File Frustrations

Questions about Wine on Linux
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fbr
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File Frustrations

Post by fbr »

Wine has me totally confused. Let me explain why.

I installed Kindle for PC, Adobe Digital Editions and ActivePython2.7 on Ubuntu 17.1 Mate, on a laptop. After the installation I find launch icons on my main menu for Kindle, two icons for Adobe Digital Editions and a set for Python2.7, including one for idle, one for an interactive shell and one for a package manager. If I click on the launch icons in the menu either of the Adobe Digital Editions will open the application, the others will hourglass and the close without opening an application or an error message. Also in the Other menu besides the icons metioned above are located several wine icons (help & homepage) and an activePython documentation icon. Clicking on these will produce a "Path not found" error box followed by a "There is no Windows program configured to open this type of file."

Ok so let's try the terminal using the wine command as in $ wine kindle. This produces the following error "wine: cannot find L"C:\\windows\\system32\\kindle.exe" Trying wine adobe_diged produces the same message with adobe.exe at the end. On the other hand wine python will open an interactive activepython 2.7 session.

So let's try to find the .exe files on my system. Let me say first what a nightmare. I found the ADE (Adobe Digial Editions) .exe file in the path ~/.local/share/wineprefixes/adobe_diged/dosdevices/program files (x86)/Adobe/Adobe Digital Editions/digitaleditions.exe - whew! Using the same path there is a fork at adobe_diged where you can use drive_c instead of dosdevices and going down the rest of the path you will arrive at the same place. Searching for Kindle, same story. Python was located at ~/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Python27/python.exe Let me add something I should have probably stated earlier - Kindle and ADE were installed via winetricks while python was installed from wine.

I also need to add at this time in my main menu under subheading Wine: there are several icons one labeled Programs -> Accessories -> Note and another labeled browse C: Drive which shows a folder structure including Python27 but neither Kindle nor ADE show up anywhere.

So, I know I'm making mistakes and I would like to correct them because now my file system appears to be a mess. I have numerous menu icons that lead to nowhere. I can open one application from the terminal and I can open one application from the main menu. I seem to have file and file structures thrown randomly throughout my system. The logic of how they got there is beyond me. I think I can see that an install from winetricks will not necessarily.

So, this sounds like a rant but its not. I know the main culprit is me. Googling, reading the docs seems to only deepen my confusion. What I would like to do is install some programs, be able to find them and have a reliable way to open them. Hopefully some of you with more wine experience (pun not intended ..well kinda :wink: ) can read this, chuckle, shake your head and say - next time do this!

Hopefully
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dimesio
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Re: File Frustrations

Post by dimesio »

Some info about wineprefixes:
http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-ac3550b ... fe91a891d6
http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#wineprefix

Some info about running apps from a terminal: http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#run_from_terminal

And some info about deleting things: http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-9893ae5 ... af2e69b391

Wine's default wineprefix is ~/.wine. Winetricks installs apps/games to their own wineprefixes in ~/.local/share/wineprefixes. As for whether you needed winetricks to install ADE and Kindle, you definitely didn't need it for the latter, as Kindle works out-of-the-box in plain Wine. I've never installed ADE, so I don't know whether or not it needs any special tweaks to install or run. That's the main reason to use winetricks--it automates necessary workarounds.

You can just delete the two wineprefixes created by winetricks and manually install Kindle and ADE to ~/.wine if you really want to, but it's not necessary. Most experienced users put apps in separate wineprefixes, as it avoids many problems (tweaks needed for one app can prevent another from working).

The menu items for Notepad and other Wine builtin programs are not part of Wine; they are added by some distros to their packages. They are only for the default wineprefix, so are of limited use.
fbr
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Re: File Frustrations

Post by fbr »

OK, I understand the reasoning for keeping the files in different directories (wineprefixes?). I could not use wine to install Kindle for PC because I could not find a way to download a file. If I go to the download page, it asks for my email address and then sends a link. The link in the email simply returns me to the same page with no download button in sight. Just the same enter your email and we will send you a link dialog. The problem with Adobe Digital Editions is I need an older version to work with an another application. It is no longer on the Adobe site but it just happens to be the version that gets downloaded when using winetricks. But, then again getting this files in the same directory path is no longer an issue for me.

The problem I am having now is: The first time I installed kindle the application opened, I registered, it opened my library I tested it by opening to book to read. It opened everything worked as expected. Now if I click on the launch icon it hourglasses then stops without an error message. If I try opening using the terminal (as I understand it - I cd to the directory containing the executable file and then at the prompt enter: 'wine kindle.exe') I get the following message

"fixme:system:SetProcessDPIAware Stub!"

if I try right clicking -then open with wine loader -this will result again in a hourglass and then nothing.

So at this point I'm down to getting the Kindle application to open properly. Also, my initial install worked fine, this is a reinstall again from winetricks. Could this be the result of a failed or improper uninstall?
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dimesio
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Re: File Frustrations

Post by dimesio »

fbr wrote:I could not use wine to install Kindle for PC because I could not find a way to download a file. If I go to the download page, it asks for my email address and then sends a link.
Where are you trying to download it from? I am able to download the Kindle for PC installer directly from Amazon in native Firefox by clicking the Kindle for PC link on http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/ ... =201245960.
Could this be the result of a failed or improper uninstall?
Possibly. Try deleting the wineprefix and reinstalling. If you do it manually this time, one thing you should know is that Kindle for PC does need Times New Roman, so if you don't have the MS core fonts installed systemwide, install them with winetricks. (That is one thing the winetricks Kindle installer does for you.)
fbr
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Re: File Frustrations

Post by fbr »

Thanks dimesio - I installed the link using the wine program loader and everything is working fine. I arrived at the page I referred to by 1st going to the Kindle store on Amazon.com then clicking on the dropdown tiltled: "Free Reading Apps". Anyway your link solved the problem for me and I had previously installed the core fonts so no problems.

Thanks again
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