User Support Forum

In different places I see conflicting information as to whether IDS and PowerChurch will run on a Linux machine. Some clarification would be appreciated.

wvuuc wrote:In different places I see conflicting information as to whether IDS and PowerChurch will run on a Linux machine. Some clarification would be appreciated.

FWIW .. the only thing you really need to worry about since you're using Powerchurch online, is if there's an IDS client that will run on Linux.

Here's what they have to say about that:

RedHat/Fedora
A new RedHat/Fedora client will be available pending testing of the current build. Sorry for the inconvenience, check back later!

Debian/Ubuntu
Unfortunately, Ubuntu is not supported at this time. We are waiting on a client update compatible with the latest version of Ubuntu.

I'm not sure if the Windows client will run under WINE, but you can find out more at this page: http://mypowerchurch.com/

Linux clients do exist, but we've been having some trouble with them. Mainly, the specific flavors of Linux supported are very limited.

The Ubuntu client is only supposed to work on Ubuntu 12.04, and it won't even install in anything later than that (13.04 being current).

The Red Hat client doesn't work on Fedora, only the server version of Red Hat. Here are the system requirements directly from the vendor's site:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6 (32-bit/64-bit)
CentOS 5 and 6 (32-bit/64-bit)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (32-bit/64-bit)
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (32-bit/64-bit)

From what we've been able to test, do not expect the client to work on any variant that isn't explicitly listed there.

If you are running one of those specific versions, and would like to use the Linux client, they're available here:
http://www.mypowerchurch.com/clients/id ... .linux.rpm (Red Hat, CentOS, SUSE)
http://www.mypowerchurch.com/clients/id ... .linux.deb (Ubuntu)

Please note that these clients aren't PowerChurch-branded so you'll have to specify the server (online.mypowerchurch.com). There are a few other command line parameters to pass as well, listed below:

-h online.mypowerchurch.com (host)
-hp 491 (host port - 491 is the default though)
-a powerchurchplus (auto-launch PowerChurch, bypassing the Program Window)
-mm 1 (activate support for multiple monitors)
-u pcu12345 (your username)
-p password (your password)

If you're not using one of these versions, but get the client to work, let us know! If you are not able to get it to work, post your system info here and we'll pass that along to our vendor to see if they can implement broader support.

I have been running powerchurch via WindowsXP running as a Vmware guest in my linux (Ubuntu 12.04) system. This was going fine till a few days ago when the internet connection to my house was changed from a cable system to fiber optic. I don't know if my current problems are related to that change, but since then when I try to get to powerchurch and before I get a logon window, I get this popup:
[img]file:///home/pkleiber/Desktop/IDS_Server_Message.png[/img]

Hitting the "OK" button leads to another popup:
[img]file:///home/pkleiber/Desktop/Incorrect_password.png[/img]

Hitting "Connect" just leads back to the first popup regardless of whether or not I check "Create desktop shortcut to this host".

Not knowing what further to do on the XP side I tried to get directly to powerchurch from linux. Following the directions in
<viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10419>
I downloaded and installed ldslcient.linux.deb from
<http://www.mypowerchurch.com/clients/id>

Now from a linux terminal if I enter:
ids -h online.mypowerchurch.com -hpXXX -a powerchurchplus -mm1 -u pcuXXXXX -p uXXXXX

I get this message on the terminal:
"lpq: Error - no default destination available." but the powerchurch screen does come up as in this image:
[img]file:///home/pkleiber/Desktop/PwrChLinux.png[/img]

Sometimes I can manage to log in if I remember to click to the left of the OK button which seems to be misplaced. Hitting the OK button itself is equivalent to hitting "Cancel". Also, if I make a typo in the process, I have to start over because the resulting popup window:
[img]file:///home/pkleiber/Desktop/Incorrect_password.png[img]

is totally unresponsive as are all other popups that come up if I manage to get past this point.

Any suggestions on what to try next?

Thanks, Pierre

Pierre,

because your screen caps were linked to your home computer, there is no record of those pictures here. So you really need to tell us what the error messages said.

That said. When you changed from cable to fiber optic, did you change ISPs too ?? What version of the windows client were you running, as there is a newer client.

As was mentioned, the Linux clients don't work as well as they should.

The lpq error does tell me the client could not find a printer.

However, without full messages there's not much else we can do.

You're running 12.04, which is the only officially supported version of Ubuntu, so that's probably not the issue. Running the IDS client in an XP VM is just fine too. It sounds like you're doing everything right, and we haven't changed anything on our end, so I believe you should start with the thing that did change - your internet connection. I'm not sure why that should matter, because the internet is the internet as far as I know. If your ISP is blocking traffic on non-standard ports, that will be a problem. IDS communicates on port 491.

Details of those error messages would be helpful. If you have webspace of your own, upload them there and then link them. Otherwise, you can upload to any of a number of image hosting websites, then share the link. Alternately, you can send the images via email to us at support@powerchurch.com, but then no one else will have the benefit of seeing what you're talking about.

Here's a thought.

Some ISP's offer an edition of and anti-virus/internet security program. Since you changed ISP (I'm assuming), did you install this your WInXP virtual machine? It may be set to block those non-standard ports.

Thank you, NeilZ and Zaphod, for your responses. I'm sorry that I didn't get the images properly cited in my previous message. So here's another try:

When I try to get to powerchurch in WindowsXP before I get a logon window, I get this popup:


Hitting the "OK" button leads to another popup:


Hitting "Connect" just leads back to the first popup regardless of whether or not I check "Create desktop shortcut to this host".

Onthe Linux side Now from a linux terminal if I enter:
ids -h online.mypowerchurch.com -hp491 -a powerchurchplus -mm1 -u pcu.... -p .....
I get this popup:

With which I can log in if I remember to click to the left of the OK button which seems to be misplaced. Hitting the OK button itself is equivalent to hitting "Cancel". Also, if I make a typo in the process, I have to start over because the resulting popup window:

is totally unresponsive as are all other popups that come up if I manage to get past this point.

I guess the lpq error indicates that the client insists on finding a physical printer and is unhappy with the one CUPS entry I have which is for a print-to-PDF-file.

Thanks for the suggestion that the new ISP may be the cause of difficulties. I'll explore that issue with the folks who switched me to fiber optic connection.

Cheers, Pierre