Quickbooks on Linux

Of course, Quickbooks doesn't run on Linux. However, they have a hosted solution which you can get running on Linux. At present (28 August 2012) there is no indication of how to do this on the Quickbooks website. As I run Debian 64 bit, the explanation will be for that. Here's how to do it.

Debian comes with a version of Google Chrome called Chromium. It's the same as Chrome with the non-open source code taken out. This guide will get Quickbooks hosted, premium edition, not the standard, running in both Chrome and Chromium. It is a compilation from several online sources.

First, change and create a few files to tell the browser and Gnome which applications to use for Citrix files.

Creating MIME types for Citrix ICA Client

1. Create new file /usr/share/applications/wfica.desktop which looks like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Citrix ICA client
GenericName=Citrix ICA Client
Comment=Citrix nFuse session file
Categories=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=/usr/lib/ICAClient/wfica
Icon=wfica
Terminal=false
Type=Application
MimeType=application/x-ica

2. Create new file /usr/share/mime/packages/ica.xml which looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mime-info xmlns="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/shared-mime-info-spec/latest/">
<mime-type type="application/x-ica">
<comment>Citrix ICA launcher</comment>
<glob pattern="*.ica"/>
</mime-type>
</mime-info>

3. $sudo update-desktop-database && sudo update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

4. Then use your favourite text editor to edit /etc/gnome/defaults.list and add the line:
application/x-ica=wfica.desktop

5. Run the following from the command line:
$xdg-mime install --novendor /usr/share/mime/packages/ica.xml
$xdg-mime default wfica.desktop application/x-ica
You're done with the mime types.

The Citrix Receiver

Download the Citrix Receiver.

As I have 64 bit Debian, I downloaded the first deb package under For 64-bit Systems. If you want usb support you can download that a bit lower down.

Despite this being branded as 64 bit, it still needs 32 bit libraries.

The 32 bit libraries

Do the following on the command line:
$sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk
$sudo apt-get install libmotif4
But this is the 64 bit version of libmotif. So we'll have to install the 32 bit version as well. First, download the package.
Then, from the same directory as where you saved the package:
$sudo dpkg --force-architecture -i libmotif4_2.3.3-5_i386.deb
Of course, change the package name in the command if it is not the same as the package you downloaded.

Back to the Citrix Receiver

Now cd into the directory where you downloaded the icaclient and do
$sudo dpkg -i icaclient_12.1.0_amd64.deb
Don't mind the abnormal return value of 2. A Citrix post-install script is told to return that. Why, I don't know.

One more thing, if you try to connect the icaclient won't accept the security certificate presented to it. Make a link from all the certificates Mozilla accepts to where the icaclient's certificates are.
$sudo ln -s /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/* /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/

If you now open /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/ you will see all the certificates accepted by Mozilla there. Each one will have a little triangle indicating it's a link.

You will find the Cirtrix Receiver in Applications → Internet. When you open it go to view and select Xen App view. Enter https://open.reckononline.com.au in the server url field and you're on your way. You will have to fill in a user id, password and domain (don't forget the domain) when asked.

The url for Chromium is the same. Tell it you've already installed the plug-in if it asks.

If you find what you learned on this page useful, please use the social media widgets at the bottom and pin, tweet, plus-one or whatever this page.

The form for comments is below.