I've always been a big fan of Lotus Notes and have been "happily" using v7.01 under Wine. The new Lotus Notes 8 is built on Eclipse (another tool I use extensively) and so I've been keen to get any of the current beta versions to work. Beta 2 was a dead loss but Beta 3 seems to be that more usable.

Here's my step-by-step guide to get it up and running:

1. Ensure the Notes fonts will look nicer than the default
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
select autohinter, automatic, no for bitmap fonts

2. Link sh to bash. The Feisty default is dash which causes "Generic LSE Failure" errors when you run the client after install.
$ sudo mv /bin/sh /bin/sh.orig
$ sudo ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

3. Extract the Notes Client download
$ cd ~/Desktop
$ mkdir Notes8Beta3
$ cd Notes8Beta3
$ tar xvf ../notes8_linux_beta3_prod.tar

4. You'll need to do this magic step to avoid a bug in the Installer:
$ sudo cp deploy/install.xml /root/
Basically copy install.xml into the root folder because that's where the Installer goes looking for it.

5. Run the GUI Installer
$ sudo ./setup.sh
You will now get the InstallShield GUI. Here is what I did in the GUI. It'll make sense when you go through it, and except for selecting all components, it's just the straight defaults.

Next (Intro screen)/I accept both terms/Next (License)/Accept default path (/opt/ibm/lotus/notes)/Next (Path)/Select all features/Next (Features)/Install (Summary)/ (Wait a while ) /Finish

6. Fix the /etc/lotus directory
After the install, you will have to change the parameters on the /etc/lotus directory.
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /etc/lotus
If you don't do this, you will get an error telling you that pernames.ntf can't be copied.

7. Application Icons
By default, the installer will create your Desktop icons. You may need to logout and back in again for them to be picked up. Failing that, the command line is:
$ /opt/ibm/lotus/notes/notes

8.The client will now launch. Eventually you will get the typical new-client wizard. If you've ever installed a Notes client before, it will all make sense...

Next (Welcome screen)
Name: {your name}
Server: (server name)
Next (User Information)
Next (Connect to server)
Network type: TCP/IP
Server address: (server address)
Next (Network Info)
File name: (Path to my ID file)
No (Do not copy to data folder)
(Password)/OK
Next (Setup additional services)/OK (Notes setup is complete!)

You should now have the Getting Started screen!

Good Luck!