serial ports / usb

[babysitteronacid]

HI all, I've been using wine since about the time of Linux Mint8. Since that time it was totally easy to create a link ( ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 /home/.wine/dosdevices/com1 ) and the one and only windows program I use would connect the software to an external unit (a PA controller for sound reinforcment). This always worked. Even swapping distros it was easy. The program worked well and always connected serial via the USB port. However since about Mint 11 this function was suddenly lost. I've done everything as always. The "com1" in sitting, as alway, in my /.wine/dosdevices directory and points exactly to where it should (dev/ttyUSB0). The serial cable works, (lsusb shows the cable connected and It still works on Mint10) the windows software works as always - but there is no serial connection out of my usb. Which renders the program useless because that's it's whole point - to connect my laptop to my PA controller. I've also tried installing older versions of wine - but no joy.
Questions - what has changed since wine 1.2 (where everything worked)? What can I do to make it work?
Is it a wine issue, a Mint problem (it doesn't work on ubuntu eiter) or has something been removed from the kernel at some point?
Any ideas would be very appreciated. Thanks.

[dimesio]

If the same Wine version works on Mint 10 and older, but not on Mint 11 and newer, then the problem lies in some change in the environment, not Wine. You didn't say whether you are using 64 bit Mint, but if you are, my first guess would be the problem may have to do with the move to multiarch, and you are missing a necessary 32 bit library.

Post terminal output from the current development release of Wine.

[babysitteronacid]

I've always used 64 bit (also on mint 10). The strange thing is that I can't seem to just install wine1.2 on Mint 11 and higher. In the software repo I choose 1.2 transitional - but when I check the version afterwards it's always 1.4. Even after a purge.
But if nothing much as changed in the "serial" connectivity between the two versions this shouldn't be the problem.
Is there something that I've maybe overlooked in the "configure wine" menu? Although I never used to have to do anything there with the old version/distro. It just worked straight up (after the soft link was made of course).
Which command did you want to see the output of? Wine --version? wine 1.4.1.

[dimesio]

Assuming you are using the Ubuntu Wine packages, one difference between 1.2 and 1.4 is that the 1.2 x86_64 Wine packages were still 32 bit only, while the 1.4 x86_64 packages include both 32 and 64 bit Wine (shared WoW64 setup). So one thing you could try is installing your app to a pure 32 bit wineprefix. Create one with

Code: Select all

WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=/path/to/wineprefix winecfg

(substitute the actual path to the wineprefix), then install the app you want to access the serial port to that wineprefix. http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#wineprefix

Do that using the current development release. If it doesn't work, post terminal output from running the app and trying to access the serial port.

[dimesio]

The serial cable works, (lsusb shows the cable connected and It still works on Mint10) the windows software works as always - but there is no serial connection out of my usb.

Just to clarify: does lsusb show the cable connected on Mint 11? If it doesn't, this is not a Wine issue.

[babysitteronacid]

Hi, and thanks for the replies. So....the lsusb shows the serial cable in all instances of Mint (I'm currently on Mint14/cinnamon).
I've made a new wineprefix directory which wine has populated with dosdevices and drive_c etc etc. So that seems to have been created ok. What I don't see how to do is install my app using this new prefix. I tried to install it again but it just kept on doing it with the original .wine and nowhere is the option to use my new prefix (.wine32stuff). When installing the app there is the usual "which drive to you want to use?" question within the windows installation - default is c - but this is already all happening inside the original .wine. So how do I install the app within the new .wine32stuff prefix? When I right click on the .exe of my app the only option is "open with wine loader"

By the way in the oringal .wine/drive_c there is a folder called Program files (x86) (which is where my app is installed) - so at least wine has seen that it's a 32 bit. Anyway the software all works - just not the usb/serial connector.
Thanks

[dimesio]

You need to specify the WINEPREFIX variable just as you did when you created it. http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#wineprefix

[babysitteronacid]

Ok done that - installed as 32 bit and ready to go! Just need to get to work and try it out with the Controller unit. I've got a feeling that it might just work. I'll get back to you and let you know one way or the other. Thanks for your help.