I am going: Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2013 – Indianapolis, IN
Thu, May 23rd 2013 9:16a Victor Toal It is official – going to MWLUG! See y’all there. I also handed in an abstract, let’s see if my content is interesting enough to make the cut!
Victor
Your order for Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2013 – Indianapolis, IN is complete!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM – Friday, August 23, 2013 at 5:00 PM (EDT)
Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2013 – Indianapolis, IN
123 West Louisiana Street
Indianapolis, 46225
Filed under: Admin [read] Keywords: admin
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IamLUG – Louis Richardson of IBM joins IamLUG as part of the 2013 keynote
Tue, Apr 23rd 2013 7:17a Victor Toal IamLUG – the North American Lotus User Group Event.
Hey guys … this just in: Louis Richardson will be part of the opening (and very social) keynote address. I think you can expect some real gems at this year;s IamLUG – and not just because I am adding a few minor tidbits here and there, but because the list of (the other) speakers is pretty solid and with Louis R. (not to be mistaken with Louis CK – even though they are lookalikes) we are in for an action packe [read] Keywords: admin
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Tonight only: IBMSocialBeerz in New York
Wed, Apr 10th 2013 7:14a Victor Toal As I posted last week, tonight is the night! This is a limited engagement with the master of collaboration, the sultan of social, the one and only Stuart McIntyre (room for applause)
We will be at the Pig N Whistle on 2nd Ave (NOT THE ONE ON 3rd AVE!!) tonight in Midtown, come up to the second floor and look for the very lovely Sharon who will be taking care of us – between Stuart and her the visit is definitely worth your time … to celebrate the momentous event I might even shut up [read] Keywords: collaboration
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IamLUG 2013 – Blackmail and Malarky!
Fri, Apr 5th 2013 6:15a Victor Toal I just have to come out into the open and share my plight: I am being blackmailed by the IamLUG Nazis ….. coerced, forced into bonded labor without the possibility of parole … my freedom of laziness is under attack … Oh, the humanity!
As I have written earlier, I was foolish enough to sign up for IamLUG 2013 (May 6 – 7, St. Louis, MO) and also hand in an abstract for my REALLY excellent content that I mean to share – mainly on the finer points of Swiss cheese fo [read] Keywords: admin
administration
connections
ibm
xpages blogging
development
network
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Social Connections V – StarWars all over again?
Wed, Apr 3rd 2013 9:18a Victor Toal If you are reading this you are social and somehow are involved with the whole IBM software stack relationship social thingamajig or another …. So, unless you live under a rock you have heard of the – very successful – SOCIAL CONNECTIONS shindig that happens on a regular basis and is instigated (among several other, very hardworking individuals) Stuart McIntyre.
In spite of being the model of British reserve and gentleman-ship, Stuart is well know and renowned for his stren [read] Keywords: admin
connections
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Mark your Calendar – IBMSocialBeerz April 10 in NYC
Wed, Apr 3rd 2013 8:16a Victor Toal Yes, Stuart McIntyre and I have rebranded the LotusBeer tradition … if IBM can do it, so can we . . .
Since Stuart was foolish enough to announce to me he will be in town I immediately started on a social campaign to compel him to public drunkenness and anti-social behavior – so was born the idea of the IBMSocialBeerz .. Henceforth look on the Twitter (and any other social network you can think of) for #IBMSocialBeerz and thou shalt find it.
APRIL 10, 8:00 PM at the Pig N W [read] Keywords: ibm
network
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Technote: Connections iFix / CR installation problems
Sun, Mar 24th 2013 9:14a Victor Toal Just a quick one:
IBM Failed to perform extraction error when applying CR or iFixes to IBM Connections 4.0 – United States.
This technote just came through and I thought it was rather timely since I was battling this very scenario with one off the test/DEV environments at my current client a short while ago.
If you read the document you will see that it mentions “if the shared files space has changed” but there is another scenario under which this can happen (though relat [read] Keywords: connections
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IBM Connections: Metrics / Cognos and the HTTP timeout . . . .
Tue, Mar 19th 2013 4:18p Victor Toal Let me preface this post with a statement:
I really, really don’t like Cognos. Metrics is a pain as well.
And .. in case it lacked sufficient emphasis … I really, R E A L L Y don’t like Cognos.
This is an interesting one that I have been battling with for quite some time at my current client. We had been running into errors with Cognos reports not finishing and the only errors we saw were in the syemOut.log files for HTTP sessions suddenly being reset:
[3/5/13 11:51:0 [read] Keywords: connections
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Sametime Video Chat Widget for Connections – Supposedly it still works in V4
Mon, Mar 18th 2013 9:14p Victor Toal My current client had this implemented in their V 3.x environment and we asked IBM if it will still work in V4 …. supposedly it does.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/downloads/sametime_videochat_plugin.html
I am implementing it now but there are some inconsistencies with the ST server so I will have to dig through the ST logs and God only knows what else to make it work. Not sure if IBM is working on a version that is “more compatible” (it ain’t English but I have [read] Keywords: connections
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IBM Domino 9.0 Social Edition – Spoke on Panel Today
Thu, Mar 14th 2013 2:15p Victor Toal I was part of a panel discussing Domino 9 that included Bruce Elgort of IdeaJam fame, Scott Souder/IBM and Steve Farnsworth. You can watch the recording on YouTube here: http://bit.ly/XaPsu9
Enjoy!
Filed under: IBM, Training Tagged: Domino, domino 9, panel discussion [read] Keywords: domino
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Speaking at IamLUG
Thu, Mar 14th 2013 9:13a Victor Toal Just got a mail confirming my session at IamLUG in St. Louis this year: “Keep Connections Running – What does a
Connections Admin have to do?“
So, now I actually have to appear like I know what I am doing on stage ….. oh well, there is always bourbon to help!
Filed under: IamLUG Tagged: Administration, iamlug 2013, IBM Connections [read] Keywords: admin
administration
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175
Open Mic Webcast: Designing Multi-threaded Domino Java applications – 6 March 2013
Wed, Feb 27th 2013 7:10a Victor Toal Sounds like another good one!
–
You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic “Designing Multi-threaded Domino Java applications.” This event will be held Wednesday, 6 March 2013 at 11:00 AM EST (16:00 UTC, or GMT -5), for 60 minutes. After a presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg2 [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Open Mic Webcast: Administrating your Domino server using the Administration Process – 13 February 2013
Wed, Feb 6th 2013 8:09a Victor Toal This looks interesting – as usual! I suggest to listen in, there is always something new to learn!
You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic “Administrating your Domino server using the Administration Process.” This event will be held Wednesday, 13 February 2013 at 11:00 AM EST (16:00 UTC, or GMT -5), for 60 minutes. After a presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note [read] Keywords: administration
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We are Newtown – Direct Donations to Newtown
Thu, Dec 20th 2012 2:18p Victor Toal This just came through in email from the town, it is an additional way to donate money to Newtown if you so choose to:
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE FINANCE DIRECTOR, TOWN OF NEWTOWN:
IF YOU WISH TO DONATE DIRECTLY TO THE TOWN OF NEWTOWN YOU CAN DO SO BY:
SENDING CHECK WRITTEN OUT TO THE “TOWN OF NEWTOWN”
IN MEMO SECTION (OR COVER LETTER) WRITE THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE
MONIES WILL GO INTO ONE OF TWO TOWN FUNDS DEPENDING ON THE PURPOSE STATED:
SANDY HOOK SPECIAL REVENUE FUND
Donations specif [read] Keywords: email
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We are Newtown – List of Donation sites
Wed, Dec 19th 2012 11:11a Victor Toal First off – this is not a all-inclusive list as it is already impossible to list them all and actually check them out to be sure they are not scams, but this list here is brief and verified as far as I was able to.
However – these are Newtown’s own, in-town charities that popped up, so I can actually walk up to people and ask them directly (if I need to). Also make it more likely that the money will go to an in-town purpose and not be used up in fees and overhead of some k [read] Keywords: community
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Newtown Strong, Newtown Proud – We are Newtown
Tue, Dec 18th 2012 7:11a Victor Toal I usually try to keep private things out of this blog and only contribute technical content that I feel is relevant and unique. This time , however, I need to break with this premise. As some of you might know, I am a resident of Newtown, CT. The tragedy that has befallen us is something I am still grappling with comprehending, hearing the name of my town on TV and radio over and over is something I am just not getting used to – we are supposed to be the town nobody knows – ̶ [read] Keywords: community
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Open Mic Webcast: Preventative Actions and Troubleshooting Common Domino Memory Issues – October 30, 2012
Tue, Oct 23rd 2012 6:11a Victor Toal You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic "Preventative Actions and Troubleshooting Common Domino Memory Issues." This event will be held Tuesday, 30 October at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27036159)
This Open Mic will elabo [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Open Mic Webcast: IBM Connections 4 Mobile – 23 October 2012
Tue, Oct 16th 2012 6:10a Victor Toal Looks like another interesting one, the new mobile client is very different and cool – this one should be well worth listening in to!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic “IBM Connections 4 Mobile.” This event will be held Tuesday, 23 October at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Developers and Support E [read] Keywords: collaboration
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320
Open Mic Webcast: Troubleshooting Policies on a Domino Server – October 9, 2012
Tue, Oct 2nd 2012 6:11a Victor Toal You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic "Troubleshooting Policies on a Domino Server." This event will be held Tuesday, 9 October at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27036076)
When
Date: 9 October 2012
Time: 11:00 AM EDT (1 [read] Keywords: collaboration
domino
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WebSphere: wasadmin – how to recover a lost password
Mon, Oct 1st 2012 12:09p Victor Toal I had the case recently where was working on a WebSphere 7 environment that was being uncooperative and the previous creator had not taken any backups and the documentation was rather thin . . . one of my most favorite scenarios to walk into.
I found myself with three sets of documents that all stated a different wasadmin password and none of them worked and the client had never bothered to set up any secondary WBM console admins. A dilemma I had to solve.
Encoding vs Encrypting
You mig [read] Keywords: admin
connections
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aix
blogger
google
java
linux
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310
Connections 4.0: Tails from the Upgrade Part 2 – Oracle
Sun, Sep 9th 2012 7:14p Victor Toal This is an interesting one for all of you out there that utilize Oracle as your database server.
Character Set:
The approved character set for Connections is AL32UTF8. You might have a look at your database and discover that you are running some other character set but that you are seeing no issues – at least in Connections 3.x
In comes Cognos . . .
Cognos will NOT install (fails to connect to the dB without errors) if your Oracle character set is anything other than AL32UTF8. The [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
database
oracle
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Connections 4.0: Tails from the Upgrade Part 1
Fri, Sep 7th 2012 8:11a Victor Toal As a few early risers might have already read on some blogs and press releases, IBM has released Connections 4.0 to the general public this morning – here woudl be Ed Brill’s blog as one of the many announcements.
I have been working for a client I shall call TWSSU (=”They Who Shall Stay Unnamed”) and been part of a large Connections implementation since last year. As part of this environment we have been working on a V4 upgrade for quite some time, to the point wher [read] Keywords: connections
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FLASH: Apply iFixes LO71325 and LO71327 to IBM Connections 4.0
Fri, Sep 7th 2012 8:11a Victor Toal As mentioned in my previous blog post – here are the first of a few new iFixes that you will need to install for Connections 4 right out of the box. They are for core functions mainly so no fear about customizations you have being smashed in the process. Expect some more to be released
next week.
07 Sep 2012
Dear Subscriber (vtoal),
Here are your bulletin email notifications for your subscriptions at IBM My notifications.
Visit the IBM Electronic Support site to get con [read] Keywords: connections
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Newsflash: Connections 4.0 WIKI/documentation is out!
Wed, Sep 5th 2012 1:11p Victor Toal Great news – just found it!!
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lcwiki.nsf/xpViewCategories.xsp?lookupName=IBM%20Connections%204.0%20documentation
But keep in mind, itis still in the process of being edited and will improve over time. Don’t look at the System Requirements pages yet – they will be updated soon as the current format is bit confusing.
Filed under: IBM Connections Tagged: IBM Connections [read] Keywords: connections
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WebSphere: Errors installing Plug-in fix pack on IHS V7.x
Thu, Aug 30th 2012 8:11p Victor Toal This was a new one, not even the IBMers that I consulted with had run into this before.
I have been working at a client site on a large IBM Connections project since last year – V3.0.0, upgrade to 3.0.1, upgrade to 3.0.1.1 … now multiple code drops for V4 beta installs and preparation to get gold code V4 up as soon as possible (once it is released). In the course of the last year I have probably installed and upgraded more WAS and IHS servers that I have in several years previously [read] Keywords: connections
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Good (free) Webcast: Upcoming WebSphere Support Technical Exchange webcast 09/05
Thu, Aug 30th 2012 8:10a Victor Toal I have been somewhat silent of late, the only reason is that I am in the middle of an IBM Connections upgrade that is very intense, time consuming – but fun! I have been collecting quite some stuff for blog entries but simply don’t have the time to atually sit down and flesh them out – maybe after the current upgrade storm is over!
In the mean time: I had this one float across my desk today.
Thank you for participating in a previous Support Technical Exchange.
To help you take [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
application
email
exchange
exchange
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websphere
FLASH: Security Bulletin: Sametime Client Vulnerability (2012.08.10)
Fri, Aug 10th 2012 1:12p Victor Toal This one is important, it was just discovered a few days ago. Mainly dangerous for attacks from inside the network but you should review and get the patches as soon as you can.
10 Aug 2012
Dear Subscriber (vtoal),
Here are your bulletin email notifications for your subscriptions at IBM My notifications.
Visit the IBM Electronic Support site to get connected with our powerful online tools, tips, and resources.
IBM Sametime: Flashes
•
Security Bulletin: Sa [read] Keywords: ibm
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NYC Lotusbeer – Location, Location, Location!
Thu, Aug 9th 2012 12:15p Victor Toal The location of the upcoming NYC Lotusbeer, starring the indomitable Paul Mooney has been decided upon:
Monday, Aug. 13th – starting at 6:00 PM – ending at … who knows
Maggie’s Place
21 E. 47th Str., between Madison Ave and 5th Ave
PS:
IF FOR SOME REASON Maggies Place is so full with all them damn tourists and other drinking folk, we will just move the whole shindig to the other side of the road and go to Connolly’s Pub which is just opposite on 47th Str.
PPS:
I [read] Keywords: twitter
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IBM Open Mic Webcast invitation: Notes Traveler 8.5.3 Upgrade Pack 1 – 14 August 2012
Wed, Aug 8th 2012 4:12p Victor Toal You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic "Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.3 Upgrade Pack 1 – High Availability & Failover and more new features." This event will be held Tuesday, 14 August at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a short presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Lotus Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docvie [read] Keywords: collaboration
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And there shall be a …. LotusBeer (NYC)
Wed, Aug 1st 2012 2:15p Victor Toal Yes, there has been no good LotusBeer in a while so I decided to shanghai a buddy and fly him in from the Emerald Island …. just for you.
The Sultan of Security, the Grand Vizir of Presentations, the Master of Disguise and Supreme Grand-Poopah of IBM Technology (that is an official title) – Paul Mooney will be here in the flesh.
Monday, Aug 13. – starting sometime around 6 PM – the location is still secret so we keep the Paparazzi from installing listening devices and [read] Keywords: ibm
security
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IBM Open Mic Webcast invitation: Developing xPage Applications – 7 August 2012
Tue, Jul 31st 2012 2:15p Victor Toal This just came into my in-box:
You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic “Developing xPage Applications.” This event will be held Tuesday, 7 August at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a short presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Lotus Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27027368)
When
Date [read] Keywords: collaboration
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WebSphere – The backupConfig script your friend
Wed, Jul 25th 2012 7:11a Victor Toal This is just a short post – But the built-in utility you get with the backupConfig script is worth looking into for everybody!
if you have worked with WebSphere for any significant time you have come across the built-in backup and restore utility that each WebSphere server has by default: [backupconfig.bat] or on Unix/Linux [backupconfig.sh] and the corresponding restore scripts [restoreConfig.bat] and [restoreConfig.sh].
At my current client we are working on application customization [read] Keywords: connections
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applications
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IBM Sametime Meetings Statistics Utility – installed!
Wed, Jul 11th 2012 9:12a Victor Toal Marlon Machado of IBM posted this entry below a while ago and we installed it here at a client. It is really painless and works right out of the box without having to jump through hoops or juggle knives while standing on one leg. Give it a try!
SametimeBlog
Now available: IBM Sametime Meetings Statistics Utility.
Marlon Machado | June 27 | Tags: tech-preview sametime statisctics meetings | Comments (0) | Visits (336)
We’re proud to announce availability of the new IBM Sametime [read] Keywords: connections
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sametime
sametimeibm
application
database
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DropBox – I love my DropBox ……
Wed, Jul 11th 2012 8:12a Victor Toal Just got this in the mail this morning:
Hi Victor,
We’ve got some great news for you – we’ve doubled your Dropbox Pro plan! Instead of 101 GB, you now have a healthy 203 GB for the same price! With all this space for your amazing photos, videos, and large files, your Dropbox will never have to go on a diet again.
As an extra thanks, we’d like to let you share a 3 month trial of Dropbox Pro 100 with a friend, colleague, or family member.
I have my various PC’s, l [read] Keywords: facebook
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MWLUG here I come
Tue, Jul 10th 2012 10:11a Victor Toal I have been a bit quiet lately, but I have been gathering allot of stuff to post soon.
Also, I signed up for MWLUG in Pittsburgh in August and am very much looking forward to it!
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: lug [read] Keywords: facebook
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139
IBM Open Mic Webcast: iNotes setup, configuration & troubleshooting – 19 June 2012
Tue, Jun 12th 2012 11:17a Victor Toal Tuesday, June 19th @ 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a short presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Lotus Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27024942)
When
Date: Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Time: 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4) for 60 minutes
Q&A and transcript
You can post questions in advance to a response to [read] Keywords: collaboration
domino
ibm
inotes
ldd
lotus
notes
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Connections 3.0.1.1 and Sametime Proxy Server 8.5.2 IFR1 fix OBEN-8SDLGS – RECALLED
Tue, Mar 27th 2012 7:12a Victor Toal I just got a mail from IBM support on the Sametime Proxy Server 8.5.2 IFR1 fix OBEN-8SDLGS that is mandatory for awareness between Connections 3.0.1 FP1 and Sametime. It appears this HF was recalled (not sure what he exact problem is) which explains why I have not been able to get awareness to work with Connections 3.0.1.1 – no mater what I do.
That there is no updated, specific documentation for Connections 3.0.1.1 and ST awareness is not a good sign either but that is why I opened a [read] Keywords: connections
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sametimelotus
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93
Linux Kernel 3.3 Released, will support Android Apps
Wed, Mar 21st 2012 1:14p Victor Toal Linux and Android are going to be on friendly terms with each other again – it has been a long time. the article has all the details but to keep it short – you will be able to run Android apps on Linux machines with the 3.3 kernel and expect them to run .. more or less.
Again, this is fun … it’s upgrade time again soon!
Filed under: Linux Related Tagged: Android, Linux [read] Keywords: facebook
google
linux
twitter
IBM Open Mic webcast: Deep Dive into Domino Memory – 20 March 2012
Tue, Mar 13th 2012 3:12p Victor Toal -You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic “Deep Dive into Domino Memory”. After a short presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Lotus Developers and Support Engineers. This event will take place on Tuesday, 20 March 2012, at 11:00AM EST (16:00 UTC, or GMT -5). You can post questions in advance as a response to this entry in the Notes/Domino 8.5 forum
Bookmark Webcast Technote
#7023895
Title: Open Mic Webcast: Deep Dive into Do [read] Keywords: domino
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91
WebSphere: March 8 webcast: Developing for the Evolving Application Lifecycle Experience
Tue, Mar 6th 2012 9:13a Victor Toal Dear WebSpherian,
Don’t miss the upcoming webcast: Developing for the Evolving Application Lifecycle Experience
Date: March 8, 2012
Title: Developing for the Evolving Application Lifecycle Experience
Time: 12:30 EST (GMT -5)
Businesses around the world are undertaking transformational journeys to become smarter, and IT is at the center of that transformation. A key challenge to overcome is the pains and many phases involved with application deployment. Attend this webcast to learn from t [read] Keywords: ibm
application
community
email
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linkedin
twitter
websphere
85
IBM Open Mic Webcast Invitation: Install Utilities for Lotus Notes – 13 March 2012
Tue, Mar 6th 2012 7:12a Victor Toal You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic "Install Utilities for Lotus Notes." This event will be held Tuesday, March 13th at 11:00 AM EDT (15:00 UTC, or GMT -4), for 60 minutes. After a short presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Lotus Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below. (Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27023766)
When
Date: Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Time: 11:0 [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
ldd
lotus
notes
facebook
mobile
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98
Social and the Search for Content
Wed, Feb 29th 2012 10:12a Victor Toal I was re-listening to the TWIL that I participated in (Feb 5) while I was in the car driving for hours, hours, hours, hours (yes, a reaaaally long time) to pick up my kids from their perspective schools to bring them home for the extended weekend.
Re-thinking the conversation:
I am sure virtually all of us are “Tony-Two-Timers” to some degree, i.e.: people who do better the second time around (story of my golf game – the successful second shot) or who, when re-reading meet [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
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social software
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104
IBM Open Mic Webcast Invitation: Troubleshooting freetime (busytime) issues in Lotus Notes – 28 February 2012
Thu, Feb 23rd 2012 1:11p Victor Toal You are invited to join an Open Mic Webcast on the topic "Troubleshooting freetime (busytime) issues in Lotus Notes". This event will be held Tuesday, 28 February 2012 at 11:00 AM EST (16:00 UTC, or GMT -5), for 60 minutes. After a short presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Lotus Developers and Support Engineers. See more details below.
(Note: To view this information online, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27023671)
When
Date: Tues [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
ldd
lotus
notes
facebook
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Interesting Tech Note for Linux – Testing the read speed of a hard disk
Tue, Jan 31st 2012 5:13a Victor Toal I look at IBM’s support feeds every day to see what interesting new info comes down the fire hose … this was a first one: Linux drive performance testing! I work with allot of Linux and AIX so this is interesting stuff, I just did not think I would see it in an IBM support feed.
****************************************************
Problem
How can I test to see if all drives are reading at the same speed?
Cause
One reason that hard disks fall out of RAID arrays is a difference in r [read] Keywords: ibm
aix
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Java: it’s your fault! Connections on AIX
Wed, Jan 25th 2012 4:13p Victor Toal Just a quick one during my lunch hour …. ran into an issue yesterday at my current client that shows once more that when you do not work with a specific OS for a while, you really loose your touch for the small details.
The Saga of WAS, AIX and the damn Java Cache
We installed iFixes yesterday and that all went well. However the syncing of the nodes (kicked off from the Dmgr console) took forever, and then one of the app clusters on one of the nodes would not restart (it eventually did [read] Keywords: agent
connections
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83
IBM Moderators can not use SPNEGO to Automatically Login to Moderate Content in Connections – United States
Tue, Jan 24th 2012 7:13a Victor Toal http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21577480&myns=swglotus&mynp=OCSSYGQH&mync=E
This technote just came out but we actually had this issue early last month where we noticed it. My current client uses SPNEGO for single sign-on (works GREAT btw) and since moderation is a new feature to Cnnections we did not really notice it in the beginning. After all, if something is new, you are not – yet – aware of what the standard behavior is supposed to be. We have a sing [read] Keywords: connections
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Linux Security Alert: X.org Server Allows Anyone to Unlock Computer
Sun, Jan 22nd 2012 8:13a Victor Toal https://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/biz-enterprise/538089-xorg-server-allows-anyone-to-unlock-computer
I had not heard of this one yet but I am going to my servers right now and checking for the latest security patches … if your servers do not run x.org server then you have nothing to fear. While you are at it, check your workstations too …..
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Linux, security [read] Keywords: enterprise
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linux
security
server
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144
Linux: NGINX Webserver growing in the market
Fri, Jan 20th 2012 8:12a Victor Toal NGINX takes 2nd place in Web Servers from Microsoft IIS | ZDNet.
I came across this one a short while ago. I have not used NGINX myself yet though one of my hosted servers uses it though I have no control over it (cpanel access only) . I have been playing with the idea of configuring some “unusual” systems at home and I think I am going to take a look at how NGINX might integrate with some IBM/Lotus products. I have seen it used as a proxy server (or several servers) in front of IB [read] Keywords: connections
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sametime
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microsoft
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100
Blatant Plagiarism …. by me – Worst Tech Predictions ever
Wed, Jan 18th 2012 4:12p Victor Toal I read this one over at Scientific American (written by David Pogue – I love his articles) and just had to plagiarize it .. it is to good!
“Everyone’s always asking me when Apple will come out with a cell phone. My answer is, ‘Probably never.’”—David Pogue, The New York Times, 2006Image: Wikimedia Commons/Linux insidev2
Supplemental Material
In my Scientific American column this month, I pondered why it’s so hard to predict the future of tech [read] Keywords: ibm
apple
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office
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66
Technotics launches new web site – announces new cloud services
Wed, Jan 18th 2012 8:13a Victor Toal http://www.andypedisich.com/blogs/andysblog.nsf/dx/technotics-launches-new-web-site-announces-new-cloud-services.htm
I read this post early this morning in the train on my way to work.
HIGH TIME Andy and Rob did this!
Both Andy and Rob are well known in the Lotus/IBM community for their expertiese, experience, vision and skill. I think with this new offering Technotics is hitting the nerve of the Shakespearian question many clients face: “To go, or not to go.” What I particularly li [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
community
consulting
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79
Websphere Technote: Application Server does not start – OSGi permission issue
Wed, Jan 18th 2012 5:12a Victor Toal http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21578438&myns=swgws&mynp=OCSSEQTP&mync=R
This one just came in via a feed. I ran into this recently during my first forray into WAS 8 … The errors kicking in were a great way to develop my shaky WAS confidence. I solved it because i deal with Linux allot and access rights/file rights are a commkn problem when a team use different/personal IDs when installing systems instead of a common account. Both are acceptable as long as everybo [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
application
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78
Just in Time for #LS12 – A new IT Job website for Social Software
Mon, Jan 16th 2012 6:12p Victor Toal Just in time for Lotusphere 2012:
www.ssmcjobs.com
This new job site is dedicated to IT jobs in the social media / social software, collaboration and messaging technology fields. Free for job seekers it is aiming to give IT staff with “social” in their portfolio a place to showcase their skills and search for new opportunities. If happen to not be actively looking it is still a great place to just “park” your resume and see what kind of offers might be out there.
If yo [read] Keywords: collaboration
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social software
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Anatomy of a Science Fair Project | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network
Sat, Jan 14th 2012 4:12p Victor Toal http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/01/12/anatomy-of-a-science-fair-project/
Not really technology content but I wish this kind of stuff had been around when I was a kid. I went to school in Austria and I attended a natural sciences high school so I had more classes in chemistry, physics, biology and (oh dread!) math. In those days Austrian schools did not do science fairs or prepare kids to present data and experiments like American schools do – unfortunately. I just wi [read] Keywords: facebook
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55
The Tale of a Bored Doggie
Sat, Jan 14th 2012 11:13a Victor Toal I don’t normally blog about meembers of my family – but occasionally the four legged ones do something worth sharing.
I am at a Diner having my breakfast after I had to run out this morning to get some personal errants done and this cake in from my wife. I had wanted to play the dogs in the yard before I leave but my wife (The Empress) decreed that leaving early and coming back early is more important. I guess good old Sparky here had a different idea.
Filed under: Not Technical Ta [read] Keywords: facebook
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447
Error loading wiring Properties: property name is not unique….
Sat, Jan 14th 2012 10:13a Victor Toal http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21578096&myns=swglotus&mynp=OCSSKTWP&mync=R
This just came in via a feed from IBM support. I hope you guys subscribe to the support feeds as well.
Personally I never came across this specific error but as I do work allot in large, multi nationals this is a good one to squirrel away and keep in my back pocket.
Filed under: IBM Lotus Notes Domino, Lotus Notes Tagged: Domino, ibm, Lotus Notes [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
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69
Open Mic Webcast: Deep Dive into Domino Memory- 20 March 2012
Sat, Jan 14th 2012 9:12a Victor Toal http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27023895&myns=swglotus&mynp=OCSSKTMJ&mync=R
this one promises to be interesting, I am definitely going to listen in. Memory issues are some of the more vexing problems to deal with since they involve more than just the Domino side and Domino knowledge to track and solve.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Domino [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
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87
Configuration step recommendation for Sametime stand-alone MUX to enable load balancing
Wed, Jan 11th 2012 5:12a Victor Toal http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21577644&myns=swglotus&mynp=OCSSKTXQ&mync=R
I have been researching some Sametime issues and came across this config item. The MUX is one of my favorite Sametime components as it can really drastically increase your system’s capacity for concurrent active accounts (awaremenss and chat). I will be trying thissetting out in my own system soon.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: ibm sametime, sametime, technote [read] Keywords: ibm
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102
IBM Support – Change to AVP Telephone Support Processes
Tue, Jan 10th 2012 4:12p Victor Toal This fluttered across my desk today at a client site I am currently working at. It appears that if y are an AVP client (Accelerated Value Program) IBM will no longer get you right to a technician if you call in a ticket but rather wants you to enter it online and wait for a call back. At my current client this is the standard way of operating and the call backs are rather quick – however I have been at other sites where those cal backs have taken somewhat longer in the past. I don̵ [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
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90
Domino, WebSphere and why don’t my Friends get it yet
Thu, Jan 5th 2012 1:11p Victor Toal As most people who know me in person can attest to, I usually am not at a loss for words. Some friends of mine actually have made a pact to kill my mouth separately after I die to make sure it goes to rest. True friends will go to great lengths to take care of you … one way or another.
“The discussion”
I did find my inborn ability to fill the air with words challenged over the holidays when I engaged a good friend and collegue in a discussion about technology, future and IT w [read] Keywords: connections
domino
ibm
lotus
notes
quickr
sametime
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84
IBM Connections – New Project
Mon, Dec 19th 2011 12:09p Victor Toal Just a quick update:
I have been on a new project with a new client since the beginning of December in NYC- very exciting stuff! We are working on setting up a brand spanking new IBM Connections 3.0.1 infrastructure inside of a technologically very advanced environment. I can’t really speak about the client nor project details but I can tell you that I am working with his Greatness; The King of Connections; The Mullah of Cyber-Funk; The Sultan of Socialness and Duke of Collaboration R [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
ibm
lotus
blogging
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IBM Unknown errors running utilities – United States
Mon, Nov 21st 2011 9:12a Victor Toal Found this one looking through technotes today, really interesting. I often set up servers to run off-line maintenance on dB and often have servers running 32bit Domino on 64bit Windows. I have not yet run into a case where I noticed the additional errors that might pop up but is it good to now that I can ignore them. I like my off-line maintenance routines and do not want to have to change them.
IBM Unknown errors running utilities – United States.
Filed under: 64 bit, Domino, IBM Lo [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
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noteslotus
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83
Debmirror – Be independent on Linux
Sun, Nov 20th 2011 6:13p Victor Toal ToalSystems has finally decided that we have enough Linux servers to create out own mirror site – for multiple Linux releases. Over the last week we created a new Ubuntu mirror site on our internal network and will be adding a new CentOS mirror site as well. Currently we are still debating whether we want to register either or both sites for public use as the discussion is still going on whether we want to “adjust/change” the mirror site and add things of our own into it. If [read] Keywords: centos
community
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128
notes.ini variable – Tolerate Replication Errors
Fri, Nov 18th 2011 8:12p Victor Toal This is an interesting one that I have not come across before. We all know there are undocumented (or under-documented) notes.ini variables that can manipulate various aspects of the Domino server or the Noes client. The one I came across here today was new to me:
DEBUG_REPL_TOLERATE_ERRORS
What does it do?
Well, my current client has a rather large and very important application that we are trying to migrate to a new R8.5.2 server and we constantly running into replication errors. the reason fo [read] Keywords: domino
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database
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81
Connectria – nice touch
Wed, Nov 16th 2011 7:11a Victor Toal As I mentioned a while ago I am now a proud client of Connectria and have one of my serves hosted with them in their cloud – Nirvana-land, nobody knows where it really floats.
It is a CentOS server and it came pre-configured with SELinux (well, that is a given) but also with logwatch turned on and set to send mail. Saved me the effort to set it up myself, all I had to do is edit the /usr/share/logwatch/default.conf/logwatch.conf file and change the sender and recipient address for the lo [read] Keywords: domino
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170
Lotus Notes 8.5.2 code error – The Tale of Regression
Wed, Nov 9th 2011 7:11a Victor Toal I am part of a Domino migration at a large client in the financial/insurance industry and we have been moving applications from Domino 6.5.5 to version 8.5.2 FP1. I know, there are newer versions out there but you can’t always upgrade blindly – this is going to be one of the stories why IN-DEPTH testing is so important.
The client has an application that has been around since R5 days, migrated and upgraded several times – both client and server versions and never an issue.
Sudd [read] Keywords: domino
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lotus
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noteslotus
R5
application
applications
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I am a customer – Connectria
Mon, Nov 7th 2011 9:11p Victor Toal Just a short post for some news. I live in the North East and the winter storm hit us in Connecticut full force and I was out of power for 7 days. along with the power being out for private citizens it also affected most businesses in the state and I lost my mail server for a while.
So, I decided to finally create a back-up environment on a waaaaaaaay different part of the grid. So, looking at my options I compared all major ISPs who offer Domino server hosting and after comparing prices and s [read] Keywords: domino
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98
Bold Stroke: New Font Helps Dyslexics Read [Slide Show]
Fri, Oct 28th 2011 1:09p Victor Toal http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=0d9a0c9460c04f2f2ca4dfk57b73e0bd4
Just came accross this on the Scientific American website. Being dyslexic myself this is of great interfest to me. I’ll be sure to blog about it once I have the fonts installed and have used them for a while. I wonder if I can use them on my blog as well? Hmmm …
Filed under: Not Technical Tagged: dyslexia [read] Keywords: facebook
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NYC Lotus Beer with Paul, Kathleen and Mitch
Wed, May 18th 2011 8:10a Victor Toal Don’t forget – there is a great LOTUS BEER Palooza going on tonight in the city that never sleeps – New York.
I will be there as well, but as one of the lesser ones, I did not include myself in the title (aahh … the modesty is overwhelming).
I will be driving in all the way from Hartford CT just for the above mentioned Triumvirate of Lotus (and the beer – Guinness).
So if you are in town, have nothing better to do and want to watch geekoids go wild with their shirt [read] Keywords: lotus
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Mooning, Beer and the Exalted one
Wed, May 11th 2011 6:08a Victor Toal If this title did not spike interest, nothing will …
Paul’s blog post
Paul Mooney ( a.k.a. the Mooney-Meister, Moon-Man, the Mooner) is in the NYC area soon and Mitch Cohen and I jumped (virtually) on him, nailed him to the wall and force-fed him gefilte fish until he consented to a Lotus Beer. Frankly, it did not take much convincing, he is after all Irish, but we did rough him up a bit just to make sure he really shows. From what I hear, Kathleen McGivney will show as well, it pr [read] Keywords: admin
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SkiLUG 2011 – Are you coming?
Fri, Feb 11th 2011 6:12a Victor Toal I just received this attached newsletter below a d because it is so much better that what I could come up with my plagiarism gene kicked in and I used the old copy & paste for this post.
SkiLUG is almost upon us! I am signed up and am taking the EotH (Empress of the House), IES (Immer Essen son) and D&ED (Dancing and expensive Daughter). I will also be speaking and plan to organize some skiing specific stretching and fitness at the hotel for anybody interested.
Also – I just heard [read] Keywords: admin
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328
BES Errors – Why is my server restarting?
Wed, Jan 5th 2011 1:18p Victor Toal Just a quick on on Blackberry / BES. I ran into this over the holidays and it was driving me crazy.
The client I was workign with had BES troubles, it woudl crash, restart itself, try and restart the nBES task
even thgough it was already running (and crashign the Domino server) … it was ugly.
The issues:
Some of the problems were that the BES had allot of “garbage” on it, and was producing allot of errors (wrong
file paths for personal address books, inactive users, mail files [read] Keywords: agent
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2010 – Where dia all my Visitors/Readers come from?My
Mon, Jan 3rd 2011 12:22p Victor Toal I always find this interesting – where do all those bored people who read my blog come from? Well, here the breakdown for the period July – December 2010 … I even had a visit from somebody in Greenland – that is seriously cooooool . . . .
United States (US)
2,211
Germany (DE)
665
United Kingdom (GB)
466
Switzerland (CH)
230
Australia (AU)
228
Canada (CA)
212
Netherlands (NL)
188
India (IN)
175
France (FR)
151
Italy (IT)
145
Norway (NO)
100
Sweden [read] Keywords: facebook
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Domino 8.5.2 HF1 – the fix for the unread synch server crash
Mon, Jan 3rd 2011 12:22p Victor Toal I would like to bring your attention to the SPR# RMAA88UAGF – server crashes when clients synchronize unread marks on Domino 8.5.2 servers.
I ran into this last week when we had some unexplainable server crashes for apparently no good reason – one of them happened when I was showing a help desk tech how to synchronize unread marks between replicas from the client. I investigated and the crash report that Domino gave me pointed me right to this error – now fixed in FP1. It is a [read] Keywords: domino
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2010: My blog stats in review
Sun, Jan 2nd 2011 6:17a Victor Toal The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2010. That’s about 24 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 90 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 45 pictures u [read] Keywords: domino
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Lotus on Linux: great to know commands
Tue, Dec 28th 2010 12:18p Victor Toal http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/393137-12-commands-every-linux-newbie-should-learn
I try not to recycle other contet but this is such a well written article (short and to the point) that I felt this cant be a bad thing.
Read and learn!
Filed under: Linux Related Tagged: linux domino on linux [read] Keywords: domino
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The future is here – Android!!
Sun, Dec 26th 2010 4:20p Victor Toal Friends who know me know that for all that I am a gadget geek, I don’t really like to introduce new technology at home as it always means I have to deal with it – as Mr support tech and call-for-help dad/husband/buddy. So – I surprised myself by buying a new piece of technology – an Archos 70 Internet tablet. Everybody at home was surprised and I have to say – I love it.
So – here my (short) review:
The tablet is aweome, great design and actually faster than [read] Keywords: domino
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traveler
applications
blackberry
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Lotus Notes 8.5.2 - FP1 released and ready for download
Fri, Dec 17th 2010 9:14a Victor Toal I have been a bit preoccupied with a troublesome BES installation for the last week and have not been looking much at the web and blogs – but today it looks like FP1 for Lotus Notes 8.5.2 is out and available. I am already downloading it and will apply it to all my many clients today.
Can’t wait until the FP1 for the server is out.
Filed under: IBM Lotus Notes Domino, Lotus Notes, Lotus Software Tagged: IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, IBM/Lotus, Lotus Notes [read] Keywords: domino
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Lotusphere 2011 Update – I will not be attending this year
Fri, Dec 10th 2010 3:17p Victor Toal Unfortunately I can’t attend Lotusphere this year – for the first time in 10 years!! fortunately the reason is a very good one: I am starting a new long term project in January and just can’t take the time off right at the beginning of a very large technical project that I will actually be heading up – bad timing, great reason though!
Hope y’all are going to have fun … I will be sitting here in CT and wiping away a tear or two . . .
Filed under: Admin Confere [read] Keywords: admin
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