Pathfinder Office 2.70 install- Regedit case sensitive?

Paleoethnobotanist · Post by **Paleoethnobotanist** » Thu May 21, 2009 1:34 am

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.

perryh · Post by **perryh** » Thu May 21, 2009 2:21 am

"Paleoethnobotanist" <[email protected]> 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

Martin Gregorie · Post by **Martin Gregorie** » Thu May 21, 2009 5:41 am

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

Paleoethnobotanist · Post by **Paleoethnobotanist** » Thu May 21, 2009 10:45 am

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.

Martin Gregorie · Post by **Martin Gregorie** » Thu May 21, 2009 11:31 am

On Thu, 2009-05-21 at 10:45 -0500, Paleoethnobotanist wrote:

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).

From the command line you use the chown utility. If it complains that

you don't have permission to make the change, run chown as root or use
sudo. If you prefer using the GUI, then the file permissions are
accessed from the file manager (Nautilus under Gnome) They are in the
Permissions tab of the Properties pop-up. If you have several files to
change it will be quicker with to use chown than to go in via the GUI,
since the one command can change several files at once.

If its simply that the files aren't owned by the user who should own
them then chown/changing permissions should do the trick.

If the files are in another user's directory, make sure both users are
in the same group or create a group for the purpose and add it to all
appropriate users. Then change the file's group permissions with chmod
to allow the access you need.

Martin

Paleoethnobotanist · Post by **Paleoethnobotanist** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:01 pm

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.

Post by **dimesio** » Sun May 24, 2009 9:40 am

Paleoethnobotanist wrote: 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.

Console output would be helpful.
http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-a37de32 ... 52258551a4

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).

That may be the problem; apps that old tend not to work in Wine. Have you tried setting the Windows version in winecfg to an older version? The default is XP.

Paleoethnobotanist · Post by **Paleoethnobotanist** » Sun May 24, 2009 1:20 pm

Thanks for the tip on doing a startup log.

I tried it twice. The first time, I got the usual error message from PFOffice, but the log was blank.

The second time had the same results.

SIGH.

Paleoethnobotanist · Post by **Paleoethnobotanist** » Sun May 24, 2009 1:21 pm

Oh, yeah... I've tried every emulation from w3.0 to wXP.

All had the same results.

Paleoethnobotanist · Post by **Paleoethnobotanist** » Sun May 24, 2009 1:33 pm

One thing I've figured out was that Linux is case sensitive. Once I edited the registry (and double-checked the file names) I eliminated two out of three error messages generated by PFOffice. Is there some way to force Linux so that it is not case sensitive (or at least for the Wine subdirectories)?

That MIGHT fix the problem- or at least point us in the right direction.

vitamin · Post by **vitamin** » Sun May 24, 2009 4:31 pm

Paleoethnobotanist wrote:Is there some way to force Linux so that it is not case sensitive (or at least for the Wine subdirectories)?

No, unless you put it on samba/FAT mount. But Wine has lots of problems on those FSes.