wine users - May 2009 - Pathfinder Office 2.70 install- Regedit case sensitive?

Due to a number of issues (including needing to run some specialized DOS
software in our lab as well as recent stuff), we have decided to check out the
possibility of going to Linux in our lab.

I've been testing Linux and Wine.  So far, I've found Linux Fedora 10 to
be the best for my old (2002 or so) laptop, and I've been trying to get
Trimble Pathfinder Office 2.70 running with Wine (without luck).

For one thing, the installer works but doesn't properly edit the registry. 
I have to manually insert a number of lines that the installer doesn't- and
I think there may be some more that need to be put in, but I can't find
references to them.

After fighting with it for many hours and pulling my hair, I discovered that the
installer AND software was case sensitive to the registry.  After editing for
capitalization, I was able to eliminate two out of three error messages when I
try to start the main software.  The third message, however, is a killer- It
says that I have the wrong database name for the Coordinate Systems Manager. 
I've checked the path and the capitalization, and that seems right, but for
some reason I cannot get it to run.

When I try to run it through the console (Wine C:\"Program
Files"\"Pathfinder Office 2.70"\PFoffice.exe, it opens up and
then gives me an error box (with the wrong database name message) and then shuts
down.  There do not seem to be any additional error messages from Wine.

I'm a newby to Linux, but I've been around computers since the teletype
and punch card days (somewhat conversant with Basic, Fortran, and C).  I could
use some tips/advice/suggestions on this one.

This software is critical to our switching to Linux- we MUST have this and the
Dos software working right (along with some specialized Excel 2003 spreadsheets
containing heavy Visual Basic coding) before we can considering make a complete
changeover.   The present move to Vista is putting a lot of pressure on us- we
cannot use it or the new Windows 7.

Bob

P.S.  I DID locate the DLL responsible for the database name error, but could
not figure out how to get around that problem- using a hex editor.

"Paleoethnobotanist" <wineforum-user at winehq.org>
wrote:
> When I try to run it through the console
> (Wine C:\"Program Files"\"Pathfinder Office
2.70"\PFoffice.exe ...
Does it work any better if you change to the directory first,
then

  wine PFoffice.exe

On Thu, 2009-05-21 at 01:34 -0500, Paleoethnobotanist
wrote:
> When I try to run it through the console (Wine C:\"Program
> Files"\"Pathfinder Office 2.70"\PFoffice.exe, it opens up
and then
> gives me an error box (with the wrong database name message) and then
> shuts down.  There do not seem to be any additional error messages
> from Wine.
> 
> I'm a newby to Linux, but I've been around computers since the
> teletype and punch card days (somewhat conversant with Basic, Fortran,
> and C).  I could use some tips/advice/suggestions on this one.
> 
Maybe I'm teaching granny to suck eggs, but have you checked file access
permissions and ownership for the database and related files?

Linux has a more sophisticated access control system than Windows, so
its possible that a Windows installer hasn't set them correctly.


Martin

That's one of the things I've been trying to figure out.  I've
changed permissions to include the necessary folders, but not ownership (trying
to figure out how to do that right now).

perryh- I hadn't thought of that and when I boot the laptop in a bit, I will
give that a try.

I've tried all the suggestions mentioned here, and changed permissions. None
of them helped to eliminate the error message (which is generated by the
software I'm trying to run).

I thought that the directory structure of Linux was similar to Windows in that
case wasn't important, but have learned different.

I don't know what to try next.  A friend of mine thinks that there may be a
dll that's not working right with this software, but I don't know how to
figure that out.  I haven't learned the command line side of Linux, and
I'm working with the desktop interface... I'd rather get these bugs
fixed and then learn the commands later (as I'd be teaching others to use
Linux via the desktop interface).  Thus, if you have suggestions, can they be
done through the desktop interface?

Is there any way to chase down which dll it is, without trying each one
separately?    This has been driving me crazy.

I've even thought (and tried) to set up a virtual machine- but that's
also new software that I haven't figured out.  I'd rather use Wine if
possible.  My laptop is limited to 512 mb ram.

Being that the software is several years old (about 1998 to 2000 vintage), I
would think it would run fine (it's supposed to be able to run from w3.1
clear to w2k, including wNT 3.5 and 4).  The installer is garbage- doesn't
install all the files and doesn't edit the registry correctly.   Some of the
modules do run- except the two that are critical for our projects.

Both of those come up with "Improper database name for Coordinate Systems
Manager" error.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Before anyone suggests the commercial
Wine versions - I can't afford that.