Hello Ed,
I had the same problem as you that my inbox and calendar did not show up. Instead an error box with no text in it popped up.
A work around for me was the following: I unchecked the following option File -> Preferences -> Windows and Themes -> "On restart, reopen any tabs that were open when I closed the client"
Now when I start IBM Notes, the only tab that is opened up is my inbox, as I set this to be my home page. I can then start the calendar and other views manually.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Sascha
My configuration: IBM Notes 9 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS