I have been a Linux user off and on for about 10 years. In that time I have never been able to make a single app work (other than Notepad) with WINE, even the ones that AppDB claims work perfectly. This is true on 6 different machines running Kubuntu, Slackware, OpenSUSE, and Red Hat & Fedora. What gives? I've followed all of the documentation to a "T". Searches only return vague, incomplete answers like "copy this file" without telling where to copy it to! What the H-E-Double-Chopsticks am I missing? It can't possibly be so complicated that I need to understand Windows and DirectX inside out, can it? This is my only hurdle to chucking Windows in the trash, but I just cannot get there. Can anyone point me to some better documentation (books, online docs, anything at all)? Any better way to learn what I'm doing? [Crying or Very sad]
CasperTFG wrote:> I have been a Linux user off and on for about 10 years. In that time I have never been able to make a single app work (other than Notepad) with WINE, even the ones that AppDB claims work perfectly. This is true on 6 different machines running Kubuntu, Slackware, OpenSUSE, and Red Hat & Fedora. > > What gives? I've followed all of the documentation to a "T". Searches only return vague, incomplete answers like "copy this file" without telling where to copy it to! What the H-E-Double-Chopsticks am I missing? It can't possibly be so complicated that I need to understand Windows and DirectX inside out, can it? This is my only hurdle to chucking Windows in the trash, but I just cannot get there. Can anyone point me to some better documentation (books, online docs, anything at all)? Any better way to learn what I'm doing? > [Crying or Very sad] > >Interesting, because in that amount of time something should have worked for you. How about a description of the computer you are trying to work with for starters. James McKenzie
The FAQ and wiki have the best general documentation. There's also a Wine User's Guide, but parts of it are badly outdated. Info in the AppDB varies from excellent to nil, depending on the app. The forum has a lot of good info, too, though you may have to weed through a lot of threads to find what you need. You didn't mention what Wine version you're using; if it's not the latest development release (currently 1.1.39), upgrade. That alone may solve many problems. I really can't give you more help than that without specific information about what app you're trying to run, what problem you're encountering trying to run it, and what part of the documentation you've read that you don't understand.
one of the programmers, I believe, is funded by Red Hat. I would not be averse to them placing advertising on their pages to raise revenue if it meant a better product. I am willing to make a donation of what i can afford. Even if every Wine user donated $5 it might raise some serious money. But then again, there are not many wine users i suspect, as it doesnt run most applications. Many of these apps are free, such as Firefox, and could be used as a part of a test suite to track down API problems. By fixing applications, even smaller or lesser used ones, the overall compatability is improved, so i wont complain about the games being fixed, but, they need to devote time to Firefox and applications in other domains, rather than being completely obsessed with just a few games, the test suute needs to be broad. Just the developers running a bunch of free stuff, like Gimp, Firefox, OpenOffice, Pidgin, Adobe Reader, Shockwave, Flash, Google products, AOL main online service client, AIM, paint.net,. etc, they would hit hundreds of bugs that would bring wine a ligh year ahead.
I've been using Linux for two and a half years and I have no problem installing apps, most work, the odd one doesn't. In all honesty I only use wine to run games, in that area I'm more than happy, we have four computers in the house all running arch linux and all with wine for running games. I have two children aged five and seven they are at this very moment playing Dungeons and Dragons Online through wine on linux chatting away on the in game chat. It is possible. Wine is a great application and the people developing it are to my mind rather amazing.. But having said that, it's a free program, they owe us nothing, we should just be greatfull for what they do do. jorl17 sums up my feelings about this thread and others like it.
I think my basic problem is being overlooked. It doesn't matter what hardware configuration, Linux version, or WINE version I'm using. NONE of the many configurations or versions have yielded results, and it doesn't even matter what app I've tried to run. I have to conclude that I'm missing something fundamental, so I asked to be pointed to another source of information because the usual methods are not working for me. Is there a "WINE For Dummies" that doesn't refer to red or white? The newer graphic versions of WINE seem very intuitive, but something is not going through for me, and it's very frustrating. I suspect atalaras is really referring to the forum posters rather than the developers because of replies from people like jorl17 and Bubblegum (whose feelings are summed up by jorl17). If a beggar on the street asks for a dollar, you either give it to him or you ignore him. You don't try to rob his self-esteem. Jorl17 you obviously know how to use WINE well, so please don't insult those of us who don't because it doesn't help anyone. We're not as knowledgeable as you, and without help we never will be. And until we can get to your level, there is nothing we CAN contribute in the way of help. That's like asking a janitor to teach a physics class. The difference between stupidity and ignorance is that ignorance can be fixed. I'm trying to fix my ignorance. So I'll ask again. Can anyone point me to different source of info? If you're just going to flame, please don't reply at all. I'd like everyone to understand that I am not a programmer, developer, nor a Linux expert. Everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up.
CasperTFG wrote:> Yes, I know that you have, and they are the exact sources that I have followed for years with no results. At the risk of sounding rude (I assure you that's not my intention), I don't expect anyone to be psychic. My question simply asked (twice, and very specifically) if anyone knew of a different source of info because the existing documentation is lacking at best.Please point out any specific areas of the documentation you find unclearly written. CasperTFG wrote:> > Now, in the interest of getting **something** to work, I'll take you up on your offer. I'll post as much specific info tonight when I get home to my machine. The app that I have gotten the furthest with but still won't run is Thief 2: The Metal Age, rated Gold in the AppDB (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=1697). There used to be much more info for it but most has been taken down. It installs fine but will not run. I'm almost positive that my WINE version is 1.1.38 running in Kubuntu 8.10. I'll post the rest tonight rather than rely on memory.As John said, install to a clean wineprefix as a normal user. Also post your graphics card/driver. This game apparently works well on nVidia but is unplayable on ATI. http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17900
ttsec <wineforum-user at winehq.org> wrote:> >atalaras wrote: >> >> I have actually seen applications regress. Firefox used to run perfectly, almost, now it wont run at all. >> >> Again the developers do not seem to care. >> >> I have made repeated requests here for help with firefox, and nothing. How could wine go from running Firefox perfectly to it being completely unusable? > > >Spending time on specific softwares that can already run natively in Linux is a waste of time. >Not necessarily. Firefox is an application that is used to monitor how well Wine works. If it broke, then we (developers) need to know where the breakage is at. That is why we request a regression test between when the breakage was noticed and the verision that worked. The problem could be a small fix for something else that broke Firefox. Also, the breakage could be something that the Firefox team did and thus the Wine project has no control over this. James McKenzie
On Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 09:57:48PM +0000, David Gerard wrote:> On 4 March 2010 21:51, Scott <drmemory at 3rivers.net> wrote: > > > So I guess I need to brush up on my C..... I'll get back to you in a > > couple of years. Thanks for the help and encouragement. > > > Sadly, welcome to open source - if someone wants something, they often > have to write it ... > > Providing as much detail about a failing app as possible in a bug > report can be useful, though. It might be something simple, it mihgt > be something huge.Okay, well, where do I begin? I already told what I observed; that the app starts up, allows me to select a client to work on, lets me go in to one tax form, make changes (which *are* saved to the master file residing on the server) and then just freezes up. Is there some sort of error log somewhere which I need to send along? How can I know what is happening under the hood? It is frustrating that the app is so close to actually working; if it were just crashing and burning at the outset, I'd just walk away gnashing my teeth and cursing Bill Gates. scott.
CasperTFG wrote:> I have never been able to make a single app work (other than Notepad) with WINECan you list the apps you would like to run with Wine? I see Thief II is one of them, what are the others? (Thief II was the #6 PC game of 2000, so it'll be in http://wiki.winehq.org/GameChecklist once we work our way back to 2000.)
ttsec wrote:> > atalaras wrote: > > > > I have actually seen applications regress. Firefox used to run perfectly, almost, now it wont run at all. > > > > Again the developers do not seem to care. > > > > I have made repeated requests here for help with firefox, and nothing. How could wine go from running Firefox perfectly to it being completely unusable? > > > Spending time on specific softwares that can already run natively in Linux is a waste of time.Actually, that is incorrect. I have used native Linux Firefox and have actually had many problems, particularly flash, and as well, the native one actually tends to be more difficult to update (due to dependancy hell). I have found that installing windows firefox is far easier, and the updates are automated, and flash works well. Linux firefox seems can do none of these things. When Firefox on Wine did work it was better than any Linux firefox i had used. My disparaging statements previously about Wine developers was untrue, most seem to be dedicated to their work, and their work is appreciated. There is nothing wrongb with getting games to work, any API improvement will improve compatability overall. It does not hurt to run and test some apps, especially ones that are free, such as Firefox, this exposes API problems that will lead to better overall compatability, since many apps use a given API.
atalaras wrote:> Actually, that is incorrect. I have used native Linux Firefox and have actually had many problems, particularly flash, and as well, the native one actually tends to be more difficult to update (due to dependancy hell). I have found that installing windows firefox is far easier, and the updates are automated, and flash works well. Linux firefox seems can do none of these things. When Firefox on Wine did work it was better than any Linux firefox i had used.Are you using 32-bit or 64-bit Firefox? If 64-bit Firefox, are you using Flash greater than or less than version 10 (64-bit Flash is unsupported before version 10)? If you are using 32-bit Firefox or Flash but have a 64-bit libraries, you will also need additional compatibility libraries. Anyways, most mainstream modern distributions take care of all this stuff for you, including automatic updates.
On Fri, Mar 05, 2010 at 11:33:49AM -0700, James Mckenzie wrote:> >Okay, here is all I got: > > > >$ WINEDEBUG=warn+heap wine 'D:\\drake09\\ft\\drake09.exe' > >fixme:wininet:InternetGetConnectedState always returning LAN connection. > >fixme:richedit:RichEditWndProc_common WM_STYLECHANGING: stub > >fixme:richedit:RichEditWndProc_common WM_STYLECHANGED: stub > > > >The app froze up as usual after entering one form and exiting it, and > >I had to kill it from a different terminal. > > > >Any ideas? Is this something I should be posting to the developer > >site? Do I need to set some additional debug parameters? > > Try native riched20. See the FAQ entry on winetricks. >Okay, that made the 'richedit' fixmes go away! However, the app still freezes.> Also, please advise as to the program you are trying to get working.It is the 'Drake' tax preparation program. I mentioned before that, when it first starts up there is an error window titled "DWIN.DLL" which says 'Disabling Menus. 5=Access Denied'. With an 'OK' button which, when clicked, lets me log in to the program. Google says that dwin.dll is a malicious virus, but Drake's tech support assures me that they also have a .dll with such a name. Thanks so much for your help with this! Scott Swanson