Newb needs help with Lotus Ami Pro

drpetrov · Post by **drpetrov** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:26 am

Hi, folks.

I'm new to both Ubuntu Linux and Wine.

I've been running Lotus Ami Pro for years under Windows 98 and have about 70MB of Ami Pro files. Nowadays, though, printers are not made to support Windows 98 anymore.

I had heard about WINE, and rather than buy another Microsoft product, I decided to see if I could run Ami Pro under another OS. My new printer works perfectly under Linux, so that's not a problem.

Abiword can open Ami Pro files, but only if they do not contain tables or frames. Well, tables and frames are pretty damn important and 90% of my documents have one or the other.

Ami Pro runs under Windows 3.1 so I figured it would work perfectly under WINE. It doesn't use the registry and only has a couple of .ini files you need to put in the WINDOWS directory.

Unfortunately when I try to run it under wine, the program opens but then when I move the mouse the cursor disappears if I move it into the area of the program window. Shortly after opening the window dims and I believe this means the program is not responding.

I'm totally new to this application and operating system so I really have no idea how to make this work. Any help would be appreciated.

Peet

Post by **dimesio** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:53 am

drpetrov wrote:Hi, folks.

I'm new to both Ubuntu Linux and Wine.

I've been running Lotus Ami Pro for years under Windows 98 and have about 70MB of Ami Pro files. Nowadays, though, printers are not made to support Windows 98 anymore.

I had heard about WINE, and rather than buy another Microsoft product, I decided to see if I could run Ami Pro under another OS. My new printer works perfectly under Linux, so that's not a problem.

Abiword can open Ami Pro files, but only if they do not contain tables or frames. Well, tables and frames are pretty damn important and 90% of my documents have one or the other.

Ami Pro runs under Windows 3.1 so I figured it would work perfectly under WINE. It doesn't use the registry and only has a couple of .ini files you need to put in the WINDOWS directory.

Unfortunately when I try to run it under wine, the program opens but then when I move the mouse the cursor disappears if I move it into the area of the program window. Shortly after opening the window dims and I believe this means the program is not responding.

I'm totally new to this application and operating system so I really have no idea how to make this work. Any help would be appreciated.

Peet

Off the top of my head: Have you tried different Windows versions in winecfg? (Applications tab) Have you tried running in a virtual desktop? (Graphics tab)

austin987 · Post by **austin987** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:10 am

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 5:26 AM, drpetrov<[email protected]> wrote:

Hi, folks.

I'm new to both Ubuntu Linux and Wine.

I've been running Lotus Ami Pro for years under Windows 98 and have about 70MB of Ami Pro files. Â Nowadays, though, printers are not made to support Windows 98 anymore.

I had heard about WINE, and rather than buy another Microsoft product, I decided to see if I could run Ami Pro under another OS. Â My new printer works perfectly under Linux, so that's not a problem.

Abiword can open Ami Pro files, but only if they do not contain tables or frames. Â Well, tables and frames are pretty damn important and 90% of my documents have one or the other.

Ami Pro runs under Windows 3.1 so I figured it would work perfectly under WINE. Â It doesn't use the registry and only has a couple of .ini files you need to put in the WINDOWS directory.

It's a win16 program then...they're supposed to work under wine, but
have more bugs since they aren't tested as much. File a bug.

--
-Austin

drpetrov · Post by **drpetrov** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:21 pm

dimesio wrote:Off the top of my head: Have you tried different Windows versions in winecfg? (Applications tab) Have you tried running in a virtual desktop? (Graphics tab)

Yeah, I've played with those settings. They don't seem to change anything.

Am I just supposed to run the program from the C drive or do I have to move it over to the Linux drive somewhere?

austin987 wrote:It's a win16 program then...they're supposed to work under wine, but
have more bugs since they aren't tested as much. File a bug.--
-Austin

OK... where do I do that?

Peet

Post by **dimesio** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:27 pm

drpetrov wrote: Am I just supposed to run the program from the C drive or do I have to move it over to the Linux drive somewhere?

Have you been trying to run this from a Windows partition? You have to install it in Wine.
http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-497f1a2 ... 2c7767afa2

rein · Post by **rein** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:08 am

drpetrov wrote:
austin987 wrote:It's a win16 program then...they're supposed to work under wine, but
have more bugs since they aren't tested as much. File a bug.--
-Austin
OK... where do I do that?
Peet

http://bugs.winehq.org/ of course.

For best results:

1) attach the output from the program when you run it in a terminal.
2) try also a recent (1.1.23/24) wine. Also mention the version of ami pro that you try to use.
3) install the program using wine. If that is not possible, because of a wine problem then file a different bug for that.

BTW. I have tried to run ami pro 3.0. Installer does not work. When copied from windows, it does not run from a fonts problem.
If you do at least the first point above, I may be able to confirm what your problem is.