Citrix 13 on Linux Mint 16, 64 bit edition with Mate.

My personal operating system preference is Linux, particularly Linux Mint, 64 bit edition using Mate. There are many arguments and reasons why I have chosen this combination and many discussions can be found on the Internet. I don't need to repeat them here.

My employers provide me with the ability to work from home and should I be required to do so, I need to use Citrix through a web plug-in. This is simple enough under Microsoft Windows and probably similarly easy with Max OS, how ever on Linux it's slightly more tricky, especially when using a 64 bit distribution.

Citrix Receiver seems stuck in the 32 bit world and requires a number of 32 bit libraries to function. I don't know why this continues to be the case, even though the software advertises itself to be 64 bit. I suppose Citrix have added the 32 bit libraries as dependencies and given the package a 64 bit architecture.

To write this blog and to document and demonstrate how to perform the chore of adding Citrix Receiver 64 bit to a fresh install of Linux Mint the work is performed on a virtual machine, configured using Virtual Box. Other virtualisation solutions are available and the steps should be the same once Linux Mint is installed.

Hardware Configuration

VirtualBox: 4.3.6 r91406

1 CPU

2 GB RAM

Display 12MB

SATA Controller:
    Type: AHCI
    Hard Disk: 8 GB Disk

IDE Controller: PIIX4, IDE DVD drive

    DVD: Linux Mint 16 with MATE, 64 AMD 64 bit edition
Network:
    Adapter Type: Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540OEM)
    NAT

Install Linux Mint

Boot the VM using the DVD iso image.

Double click the “Install Linux Mint Icon” on the desktop

Work through the installer in the usual manner. This will take about 10 minutes.

My configuration is:

• Language, English, 
• Location, Hong Kong 
• Keyboard, English UK (matches the host keyboard) keyboard. 
• The virtualised disk is also completely initialised. Clearly if you're installing Linux Mint on a physical PC rather than a virtual, you might want a different option at this point. 

Reboot the Virtualised PC so that it stars from the installed OS. Login as the user created during the installation and update the OS.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Work through the prompts and ensure the operating system is up-to-date.

Download Citrix Receiver

Citrix can be downloaded from http://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver.html. Select the "Receiver for Linux" -> "Receiver for Linux 13". This will open a new page: http://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver/linux/receiver-for-linux-130.html. Expand "For 64 bit Systems" and select "Receiver for Linux", the file type is ".deb".

Accept the "End-User License Agreement" and then click "Download your file manually".

Don't open the file immediately, save it first so it can be installed with dpkg.

Once downloaded, change directory to the browser's download directory, normally this is ~/Downloads and list the contents of the directory.

cd ~/Downloads

ls

Installing Citrix Receiver

Start the installation by running:

sudo dpkg -i icaclient_13.0.0.256735_amd64.deb

After prompting for a password, a number of errors will be shown. These are dependencies that need to be met. These should be added as follows:

sudo apt-get install libc6-i386 ia32-libs lib32z1 lib32asound2 nspluginwrapper

Again another list of unmet dependencies is produced, also with a simple solution:

sudo apt-get -f install

At this point you are prompted to confirm the installation and the missing packages will be downloaded and installed.

At this point I can connect into work using Firefox and use the plugin.

Further information

Ubuntu has an excellent write-up on this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CitrixICAClientHowTo

Linux Mint 16, 64 bit edition with Mate:

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=146

Citrix Receiver software:

http://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver.html

Welcome

Drum roll please...

I've been putting this off for far too long and someone reminded me that I should start writing a blog, well here it is; "Life in the Z-Order".

Introduction

 

What's the point of this blog?

I moved Hong Kong in 2012 and whilst I have made an effort to keep friends and family up-to-date with telephone calls, emails, Facebook etc, I'm aware that not everyone wants to be one Facebook and with a blog I can share my life and experiences (only the good ones) with everyone who wants to read about it.

 

Why the name?

For everyone out there who doesn't work in software development, the Z-Order is the order used to paint the windows on the screen of a computer. The currently active window, the one you're currently working on is normally the highest window in the Z-Order, the lowest window is the one in background. I know there are cases where the highest window in the Z-Order isn't the currently active window, but that's not what most people know.

Hong Kong is well known for being one of the most vertical, if not the most vertical, cities in the world. I live in a building that in my home country would be considered very tall, one of the tallest in the country, in Hong Kong no-one notices. At first, I thought most of my commute was vertical. Back home it was mainly horizontal: walk, bus, train, walk/tube. In Hong Kong it's: lift to podium garden; lift to street level; walk to station; train; 4 escalators, 3 up, 1 down; lift to sky lobby; lift to office floor. I was spending more time traveling vertically than horizontally.

Keeping busy

Since moving here, I've found the weather agrees with me and I have started hiking in the country side. Yes, Hong Kong has country side, only 25% of the land is built upon, so there's quite a lot to look at and being Hong Kong, it's never very far away.

I'm also a Linux guy (stay awake at the back!) so I'll probably post about Linux, database and software development stuff from time to time. I certainly have less time to play than I used to.

Anyway, it's time to log off and look at the rest of the family. I'm sure they wonder what do in here.