Installing Lotus Traveler on Android - Step by Step

Yes, you read it right !! You can get your Notes Mail, Calendar, Contacts, ToDo on the Android. It is not a native solution and you will need to pay 10US$ (at the time of this post).. but it is really nice and it works just perfect.

Since I am BB user I had to install Google Android's SDK (really cool) in order to share this tutorial. Also, it looks like Android is getting some press & nice reviews and I'd expect IBM will work on a native Traveler client for 8.5.2 or later.

Here at PSC we run a IBM/Lotus and a Microsoft practice (plus Oracle, OpenSource and more) so we have both Domino and Exchange servers... when one of our VPs asked me he wanted to move to Exchange because he couldn't see his Notes mail on his new Phone I had to do something. Well, after some research I found this really cool app (also referenced on jens.bruntt's blog) called NitroDesk TouchDown.

So, this is what you need to do to get your Notes Mail on the Android:




1.- Download NitroDesk TouchDown from the Android Marketplace. Please keep in mind this is a paid app. Trial will last 5 days.




2.- Click Install



3.- Wait....


4.- Click Open

5.- Accept

6.- Confirm

7.- This is TouchDown's interface.. get used to it... it is pretty simple. Click the Configuration Icon (Bottom left)

8.- Click Yes.

9.- Enter your email address, password and Traveler server's address. Click Next.


10.- Select if you are using SSL or not. Or select Don't Know (wizard will check all options). Click Next.


11.- Click Next.

I had to keep all selected. Please note I am using a trial version of TouchDown plus an Android emulator. You should be fine with selecting ActiveSync only


12.- Click Next.


13.- Wait a little bit here, the wizard is trying all available/selected options to connect to Lotus Traveler.

14.- Click Close.

15.- You are now back to the Main screen. Wait until your PIM is sync'd


16.- You can now see your unread messages. Click the envelope icon to see your inbox.



17.- Look at all your meesages here.

And finally, let me show you some additional Screen shots from my Calendar and Contacts.

From The Sametime Blog..."Check out the Sametime 8.5 Meetings Beta on Greenhouse"

Sametime 8.5 Meetings are an entirely new way to collaborate with others online. They are incredibly easy to use. Fully integrated into the Connect client you already use for chat, they make it simple to join a meeting with a single click; invite others by dragging their names from the contact list; upload materials via drag and drop; even share your screen from the Macintosh operating system. Of course, not everyone can participate via a Sametime Connect client, so 8.5 includes a zero-download, firewall friendly browser client as well.

Sametime Meetings are different. Meeting rooms are reservationless and don't need to be scheduled. They can be instantly created and linked to calendar invitations from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. Sametime Meeting Rooms can also be persistent. You can use the same room over and over for regular meetings and keep frequently used materials on hand during the course of the project....

I have been working with Sametime 8.5 since Beta 2 and even when it is not yet released I know this new version will be the best.

Now the IBM Sametime team has made Sametime 8.5 available so you can test it and play with it - This is the direct link to Sametime 8.5 - http://st85meetings.lotus.com/stmeetings/ - but don't forget to check Lotus Greenhouse for some other cool live demos.

Netflix Coming Soon to PlayStation 3

This is so cool !!!

If you are a PS3 owner and a NetFlix user you will be able to watch Instant Movies on your TV using your PS3.

Read the news --> here <-- from the Playstation.Blog

"Applying computer Settings" error after upgrading Domino server

How many of you have been working on a Domino Upgrade Project and suddenly one of the machines doesn't want to finish loading. The issue has been documented in the IBM Technote #1279743.

The technote says to start Windows in Safe Mode and then make the Lotus Domino service to run Manual.. but... what happen when you are working remotely (RDP, VNC) and it is 11 PM and you can't get to the physical box !!


Well.. that's simple. Download Desktop Central and access the processes running on the "hung" Domino server. Kill the Notes processes and then using Computer Management access the remote machine and disable the Lotus service. Now you can access the Windows OS again and restart the server if you want to.



Desktop Central also allows you to run a Command Prompt on the remote machine. If you prefer this option you can always use: nsd.exe -kill

Now, one little thing this Technote is not mentioning (according to what I have seen) is that if the server upgrade requires a Design Update to your Domino Directory the issue will keep happening until you enter "y" or "n" (yes or no) in the Domino console when it asks to upgrade the Domino Directory. There is also an option to disable this question when the Server loads but don't remember the variable right now - you can google it if you need it.

Enjoy.

Free Domino Designer with Notes and Domino 8.5.1 !!!!

From EdBrill.com...

Full link here

Notes/Domino 8.5.1 is more than a maintenance release. For sure, a ton of quality work went into this release -- four times the number of fixes of a "normal" maintenance release. There are also a number of new features in this release -- which I've covered in recent presentations such as at IAmLUG, and Mary Beth and team have been covering on the Notes Design Blog. But the part of today's announcement that I want to focus on first are changes to the way Notes and Domino are marketed and licensed. The biggest part of the news is that as of Notes/Domino 8.5.1 eGA -- coming in just a few days -- Lotus Domino Designer will now be available at no charge. That's right! Free! My friends at IBM developerWorks Lotus will have some new web pages up later today featuring how to get, learn, and use Domino Designer 8.5.1.

Webcast for Tomorrow: Lotus Notes & Domino is "App" It Again. Find Out What 8.5.1 Delivers for Your Business!

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009; 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -5)
http://www.lotususergroup.org/vug

Presenters:

• Kevin Cavanaugh, Vice-President of Messaging and Collaboration at IBM
• Ed Brill, Director, Product Management, End-User Messaging and Collaboration
• Pete Janzen, Sr. Product Manager, Lotus Application Development, Domino Designer, XPages, Lotus Enterprise Integrator & Lotus Workflow
• Michael Masterson, Product Manager; Lotus Application Development
• Shawne Robinson, Senior Product Manager; Lotus Notes and Mobile & Wireless solutions at IBM

Follow-up Online Discussion Forum: October 5 - 9, 2009

Delivering business value and innovation are table stakes for Lotus, and the 8.5.1 release is poised to turbocharge the Domino developer community! IBM is delivering much more than fixes in this release so come hear the Lotus Notes & Domino product management team dive into the specifics and announce some major changes that are sure to open your eyes. From innovative new features in Lotus Domino Designer, to new initiatives that will expand the Domino developer community, 8.5.1 is the release application developers have been wanting! You'll also hear about great new features for Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes Traveler and Lotus Domino that will have you clamoring for an 8.5.1 upgrade.

ILMerge and .Net

While working on a .Net development project I had to use an utility called ILMerge that allows you to merge multiple assemblies into one. Since there is little to none documentation on this great tool and every single information I found on the internet talked about how to use it using Command Prompt I decided to post this example of ILMerge using VB.

Imports ILMerging
------

Dim myMerge As New ILMerge()
Dim myCollection(3) As String

myCollection(0) = "Assem1.exe"
myCollection(1) = "Assem2.dll"
myCollection(2) = "Assem3.dll"
myCollection(3) = "Interop.AcroPDFLib.dll"

myMerge.TargetKind = ILMerge.Kind.WinExe

myMerge.SetInputAssemblies(myCollection)
myMerge.OutputFile = DestinationPath.Text
myMerge.AllowZeroPeKind = False
myMerge.Log = False

myMerge.Merge()


Please note you should add some Try/Catch (error handling), and in my case, my assemblies' name were going to be the same all the time so that's why that piece of code is not generated dynamically.

Deploying DAOS and ID Vault

Deploying DAOS and ID Vault

View more presentations from Luis Guirigay.

IBM Lotus Quikr 8.2, GZIP and Custom code

Since Quickr 8.2 is now using GZIP for compression via HTTP, performance has improved nicely, ( read Rob Novak's cool entry - The nine reasons Quickr 8.2 performance rocks the house) but there are some considerations if you are planning to customize Quickr. Let me tell you what you need to do to get your custom changes into the new GZIP model.

Let's say you modified qp_wiki.js (Javascript library used in Quickr Wiki) and then you noticed performance is not the same as it used to be by default. In Quickr 8.2 a good number of Javascript libraries has been compressed using GZIP and every time you make changes to the JS file you need to compress it (as long as there is a JS.GZ file for the library - do not try to compress everything !).

The trick here is how to compress the JS file, you can't use WinRar for example. You should use GZIP from http://www.gzip.org. Also, when compressing the JS files make sure you use -9 -f parameters (-9 for highest compression -f to force compression).

See the difference between both versions of the same JavaScript library. Those kilobytes can make a huge difference.



But this show doesn't end here.... if for any reason the non-compressed version of the JavaScript library is newer than the compressed version, Domino will use the non-compressed version. If you are doing copy/paste from dev to production for example, copy the JS files first and then copy the JS.GZ files.

Enjoy !

Speaking @ Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2009

I will be speaking at the Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2009 (August 27-28). This is one of the great Lotus conferences scheduled in August and I my session will be about DAOS, ID Vault and and some Best Practices.


The other conference is IamLUG which is scheduled for August 4-5. I also wanted to be there but I will be busy doing something else that exact week.

If you haven't registered for any of these conferences.. hurry !!

Chicago Skyline

I will be working in Downtown Chicago this week doing a Domino Domain change. The most difficult part of the project will be trying to focus with this amazing view from the office the customer assigned me to.

Blackberry Enterprise Server V5 has been released

This new version has great new features, but I know one of the most expected is the built-in support for high availability.

Check the information here:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server/5/

Chicago Lotus User Group - My Presentation about Sametime Deployments and Best Practices

Enjoy !

Granite PSC Sametime Best Practices

I will be presenting at GRANITE Lotus User Group

If you are in the Greater Chicago Area, don't forget to attend the next GRANITE meeting on April 20th. I will be presenting the session:

"IBM Lotus Sametime - Deployment and Best Practices"



During my session, I will cover all products in the Sametime family (ST Entry, ST Advanced, ST Gateway, ST Standard and ST Enterprise Meeting Server) - my focus will be technical, however I will include a few tips that may help to sell Sametime in your organization.

The Agenda has not been posted yet, but this is the link to the site - http://granite-ug.org/

Differences between Lotus iNotes Full, Lite and UltraLite

While looking for some informartion I found this technote which I think is very helpful and will help some customers to decide which option they should use as the default one.

Features in iNotes 8.5 full mode, lite mode and ultralite mode


Enjoy !