still looking.

Blackberry Connector

How to set up VPN in UbuntuÂ

Adobe Acrobat

Native and working

PUTTY

Native

SecureCRT

Looking for a replacement

Citrix

Native Client - Ok so Citrix has a native client but it’s buggy at best. The graphics are odd when you remote the entire desktop. They don’t seem to render very well. It works and I would say it will pass for now and meets the requirements.

Wireless Lan

WiFi is getting better with each new Linux/GNOME/KDE release. The tools are getting better and I must say that Ubuntu is not so bad. I would like to see the Linux community do networking the way that Apple did it in MacOSX, because the way Apple did it just makes sense. Networking on the Mac is so easy. WiFi on the Mac is thoughtless and does not require a technical background at all to get running. Linux needs that kind of app to make it go mainstream.

In conclusion:

More to come….

Why Andrew is Name Calling Again

See the last argument of someone who does not stand a chance of winning is to call someone names. So Andrew has taken my comments out of context, used what he likes and now labeled me as a “Windows Hater“. While I have issues with Windows, like I have issues with Linux and UNIX, I am not a “hater” in fact I would rather not use the same vocabulary a 10 year old uses to decribe anyone and that is in fact what differentiated me from Andrew.

If you can’t read Andrew I did this for the people are are in my field and are looking for a cheaper and easier alternative. Sadly most of us are forced to use Windows, but Andrew can’t read and has a very limited scope when it comes to Global IT in that he is really focused on the desktop, the windows desktop and with that should leave the the things he knows nothing about to the big dogs in IT like me who understand what people are really doing. See Andrew people like vareity and that is what I was writing about. How to use something other then Windows, while I know I may have to use Windows some people who are contractors my not be able to afford Widnows is they are just starting out or are looking to a differnt view on things. That is what I was trying to do here is shed some light on something I think people who come to this blog would like to read. I know my target market.

Contrary to Andrew the world does not run on .Net and ActiveX but you would never know that by reading his pages. I am a big IT person while Andrew is more of a desktop person. Nothing wront with that. The problem is Andrew who remains hidden will never understand what I know and will always resprt to name calling.

Why he wants to keep playing in the PROS in beyond me. Andrew your playing Single A IT and I am in the Big Leagues. Don’t tell me or anyone what you think I think cause truly you have no idea. Stick to what you know and I will stay over here and leave you alone.  Again and for the last time I truly grow tired of you and your name calling. You can post what ever you like on your page just make is factual. That was my issue with you in the beginning. If you want me to pull it down, all of it I will, just email me your contact information so that I can call you and get your word you going to do the same for me. While you hide behind your web site I do not and I would like to talk to you on the phone to find out your intentions and get your word that you going to stop acting foolish and rash. Your move.