[Closed - reverted to 32bit LL+Wine] Is 64bit Wine OK and what version is in LL

[Alan_uk]

I'm about to install Wine from the LL 1.0.8 64 bit disco to run an old Windows 95 32bit application (that I've been running under Windows 98 and then XP OK)

Reading WineHQ FAQ at http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-0bae04b4...acb6f367ff

7.2. How do I create a 32 bit wineprefix on a 64 bit system?

At present there are some significant bugs that prevent many 32 bit applications from working in a 64 bit wineprefix. To work around this, you can create a new 32 bit wineprefix using the WINEARCH environment variable. In a terminal, type:

So does LL 1.0.8 come with the 32bit or the 64bit Wine and is this 7.2 of the FAQ still relevant? Which Wine is recommended for my situation?

(I have 2 other Windows programs I need to install: one 32bit written for XP and the other a 16 bit for Windows 3.11 WfG that has continued to work under 98 and XP.)

[Alan_uk]

Replying to my own post having made some progress after staring a screen for 24 hours   This might help others.

I'm presuming that Linux Lite 64bit comes 64bit Wine. However, after installation (along with WineTricks) one can install a 32bit prefix.

1. Installing Wine from the Menu / Wine

A. This failed "p11-kit: couldn't load module: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/pkcs11/gnome-keyring-pkcs11.so: "
Seems this is due to me having an AMD processor.  Solution is a http://askubuntu.com/questions/127848/wi...-pkcs11-so

Code:

mkdir temp
cd mktemp                              ## create and go to a temporary temp dir
apt-get download gnome-keyring:i386      ## download the i386 version of gnome-keyring
ar x gnome-keyring*.deb                  ## Uncompress the package
                    ## Finally move the file you need to the desired location:
sudo mv usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/pkcs11 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/

Actually I moved the folder via File Manager as Administrator

B. When doing step 2 below (Defining the 32bit Wine Prefix) I got another similar error:
"WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-UgwQYN/pkcs11: No such file or directory"
I again copied the pkcs11 folder to the /tmp/keyring-UgwQYN/ folder (name may vary) but then got:
"WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-UgwQYN/pkcs11: Connection refused"

Many solution given at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sourc...bug/932177
I chose:

Code:

1. Open the Session settings:
   Settings -> Preferences -> Settings Manager -> Session and Startup
2. Enable GNOME compatibility mode:
   Go to Advanced, check "Launch GNOME services on startup"
3. Disable unwanted GNOME-only autostart files:
   Execute the following one-liner on the shell:
for gnome_autostart in $(awk '/^OnlyShowIn=/ && /GNOME;/ && !/XFCE;/ { print
FILENAME }' /etc/xdg/autostart/*); do sed '$aHidden=true' ${gnome_autostart}
>${HOME}/.config/autostart/${gnome_autostart##*/}; done

I only did 1 & 2, rebooted and it worked. Suggest solution B is tried before A.

Notes
A. Wine is not and must not be installed as root (sudo)
B. My Wine (I'll called it the BaseWine) was installed in  /home/alan/.wine

2. Defining the 32bit Wine Prefix

Code:

WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=/wine-c/wine/wine32 winecfg

Notes
A. wine-c is a partition and I created the wine folder as root and then gave myself as user RW permission:

Code:

sudo chown -R alan: /wine-c/wine

I read it was not preferable to give a user permissions at partition level.
B. folder wine32 must not exist. If you wish to rebuild (and lose your applications) you must delete it.

3. Installing an application. As a test I installed IrfanView (from a Terminal) but it installed into the 64bit BaseWine.
The issue is that the WINEPREFIX Environment variable must be stated prior to every execution or every opening of Terminal.

4. Making the WINEPREFIX permanent
I made it permanent by creating a script file in /etc/profile.d as Admin. e.g.  wine.sh

Code:

export  WINEPREFIX=/wine-c/wine/wine32

Rebooted and ran printenv and it confirms the WINEPREFIX Environment variable as set by the script

5. Installed as a test MSPaint via WineTricks
For some reason the application was installed in a new WinePrefix at:
            /home/alan/.local/share/wineprefixes/mspaint/drive_c/windows
rather than in my /wine-c/wine/wine32
Maybe because MSPaint seems to be single executable file or because I used WineTricks.

6. Installed IrfanView again from a terminal

Code:

cd "/home/alan/Desktop/My Install/Installed files/IrfanView"   # i.e. CD to where the exe file is located
wine iview430_setup.exe

Had about 100 errors of the form:
"err:menubuilder:convert_to_native_icon error 0x80070005 creating output file L"Z:\\home\\alan\\.local\\share\\icons\\hicolor\\16x16\\apps\\A35F_hh.0.png" "
This time it's installed in my Win32 Prefix /wine-c/wine/wine32/drive_c/Program Files and opens OK.



TO DOs / PROBLEMS
1. Menu / Wine items still refer to the BaseWine install in /home/alan/.wine . Needs to be changed
2. Menu / Other InfanView items do not work (hangover from the 1st install) and the 2nd install has not update the items. Also I would expect these menu items to have their own group in the hierarchy.
3. BMP images are not associated with InfanView - maybe linked to all those error messages.
4. To install a more complex application, namely Quicken 98.

[Valtam]

Hi Alan, thank you for sharing your information. I can't help but think it seems a lot of work for using Wine, perhaps life would be much easier on Linux Lite 32bit given that the benefits from using a 64bit OS are negligible. At least you are learning about linux as you go

[Alan_uk]

Hi Valtam

Going 32bit crossed my mind. I've 8GB ram on the basis I might need to run Virtual Box if Wine proved not viable with my key Windows apps.

As I understand it, to use 32bit Linux and make use of > 4GB, I need a PAE enabled hardware and OS. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Ad...sion#Linux "Ubuntu (and derivatives like Linux Mint), have stopped distributing non-PAE kernels - thus making PAE hardware mandatory." That implies my hardware Asus A88XM-Plus + AMD 5300 support PAE.

Do you see any problems using 32bit LL with VB and using all 8GB? - presumably both LL and VB get to use a max of 4GB each.

Alan

[Valtam]

Open a terminal and do:

Code:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

if you find the word pae you have pae support on your cpu. Our 32bit version will see all of your 8gb ram.

[Alan_uk]

Yes it does have pae support.

I shall mull a reinstall as 32bit LL over lunch...........

I had already installed 32bit LL on an old Intel Dell PC. So as an experiment I used that to install IrfanView. It went much smoother than the new PC with 64bit LL. Just a few, it seems, minor error messages. I still had to go to Settings and set "Launch GNOME services on startup".

I've now wiped my new PC and now installing 32bit LL as I write. Must say, install and all the updates is very quick compared to WinDoz

[Alan_uk]

OK. Installed 32bit LL and back to where I was before. Took 2 hours.

Acid test. Is LL lite using all my 8MB memory?

Resource Usage says Mem  397/7268MB
sudo dmidecode | grep Size | grep MB  says
Size: 4096 MB
Size: 4096 MB
free -m says
            total      used      free    shared    buffers    cached
Mem:          7268      1374      5894          0        56        952
-/+ buffers/cache:        365      6903

I ask this question as I read somewhere that LL 32bit kernel did not have PAE enabled and that the kernal needs to be recompiled - I hope that info is out of date!

[Valtam]

Resource Usage says Mem  397/7268MB <-- theres your 8gb ram

  Size: 4096 MB
  Size: 4096 MB <-- theres 2 x sticks of 4gb ram.

Enjoy

[Alan_uk]

That's a relief - Many thanks Valtam 

[N4RPS]

Hello!

It is my belief that playing around trying to figure out how to set up everything you want to include teaches you more about Linux than a course does!

73 DE N4RPS
Rob