I have started using Linux to replace windows on the desktop in our company. We are only small but I have switched 4 of the desktops to Linux and I just got 2 new laptops for reps on which I installed RedHat 8.0. The desktops I am running just as an X terminal into a server also running ReHat 8.0 (via GDM). It has been fairly successful so far with a few minor hiccoughs.
We run Lotus Notes and I am running it under Crossover Office. It has a few problems but is stable enough for regular use. The staff quite like Openoffice and some prefer Evolution to the Notes mail client. Unfortunately all our document management is in Notes so I have to keep supporting it for now.
One problem I am having on the server is some processes are not exiting cleanly and I am left with a process with no controlling terminal. When the user tries to restart that application ( it might be crossover for notes or Open office etc) the application will not start, apparently because it sees processes still running for that user for that application. For now I have resorted to writing kill scripts to kill all of a particular type of process for a user (or all processes for a user if it really needs it) that the user can click on their desktop but this is messy. eg kill -9 `ps -u $USERNAME | grep soffice | awk '{print $1}'`
I am not sure if it is happening on the laptops. They of course do not run through a remote X terminal session but run the application locally. The users are used to windows so if they have a problem they tend to shutdown and reboot. This could be disguising the same problem. These users have not reported any problems. I run RedHat 8.0 on one machine at home and it does not seem to have the same problem. I suspect it may be the X sessions somehow losing the connection but it not causing the process to exit. (Then again it may be something completely different).
A similar problem which may be related is on one 1 proprietary X terminal that sometimes locks up. When the user power cycles and logs back in they get an error that there is already a panel open. When you click on OK the message immediately pops up again. This repeats until you log out and back in This may be the same problem as above but I am not sure. I have tried power cycling the terminal without logging out to see if I can replicate the error with several applications left open and it works perfectly of course.
I have googled for similar problems without success.
Any suggestions about how I might make these problems go away.
Regards
Steven
