After having some serious memory issues with our largest applications in Windows, we decided to dump Windows Server 2003 and switch to Linux Ubuntu (kept the same hardware). Here are some observations I have made during our first 10 days.

(I am brand new to Linux, but quite familiar with Windows.)

• Installing Linux (Ubuntu version) on a formatted hard drive was very easy, and Ubuntu is free.
• Dealing with user security and permission in linux was a real pain. Took quite a bit of searching the net, and even a Linux reinstall to get things going.
• I had no driver issues on a Dell PowerEdge T110 Server computer (basic Xeon processor with 4GB of RAM. About $400 from Dell)
• Mapping a folder on the network was also a bit difficult.
• Changing Sbasic in sesame to reflect the new folder paths was easy, but tedious because we have a lot of 'xlookups' on a lot of different forms and applications (ie. C:\sesame2\data\ changed to /home/sesame/data/). Linux is also case sensitive, so sbasic programming had to be tweaked.
• Setting up a 'shortcut' or 'launcher' to start sesame server is awkward. Perhaps Lantica has a Linux quick start guide that I overlooked?
• I run sesame server from a terminal windows which allows the terminal window to display a live error log. Helpful, and raises a few more questions.
• Sesame has been MUCH more stable on Linux, when running several large applications. We have yet to crash after 10 days of heavy usage.
• Sesame runs MUCH, MUCH faster on Linux. Aps that would load in 45 seconds, now load in 4 seconds. 'formfieldvalue(), Mass Updates,  save, etc, are faster and more robust. Another big reason to upgrade. I was able to load every Ap I could get may hands on, and saw no slowdown in speed.

If you are having issues in Windows with large applications, don't hesitate to test out sesame on a free copy of Linux. You won't regret it.

I still have some 'setup' to do on Linux, but things are now VERY stable and EXTREMELY fast, so I'm very pleased.

Steve

Steve,

You don't mention whether you are running Ubuntu server or Ubuntu desktop.  Ubuntu desktop is very user-friendly.  Ubuntu server isn't.  Pretty much anyone running any Linux server version has training specifically in Unix.  (Linux is actually a version of Unix.)

If you are running the server version and it's not to late to switch, I definitely recommend switching.  There are loads of "how to" videos on YouTube for Ubuntu desktop.

As a complete newbie you will find quite a few things annoying, but after you've worked with it awhile you'll see how similar Desktop is to Windows.

A difference from Windows is that the highest level in the file system is /  All folders are descended from / -- there are no separate drive letters.

A major difference between Ubuntu and other Linux/Unix versions involves Root.  In Unix/Linux, Root is the "super user", with highest administrative rights. All users other than Root have a separate folder descended from /home, e.g., user "robert" would be in /home/robert  Root's folder, however, is attached directly, i.e. /root  Of course, root has a password.

Unlike Windows, you really don't routinely log on as "root".

Ubuntu is unique in that there is no separate user "root".  There can be, but Canonical strongly discourages it. Instead, you precede a command with "sudo", which means "Super User Do".  For instance, to copy into a system folder you would type sudo cp sourcefile targetpath

Below is a "script" I have used several times to install Ubuntu Desktop.

If you are only running Ubuntu as a server, a lot below will not be needed, e.g.:
- Installing Microsoft fonts
- Installing codecs
- Moving the Minimize/Maximize/Close buttons to upper right.

This assumes that all users will log in with the same name.

Ubuntu can natively access Windows shares, but Samba must be
installed for Windows machines to see the Linux machine.


THIS WILL WORK WITH UBUNTU DESKTOP 10.4 OR 10.10
CANONICAL CHANGED THE DESKTOP FROM GNOME TO UNITY
IN VERSION 11.4.  BE SURE TO INSTALL AN LTS (Long
Term Support) VERSION.

In setup set to boot from CDROM

Insert Ubuntu 10.10 install disk and boot

Click Install

Set clock & keyboard (default)

Set partitions manually
Delete any existing partition
Click on empty space, select Add
Create a Primary partition / about 8 GB. 8590*10^6 = 8GB That is a VERY large primary partition. Use ext4 file system for max speed.
The /swap partition should equal the physical memory and has filesystem type swap. (2148*10^6) The partition can be primary or secondary.
User data goes in a separate partition /home  (about 10GB) (For a server application this is not the main data partition.)
This is a logical partition, not a primary
As they are created the partitioner will show the mount point.
Create a logical partition /our_data type ext4  You can set the mount point from the partitioner.  This is the main data partition.

If you are going to use a separate disk for this partition, don't create this partition.  Once Ubuntu is installed, create a folder with: sudo mkdir /our_data
(Like Windows, you can mount an entire disk in a folder. If you do that, once Ubuntu is installed, format the second disk as a single partition and then mount it.  Unlike Windows, the folder where it is being mounted doesn't have to be empty.  You can put test data, make sure everything works, and then simply mount your production drive.)

"Your name" is not the "user name"
Set user name to: abc Staff
 The user name will be in /home/<username>
 (or maybe /usr/username)
Set the login name to abc-staff
Set password to abc
Set the computer name to linux-server
Set to log in automatically
Install


SET APPEARANCE

System => Preferences => Monitor
Set monitor resolution

System => Preferences => Appearance => Fonts, Change the font sizes
Backgrounds => Get more backgrounds online
Select the picture, right-click, Set as Background
Theme => Radiance => Close

 Application font is used in menu bars


ADD AND REMOVE MENU ITEMS

System => Preferences => Main Menu
-- menu Applications -- System Tools doesn't show up because
no items are selected by default.  If you click an option (e.g.
Configuration Editor), System Tools will get large and display.
Enable: Applications => System Tools
Enable: Applications => Accessories => Archive Manager
Disable: Preferences => Assistive Technologies, iBus, Bluetooth, Mouse
Disable: Administration => Startup Disk Creator, Log file viewer


PUT WINDOW CONTROL BUTTONS ON RIGHT
Applications => System Tools => Configuration Editor
Apps => Metacity
Change button_layout to menu:minimize,maximize,close




RUN UPDATE MANAGER


INSTALL MICROSOFT CORE FONTS:

System => Administration => Synaptic Package Manager => pwd = abc
Select ttf-mscorefonts-installer, mark for installation, Apply.
This installs Andale, Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans, Courier New,
Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Verdana and Webdings.

Other common fonts to install: Tahoma, Lucida, Wingdings
rename them to lowercase

To install a GROUP OF fonts system-wide and allow others to use it:

1. Create a new folder on the Desktop with the target folder name,
i.e., if the target will be /.../lucida, name the desktop folder lucida
2. Download the new font(s) and extract to the desktop folder
3. In a terminal type: sudo cp -R ~/Desktop/<foldername> /usr/share/fonts/[whatever]
This will copy the entire folder to the system font folder.
 [whatever] might be lower levels, i.e., .../fonts/truetype/hebrew/script
 When you run the cp it would wind up in /fonts/truetype/hebrew/script/lucida
NOTE: You will usually want to copy the folder to /fonts/truetype
4. Delete the desktop folder.
5. Restart your application. The fonts will be available system-wide.

To install individual fonts:
1. Open a root terminal.
2. If the target folder does not exist create it: mkdir /usr/share/fonts/<whatever>/<target>
3. In the root terminal open a file browser: nautilus
4. Select the font files to be copied.
5. Paste them into the target folder.
6. Restart.

In Windows Lucida fonts are at C:\Program Files\Java\ and
C:\Program Files\Corel\

Also create an msfonts folder for Tahoma, Wingdings, etc.
In a terminal: mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype/msfonts


SET UP SAMBA (Lets Windows machines access Linux.)

Open a terminal, copy and paste the following and run it:
sudo apt-get install samba samba-common samba-common-bin winbind system-config-samba

** DO NOT INSTALL SWAT! It removes all comments, etc., from smb.conf

System => Administration => Samba
(This runs system-config-samba)
Preferences => Samba Users => Add User
Unix Username => abc-staff
Windows Username: abc-staff
Samba password: abc

Click the plus sign (Add Share)
Click Browse, select the directory to share
The share name is what the network will see: \\servername\sharename
Set the directory to /our_data and share name data_folders
Set Writable and Visible
Tab Access => Only certain users
Click abc-staff
To change later: System => Administration => Samba, select share => File => Properties

Preferences => Server Settings => Basic
Leave the workgroup as workgroup
Change the description
Server Settings => Security
Preferences => Samba Users
change the password for abc-staff to abc

***ALTERNATIVE -- probably NOT needed
How to manually edit the smb.conf file:
cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /home/abc-staff/Templates/smb.conf-template
gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
Save As /home/abc-staff/Templates/abc-smb.conf
sudo cp /home/abc-staff/Templates/abc-smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf
Test the file: testparm /etc/samba/smb.conf
(Restart samba) sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

CHANGE TERMINAL COLORS
Applications => Accessories => Terminal => Edit => Profile Preferences
(fore: #0000a0, back: white)


LOGON:
User name: linux-server\abc-staff
Password: abc

To manually edit smb.conf:
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

-- copy & paste contents of custom smb.conf


STARTUP APPLICATIONS
System => Preferences => Startup Applications
Turn them off here


PRINT TO PDF
System => Administration => Synaptic Package Manager => pwd = abc
Search for cups-pdf => Apply


SHARE PRINTER
System => Administration => Printing
Right-click on printer, select Shared
Server => Settings => Advanced Server Settings
Check:
Publish Shared Printers
Allow Remote Administration
Do not preserve job history


FILE BROWSER DISPLAY OPTIONS
System => Preferences => Main Menu


SPEED UP VIDEO
Install MPlayer
Right-click on MPlayer SCREEN, Preferences
Increase cache size to 8192 (kb), set audio quality to mid
Exit MPlayer, restart it


TURN OF IDLE SCREEN LOCK
System => Preferences => Screensaver
uncheck Lock screen when screensaver is active
Test: Open a terminal, type: gnome-screensaver-command -a
This blacks the screen.  Move the mouse.

(Also possibly)
Applications => System Tools => Configuration Editor
apps => gnome-power-manager => lock
uncheck gnome_keyring_hibernate and gnome_keyring_suspend


SET UP TO INSTALL TARBALLS
Synaptic Package Manager => build-essential


=== BELOW ARE NOT NEEDED FOR abc ===
CRAP CLEANER (BLEACHBIT)
Terminal: sudo apt-get install bleachbit
Bleachbit is like CrapCleaner
Sweeper will also do this.
System Janitor


UNUSED VIDEO CARD DRIVERS
Synaptic Package Manager: search for xserver-xorg-xvideo
Remove unused drivers


SPEED UP AGP VIDEO (BIOS setting)
If the mobo has an AGP card, changing the AGP Aperture size
in the BIOS can speed up the video. The system uses 4k pages
of system RAM when the video card RAM runs low. An address
translation table called GART accepts memory calls from the CPU
and translates those to memory page addresses so the CPU sees
a contiguous address space. The more memory the video card has
the smaller the aperture should be.


FANCY VIDEO (COMPIZ)
Preferences => Appearance => Visual Effects => Extra
Terminal sudo aptitude install compizconfig-settings-manager


CODECS (Medibuntu)
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Google Medibuntu community documentation
Add Medibuntu as a repository
This is done by copying and pasting (right-click, can't Ctrl-V) into a terminal.
Follow the instructions on the page. You have to copy & paste several times.


Try to view a WMV file. It will search for codecs and install them. This is a
time-consuming process (abt 20 min) that requires repeated steps. (The sudo works fast.)

ADD BOOKMARKS
Open a Nautilus browser (Places)
Navigate to your destination
Menu => Bookmarks => Add Bookmark (Ctrl-D)


ALLOW EVERYONE TO EDIT /our_data
Applications => Accessories => Terminal
sudo chmod a=rwx /our_data

DELETING OLD KERNELS

Ubuntu has the Update Manager and Synaptec Package Manager, used to install and update software.

When you run those on a regular basis all of a sudden when you go to boot you will come into something similar to the list of options you get if you press F8 while Windows is booting.  You will see a list of kernel versions and if you don't touch anything one will be started automatically.

Here is how to delete the older versions.

1) Open a ROOT terminal
2) Type: uname -a
3) That shows the kernel version currently running. Note it.
4) Start Synaptic Package Manager
5) In Quick Search search for linux-generic
6) Installed versions have a green checkbox. On the versions to be removed right click and select Mark for Complete Removal
7) Click Apply

Generally, there is no difference between Unix and Linux, so I'll only mention Linux.

Unlike Windows, Linux is case-sensitive.  Although you can use filenames like "January 2011 Report.xls" standard practice is to use all lowercase and hyphens, not spaces, i.e., january-2011-report.xls

There is a very good reason for avoiding spaces, apostrophes, etc., in filenames--octal is Linux's native language and some programs, etc., will automatically replace punctuation with the hex equivalent, preceded by %.  So you might name a file "January Payments Report" and a program might automatically change that to January%20Payments%20Report.

Unlike Windows, file extensions are not meaningful. Note that to a certain extent Ubuntu does not follow this convention.

By default no file is executable.  You have to set the program's permissions. That is done with the command-line utility chmod.  (Ubuntu has a graphical interface to do that.)

Case-sensitivity applies to all aspects. Linux utilities have an incredible range of options and parameter flags are also case-sensitive, i.e., cp whatever -r and cp whatever -R would produce different results.

The philosophy behind Linux utilities, names, etc., is that the user knows what s/he's doing. Until Ubuntu, virtually all Linux users were hard core geeks with formal college course work in Unix. The "dummies" were Windows power users with a background in system administration and programming. The idea is that if you're not comfortable with the command line, skip Linux. Also, you'll be using various utilities a lot. So it's easier to learn the command name once and then type something short rather than type long names that are easier to remember.  Hence, "cp" = Copy; "ls" = List (= Windows Dir), "mv" = Move, etc.

A lot of utility names are based on geek humor.  For instance, what Windows users call a command prompt Unix calls a shell.  Unlike Windows, there are many shells.  The original was called "sh".  Someone expanded that a bit.  Someone named Bourne expanded it more, leading to "bash", which stands for "Bourne Again shell".

Linux utilities include a detailed set of on-line manuals referred to as "man" pages.  You can routinely get help by typing man commandname

There are a number of Linux "distros". Red Hat and Novelle are the two largest but they basically sell complete software "stacks" referred to as LAMP, which stands for Linux, Apache server, MySQL and Perl/PHP/Python. Folks using those would normally have experienced Linux system admins.

Software is mainly distributed in "packages" using one of two formats: .rpm (Red Hat Package Manager) or .deb for Debian (the Linux "fork" that includes Ubuntu.) Ubuntu includes Synaptec Package Manager which takes care of most of the technical aspects of downloading and installing software on an Ubuntu system. Because the package management system coordinates "file dependencies", you can't mix installers.  If you are using Ubuntu/Debian, you can't install an rpm package.

You will also see references to a "tarball", "make" and compiling.  Historically, most Linux/Unix software was distributed as source code in a compressed format (tar stands for tape archive) and it was compiled with the "make" utility. Ubuntu has pretty much eliminated the need for that.  Unless you need some oddball utility you will probably never need to use "make".

There is a HUGE amount of high quality free software available for Ubuntu. Most university, industry and government research projects that develop software for particular in-house activities develop for Linux, not Windows.  Because a lot of it is done under research grants, they either are required to or voluntarily make the code public. Generally, binary files are not available, but the installer packages will determine what other files are necessary and download and install those and compile everything automatically.

Unlike Windows, there is no central folder for programs equivalent to C:\Program Files.  Programs generally wind up in one of several places.  Although this can be confusing if you have downloaded source code and are trying to decide where to put it, that generally is not a problem with Ubuntu because the target location will be predefined in the installer.

There is a version called Portable Ubuntu, although it is not the latest Ubuntu version. It loads on top of Windows. So, you can have your Linux programs running in Portable Ubuntu and your Windows programs running simultaneously.

There is a program called WINE which emulates Windows. Basically, it takes Windows API calls to system routines and reroutes them to the equivalent Linux routines. www.CodeWeavers.com has a commercial version that is normally a bit more advanced, although they do donate their code to the overall WINE project.

I only have personal Sesame at home, where I have been basically working on a replacement for part of our QA system because "someday" we'll need it.

We have an outside consultant who was involved in setting up the QA system around 15 years ago.  Although he basically hasn't been involved in years, every time I suggest something my boss goes running to him and he often nixes the idea.  When we needed to replace our Windows 2000 Server with its 512MB PC-133 memory and 1GHz processor I suggested Linux on a modern motherboard, which could be done for around $200.  (That's where I started working with Linux.)  He told my boss, "Your company's clients are running Windows, so you'll need Windows for compatibility" even though the server never contacts our clients and the users are running Windows.  So we'll definitely never be using multi-user Linux in a production environment and we probably won't be using anything with Sesame until extended support for XP ends in 2014.  (We set up XP as our "server" operating system for QA.  Everything else is on a Win 2008 Server machine.)

Those are probably the correct set of libraries to run a 32 bit application on the 64 bit OS.

... but these are not drivers. They are runtime libraries, like DLLs on Windows.

Above I have a "script" I have used with Ubuntu Desktop versions 10.04 and 10.10.

I just tried setting up 11.04 and the script will not work "right out of the box".

The Gnome 2.x interface has a single menu-type bar at the top and in the upper right corner are Applications Places System.

System opens to Preferences and Administration.  Between the two of those most system settings can be found.

11.04 defaults to the "Unity" interface, which has an application launcher icon bar on the left side of the screen.  It does not provide access to the various System settings.  When you try to change to Gnome as the default interface, searching on the Web just pulls up loads of things about Gnome 3, which is not yet supported by Ubuntu.


Here are the instructions, courtesy of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at www.zdnet.com:

It’s actually pretty simple to choose between Unity and the classic UI.

  1. Log out of Ubuntu 11.04
  2. At the log on screen select the user you want to log in as
  3. At the bottom of the screen you’ll notice a task bar appear -  this allows you to switch between different modes
  4. Select Ubuntu Classic
  5. Log in as normal
  6. If you want Unity back, repeat the steps but instead choose Ubuntu

In case someone else runs into this ...

Linux comes with a fancy window/desktop management program called Compiz-Fusion.  It lets you do all sorts of things like wobbly windows, switching between desktops on a single monitor, etc.  (Compiz is not part of the Ubuntu default install.  It can be installed from Synaptic Package Manager.)

I was checking out the different options and I noticed that suddenly all my window-management buttons disappeared.  (I change the default combo that appears in the upper left corner to mimic Windows in the upper right  corner.)

Turns out one of the Compiz options is Window Decoration.  If that is not checked you get a window pretty much equivalent to this text box -- no window title bar, etc.  If you accidentally turn off the bar, do this:

System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager (usually referred to as CCSM) -> Effects -> check Window Decoration


(By the way, when setting hotkeys, the Windows key is referred to as <Super>.)

Rick,
I just wanted to let you know that I for one, appreciate your updates on using Linux in general and using Sesame on Linux in particular.
BTW, have you tried Linux Mint? Its main version is based on but improved on Ubuntu. There are other versions, including Debian as well. Take a look.

Well, here's an interesting little experiment I tried just for the heck of it ...

As mentioned, I have an unusual setup--one hard disk partitioned as C:\ and D: for data, with Win XP on the C:\ drive,  a second boot drive with Win 7 and a third boot drive with Ubuntu 11.04, each completely independent but accessing the same data. (Ubuntu loads way, way faster.)

I set up Mozilla Thunderbird (email) in XP and redirected the email folders to D:\.  I then installed Thunderbird under Win 7 and redirected to the same folders.  Just for the heck of it, I just installed Thunderbird in Linux and redirected to the same NTFS folder--and everything seems to be working fine (except that Linux doesn't auto-mount the Windows drive, although I could set it to do that).

By the way, all Mozilla products use random sequences for the user profile.  When redirecting, you don't have to use the same profile.  I redirected from c:\...\vfqzvnr1.default to d:\...\rick.default and it worked fine.

Unlike most versions of Linux/Unix, Ubuntu strongly discourages setting up a separate user account named "root", although it can be done.

Under Ubuntu, the default file manager is named nautilus.  To open the file manager with root-level permission, open a terminal and type gksu nautilus

A dialog box will open asking your password.  (The same as happens if you precede certain commands with sudo or if you open Synaptic Package Manager.) When you enter that a file manager will open with root-level access.  Closing the terminal will not also close the file manager.

gksu and sudo both allow "run with elevated privileges".  The difference is that sudo is used only with command-line utilities (e.g., sudo apt-get) and gksu is used to start GUI programs from the command line in a terminal.

"Rick,

I just wanted to let you know that I for one, appreciate your updates on using Linux in general and using Sesame on Linux in particular.
BTW, have you tried Linux Mint? Its main version is based on but improved on Ubuntu. There are other versions, including Debian as well. Take a look."

As I mentioned, I haven't tried Mint.  I recently saw a review on ZDNet by a tech blogger who regularly uses Ubuntu, OpenSUSE (based on Novell) and Mint 10.  He said that Mint 11 Release Candidate is noticeably faster than the latest Ubuntu release.  After a week he installed it on his main work laptop. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/mint-11-the-un-unity-ubuntu-desktop-linux/...

We're still trucking nicely using Linux for our Sesame Server. However, I'm seeing something funny and could use some help.

On occasion, our windows clients can't see one or two aps sitting on the Linux server in the 'file open' dialog. The DB and DAT files do exist and permissions appear to be the same as all the other aps in the same folder. (read, write, execute, owner)

The 'hidden' aps will open just fine (when loaded from the command line).

Any thoughts on this?

Steve

No, the filenames are 'products.db' and 'products.dat'.

I'm seeing a similar (possibly related) issue. I created a new folder in my '/data' folder which is also not visible from within the Sesame 'file open' dialog. I attempted to set permissions and ownership, and I THINK I did it correctly, yet it still remains hidden in sesame.

Erika,

It doesn't appear so. My rootdirs.ini contains these two lines:

data
data/trash

The windows client has access to all the files and folders within the /data folder (except products which is hidden)

FYI, in the past, I've tweaked rootdirs.ini but would see no effect. Perhaps it is being ignored. Does each client read the file on the server when connecting, or does the server read it once at startup?

When I run ls -laR from within the /data folder, the results are enormous, showing all folders and subfolders for most of my network.

Perhaps this may help; my issue started at the same time I added a folder within /data that mapped to my windows network share.

I'll try to send the results for just the /data folder, assuming that's what you want.

Thanks Mark and Erika. I unmounted the folder and then deleted the folder and sesame now shows all my files again.

If you have any suggestion for properly setting up a windows shared folder within reach of my windows users, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, I'll experiment and post my findings here. (Windows users need to have access to a shared folder within /data on the server, for importing into sesame.)

Thanks,

Steve

Yes, I have been using /etc/fstab with good results, but the map point is not in the /data folder so the users can't access it from within Sesame. Perhaps I just need to include it in the rootdirs.ini file on linux server? Maybe I can just move the map point into the /data folder?

I'm slowly learning Linux, but I'm apprehensive to make any changes because Sesame is SO HAPPY with the current setup...and therefore, I am too.

Thanks Mark. Sounds like that should work. I'll learn up on it and report back.

Sincerely,

Steve

Ubuntu with the Gnome 2.3 interface looks a lot like a non-ribbon Windows application in that there are drop-down text-label menus in the upper left hand corner. The standards are Applications, Places and System.  A new location is added in Places with Connect to Server. To change an entry, from Places select any folder, which will open the Nautilus file manager. Then click Bookmarks => Edit Bookmarks.

Thanks Erika. I can see the benefits and I'll definitely put this into practice.

Sincerely,

Steve

Have you seen Dimension4? I used to use this some time ago. I once used it briefly to automatically set the clock upon login when the motherboard battery was dead. This kept things working okay until I had time to get a new battery.

If I remember correctly, it has an option to set the clock upon opening it, and I simply put a shortcut to it in the Startup folder. There may be a more effective way to use it, but this did the trick for the short time I needed it to do that.

http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

I'm doing a new Ubuntu install and, as mentioned above, ver. 11.04 defaults to the Unity interface, not Gnome ("Classic")

I mention some instructions to switch, but for some reason when I log out it doesn't give me the option to log back in.

Rick_R wrote on Apr 24^th, 2011 at 7:07am:


Here's another way that doesn't require logging out:

  1. Click on the power symbol in the upper right corner.
  2. Click System Settings.
  3. Under Groups (left side), click System
  4. Click Login Screen, Unlock, enter password, Authenticate
  5. In "Select [ Ubuntu ] as default session" select Ubuntu Classic.

You can also set whether a login sound will be played and other options.

I haven't tried it but it looks like it could be interesting: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-air-forces-secure-linux-distribution/9...

"The Software Protection Initiative (SPI) under the direction of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the US Department Of Defense recently created Lightweight Portable Security (LPS). Like the name indicates, this is a small Linux desktop distribution that’s designed for secure use.

LPS is designed to boot from a CD or USB pen-drive on any Intel-based computer. It doesn’t install anything. It’s designed solely to run solely in memory and to leave no traces behind when you’re done running it.

According to the SPI, LPS “allows general Web browsing and connecting to remote networks. It includes a smart card-enabled Firefox browser supporting Common Access Card (CAC) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards, a PDF and text viewer, Java, and Encryption Wizard - Public.” With it you can turn your untrusted Windows or Mac home or public system into a trusted network client. “No trace of work activity (or malware) can be written to the local computer.”"

It would be interesting to see about adding a custom Sesame Linux application. Even a fairly large database (several gigabytes) could easily fit on a 16GB USB.

Steve_in_Texas wrote on Oct 18^th, 2011 at 1:04am:


Probably better to ask what changed than to change what you know didn't.

Another change, and perhaps the most dramatic one; we changed internet providers, and cable modem, and therefore, all new network router settings (dhcp, LAN Ip numbers, etc.)

After this change, clients now get a 10 second 'delay' when they start a connection to the sesame server.

I'll check router settings and try a different 24 port switch tonight to see what happens.

Thanks Rick. I'd be lost without a GUI on Ubuntu.

Steve

Rick_R wrote on Oct 20^th, 2011 at 1:34am:


While I would also recommend not upgrading until things are ironed out a bit, I am running 11.10 on one computer with no problems at all (and can shutdown from the desktop GUI), and on another computer can't boot at all without loading the older kernel. So... mileage will vary.

I just ran an update on 11.10 and now it shuts down properly from the GUI.  As mentioned above, several releases earlier the exact same problem happened--wouldn't shut down from the GUI and then an update several days after the official release fixed it.

oops, my local connection was also dropped.

I think the problem is deeper than just a 'flaky network'. Clients are getting booted after only a few seconds, so something must be out of whack.

Moved sesame server back to the new pc after ANOTHER reboot, and all seems fine now.

Sesame clients and server have been 100% stable and fast for 7 days straight. I have refrained from making any changes in the past 10 days.

In a few days, I will attempt to move Sesame Server back to the original Linux box and see if the stability holds. (I am tempted to install the newest OS with 32-bit lib files on that box, first.)

Steve

Right now I'm trying LinuxMint 12 ("Lisa") which is based on the latest version of Ubuntu.  I'm actually running a "live" DVD.

The latest version of Ubuntu, 11.10 uses Ubuntu's new Unity interface, with an option to use Gnome 3 instead. A lot of users, including me, don't like either of them. They both have a very kludgy, "Gotta know exactly what you want to do in order to start" feeling. Ubuntu 11.10 no longer supports Gnome 2.

Gnome 2 has a simple menu bar across the top with drop-down text menus. The Mint group is in the process of developing their own interface that will fit on top of Gnome 3 and make it have the look and feel of Gnome 2 while allowing access to the Gnome 3 features.

Mint 12's default interface has a look and feel fairly similar to Windows 7, with the start menu in the lower left-hand corner.

According to an article by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols at ZDNet, Mint is now the most popular Linux distribution and Ubuntu has dropped to fourth place and according to another article by him (I can't find at the moment) Ubuntu has been in a steady decline for several years.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-most-popular-linux-is/9913?tag=content...
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/linux-mint-12s-three-desktops/9919

I've been using Ubuntu for over a year and I've only been using Mint literally a few minutes and it already feels a lot more comfortable than Ubuntu's Unity interface. Although Gnome 3 is different from Unity, it too just feels incredibly awkward.  I'm going to be installing Mint on one of my extra drives and I'll probably be switching to that for Linux.

HI there,
I am somewhat fighting with sesame on ubuntu here too. I am setting up the server on ubuntu running sesame as a deamen, the software being located in the home of the users "sesame" under ~seame/bin/Sesame2.
I am porting from a Windows server with a 3-user license. Now wher do I place the license and rootdirs.ini files?
I have tried the Sesame2, Sesame2/Program and Sesame2/bin (where the start-script is located) directories to no avail.
Any help higly apreciated!!!
best C.

Hi MArk,
thanks for your quick reply, long time no hear!!

I tried to set the variable in the /etc/environment file to make it available at boot. It does not seem to work, however I will have to try again on Monday, cause my remote connection has crashed/rdp does not start anymore.
On my second problem: where does the rootdir.ini have to be.
regards
Carsten

Hi Mark,
after including the variables in the startscript in /etc/init.d and explictely exporting them it is now working, tanks for your help here.
However, I have now encountered a far more serious problem now:
All number, figures, ammounts etc are interpreted strangely!
I have written a booking program for a travel agent that has been running for 9 years now on a MessyWindows PC.
We had planned to move it to linux (Ubuntu 12.04) now for quite some time. Since the Windwos-PC is breaking down, now was the time!
The effect now is that all bookings and all relate information (available rooms, prices etc) are screwed-up. E.g. a trip cositing 799€ now is somewhat like 400Billion!!
Any idea?
I could provide you the databse, if you give me your email.
best Carsten

I have experimented a bit more and it seems the error only occurs when Sesame is started during the boot process of the server (i.e. via init.d). If I start it manually invoking the script in /etc/init.d it will run fine (just the € sign is screwed up!!!).

Here is the startscrip I use in init.d

--------------- Start ---------------

#! /bin/sh

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/home/sesame/bin/Sesame2
SESAME_LICENSE_PATH=/home/sesame/bin/Sesame2/s_license2.lic
SESAME_ROOTDIRS_PATH=/home/sesame/bin/Sesame2/rootdirs.ini
export "PATH" "SESAME_LICENSE_PATH" "SESAME_ROOTDIRS_PATH"


### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          skeleton
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Example initscript
# Description:       This file should be used to construct scripts to be
#                    placed in /etc/init.d.
### END INIT INFO

# Author: Carsten Rietbrock <crietbrock@yahoo.de>
#
# Please remove the "Author" lines above and replace them
# with your own name if you copy and modify this script.

# Do NOT "set -e"

# PATH should only include /usr/* if it runs after the mountnfs.sh script
DESC="Sesame_Server"
NAME=sesame
DAEMON=/home/sesame/bin/Sesame2/Program/$NAME
DAEMON_ARGS="-daemon -server pampeago.dyndns.org "
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME
# USERID=sesame

# Exit if the package is not installed
[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
. /lib/init/vars.sh

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present
# and status_of_proc is working.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
     # Return
     #   0 if daemon has been started
     #   1 if daemon was already running
     #   2 if daemon could not be started
     start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
           || return 1 &
     start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \
           $DAEMON_ARGS \
           || return 2 &
     # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
     # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
     # on this one.  As a last resort, sleep for some time.
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
     # Return
     #   0 if daemon has been stopped
     #   1 if daemon was already stopped
     #   2 if daemon could not be stopped
     #   other if a failure occurred
     start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
     RETVAL="$?"
     [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2 &
     # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
     # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
     # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
     # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
     # needed by services started subsequently.  A last resort is to
     # sleep for some time.
     start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
     [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2 &
     # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
     rm -f $PIDFILE
     return "$RETVAL"
}

#
# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
#
do_reload() {
     #
     # If the daemon can reload its configuration without
     # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP),
     # then implement that here.
     #
     start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
     return 0 &
}

case "$1" in
  start)
     [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
     do_start
     case "$?" in
           0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
           2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
     esac
     ;;
  stop)
     [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
     do_stop
     case "$?" in
           0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
           2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
     esac
     ;;
  status)
       status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
       ;;
  #reload|force-reload)
     #
     # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out
     # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'.
     #
     #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME"
     #do_reload
     #log_end_msg $?
     #;;
  restart|force-reload)
     #
     # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
     # 'force-reload' alias
     #
     log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
     do_stop
     case "$?" in
       0|1)
           do_start
           case "$?" in
                 0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
                 1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
                 *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
           esac
           ;;
       *)
            # Failed to stop
           log_end_msg 1
           ;;
     esac
     ;;
  *)
     #echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}" >&2
     echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
     exit 3
     ;;
esac

:

--------------------- End --------------

If you just kick off the server normally - not at boot, do you see the same numeric issue?

Then it appears that you have hit the bug on the head. The locale information that you are normally using is not being set soon enough to cover running a daemon.

I haven't seen this (in the US), so I'll have to do some google searches to see if this is common problem, with a common solution.

In the meantime you might want to set up your shell script (that launches Sesame) to set the locale environment variables for Sesame.

Or, you could write a new shell script for use with cron, that checks if Sesame is running every 10 minutes or so, and if not - launches it. That way Sesame will start well after your system is fully booted.