Cannot see MS Sans Serif in program

[chiron]

Hello Bob, thank you for that clarification, the deed is done and I have regenerated the ".wine" directory and subdirectories with

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wineboot

When I executed this from the command line it generated a lot of lines of information, a lot of which were errors.
It also required the installation of wine mono(?).
The weather was rather bad at the time and when I set out to copy this so I could post it here, the power went off for anyone north of Adelaide, which included me. It stayed off for about 4 or 5 hours and for that time we were back to the romantic days of storm lanterns and kerosine heaters.
Anyhow, when I was able to crank the computer up again I copied some simple programs that require no Registry entries and they work fine.
Now it's time for more complex programs such as ZET.
I presume that these need to be installed under a wine prefix rather than by running the installation file through Gnome Commander.
Seeing I have not done this before (except when I installed Microsoft Office 2007 through winetricks), I would like some guidance on this, preferable by using a desktop wine utility, but by the command line if necessary.
Thanking you, Paul.
P.S. I had invoked

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wine sandbox

prior to your last post in the - obviously incorrect - perception it may straighten things out. I saw nothing interesting happen, it only made the system run slower; but it seems to run fine now. Do I need to undo this ill-conceived experiment of mine, and if so, how is this done?

[Bob Wya]

Hah, hah, power outages - oh dear!! I've got a very expensive UPS - because I'm paranoid about that sort of thing (plus I live beside the Railway Station - so we can get brown-outs when trains go by - from time to time)...

I think you're sweating the details a little to much. Once you've got around the (frankly god-awful ) Wine packaging by Debian/Canonical... You're home and dry!!
It's quite hard to break Wine - well as your normal Linux user anyway. You can easily delete and recreate a Wineprefix in seconds

winetricks sandbox

I've edited the directory outputs below (with ellipses ...) to make the before/after change more obvious!!

Before...

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'ls' -al ~/.wine/dosdevices/
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 17:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 robert users 4096 Jul 12 17:50 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 robert users   10 Jul  5 00:59 c: -> ../drive_c
...                                                                                                                                                               
lrwxrwxrwx 1 robert users    1 Jul  5 00:59 z: -> /

'ls' -ahl ~/.wine/drive_c/users/robert/
total 76K
drwxr-xr-x 19 robert users 4.0K Jul  7 23:03 .
drwxr-xr-x  4 robert users 4.0K Jul  5 00:59 ..
...
lrwxrwxrwx  1 robert users   27 Jul  7 23:03 Desktop -> /home/robert/Desktop
...
lrwxrwxrwx  1 robert users   29 Jul  7 23:03 My Documents -> /home/robert/Documents
lrwxrwxrwx  1 robert users   25 Jul  7 23:03 My Music -> /home/robert/Music
lrwxrwxrwx  1 robert users   28 Jul  7 23:03 My Pictures -> /home/robert/Pictures
lrwxrwxrwx  1 robert users   26 Jul  7 23:03 My Videos -> /home/robert/Videos
...

Then sandbox is just a little winetricks function to remove some of the symbolic links above (to your Linux user ${HOME} directory and to your Linux root / directory).

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wine sandbox

After:

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'ls' -al ~/.wine/dosdevices/
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 robert users   10 Jul  5 00:59 c: -> ../drive_c
...

'ls' -al ~/.wine/drive_c/users/robert/
total 96
drwxr-xr-x 24 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 .
drwxr-xr-x  4 robert users 4096 Jul  5 00:59 ..
...
drwxr-xr-x  2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 Desktop
...
drwxr-xr-x  2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 My Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 My Music
drwxr-xr-x  2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 My Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2 robert users 4096 Jul 12 18:34 My Videos
...

If you want to be able to execute/install Windows applications, with Wine, from outside of a your Wineprefix directory tree, e.g.

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cd ~/Downloads
wine ZET9SETUP229-EN.exe

Then Wine needs:

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/home/robert/Downloads

to be mapped to a Virtual Windows Drive letter or this happens...

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cd ~/Downloads/
wine ZET9SETUP229-EN.exe
wine: cannot find L"unix\\home\\robert\\Downloads\\ZET9SETUP229-EN.exe"

Oh dear!!

To fix this add in the symbolic link back to your Linux root / directory:

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cd ~/.wine/dosdevices/
ln -s / 'z:'

So now:

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cd ~/Downloads/
wine ZET9SETUP229-EN.exe

will work!!

Sorry if that's a bit long-winded!! But hopefully you'll get the idea!!

Edit: slower system...??!! Uhmmm no!! It won't make any difference in the slightest...

Bob

[Bob Wya]

To GUI or not to GUI?? That is the question!!

1. I tend to setup my Wineprefixes by hand on the command line.
2. 1 Wineprefix / application (though I'll break that rule for Steam!!)
3. You can't troubleshoot install problems from a Desktop filemanager like Dolphin, Nautilus, Commander, etc.
   (all the Wine debug console output will go to a not very useful place - like the X root console!!)
4. I've got 1 directory full of Wineprefixes (so I know where to find them!!)
5. I can then launch Wine/Windows applications straight from my Plasma fullscreen launcher using .desktop launcher files
   (nobody wants to mess about doing that on the command line every time!!)

E.g. I tend to edit by hand / manually my .desktop launcher files. E.g. a .desktop launcher for my Steam (64-bit) install Wineprefix:

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cat ~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs/Steam64/Steam64.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Steam64
Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/mnt/robs-rog-laptop/linux_shared/robert/wineprefixes/steam64" /usr/bin/wine C:\\\\windows\\\\command\\\\start.exe "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\Steam.exe" -no-cef-sandbox
TryExec=/usr/bin/wine
Path=/mnt/robs-rog-laptop/linux_shared/robert/wineprefixes/steam64/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Steam/
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Icon=BAC4_steam.0
Categories=X-Wine;Network;FileTransfer;Game;

I find the Wine self-created .desktop launchers can be a bit "flaky" (as the rely on/make use of Windows .lnk link files) - but they might work for you!!

Notice how the WINEPREFIX variable is used in the env (shell environment) - so Wine knows that the root of the Virtual Windows:
C:\ drive

is actually stored at the Unix path:
/mnt/robs-rog-laptop/linux_shared/robert/wineprefixes/steam64/drive_c/

That might all look like Double Dutch... But it did to me as well - when I first started using Linux a few years ago!!

Bob

[chiron]

Hello Bob, I tried to install the symlinks as you showed above. But each time I did they just vanished, so I kept getting the error that wine could not find the file. I tried to drag them in place with Gnome Commander and they worked when I tried them, but when I tried to install a Wine program they vanished as before and the same thing happened.
I then tried to change the properties of the symlinks so they would not be deleted and now I can no longer access my machine, it comes up on boot and asks me to enter my password which I have used a thousand times before under "sudo" but refuses to accept it. I am effectively locked out and it appears I will have to reinstall everything, which I find frustrating, as I use the machine for my work.
I have had issues with Windows, but I must say, this tops everything.
Perhaps Linux is just not for me.
Paul.

[Bob Wya]

Hello Bob, I tried to install the symlinks as you showed above. But each time I did they just vanished, so I kept getting the error that wine could not find the file. I tried to drag them in place with Gnome Commander and they worked when I tried them, but when I tried to install a Wine program they vanished as before and the same thing happened.
I then tried to change the properties of the symlinks so they would not be deleted and now I can no longer access my machine, it comes up on boot and asks me to enter my password which I have used a thousand times before under "sudo" but refuses to accept it. I am effectively locked out and it appears I will have to reinstall everything, which I find frustrating, as I use the machine for my work.
I have had issues with Windows, but I must say, this tops everything.
Perhaps Linux is just not for me.
Paul.

Gnome Commander... Where did that come into my suggestions above??

I simply said to type:

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cd ~/.wine/dosdevices/
ln -s / 'z:'

Entering those commands, as your normal Linux user obviously, shouldn't break your Linux user profile... It sounds like you were getting a bit "creative" - all on your own!!

It really sounds like you desperately need to make the time to read some Linux command basics tutorials. You've just argued that point quite effectively!!

If you're blindly typing in commands from forums - or can't interpret the basic shell commands I used above:

• change directory
• make links

- then it's time to do some long overdue homework!!

Microsoft didn't waste their Developer time to build the Ubuntu Userland on Windows subsystem. This was a key move to stop the haemorrhage of developers to MacOS. The Unix shells: BASH, ZSH, fish, etc. and interpreative parsers/ languages: awk, sed, Perl, Python, etc. are it's main and most powerful feature!! They provide really powerful tools for users and developers alike.

The Linux Desktops are pretty rubbish and buggy (Plasma 5 - which I run - is running atop some very buggy Qt libraries). But I put up with them for the shells and interpreters!!

Bob

[chiron]

I know what you are saying, but over the years I have played with Apple, CP/M, Dos and Windows.
The last thing one expects is that doing simple things with a dedicated file manager would break the system.
After all, most users use operating systems for their work (as I do) and perhaps for personal use.
If all users had to become command-line experts Linux is doomed and will go the way of Dos and the Dodo.
Enthusiasts alone cannot keep an operating system alive unless this is for very limited specialist applications.
If Linux is to become a serious competitor to other operating systems, it will have to become a little more robust.
I was going to change another four machines from Windows XP to Linux, but that is unlikely now.
But thank you for your help, it's appreciated as I realise there was no way you could have foreseen or prevented this.

[Bob Wya]

It's an interesting philosophical discussion... The amount of Corporate Development and Sponsorship for the Linux Desktop environments (say SUSE for Plasma and Redhat for Gnome) is a drop in the ocean compared to the Development effort and financial muscle Microsoft has. But they just seem to manage to skate above the drain hole!!

But in my experience it's just as easy to bork a Microsoft Windows install... I continue to multi-boot my computers (a few Linux distributions and Windows). I drop into Windows 10 - to see what Microsoft is up to there for example (in their developer fast-track releases). Interesting times - on the Windows front - I have to say!

I've had plenty of headaches with Windows. Especially since NTFS really, really sucks as a filesystem - it can't hold a candle to ext4 or ZFS for reliability.

So I like to be relatively OS agnostic... It's very counterproductive to set your self up as a zeolite for any one platform!!

I do have some concern that people these days have a strong aversion to simple art of reading. When I was growing up... I had a Z80-based microcomputer - with a basic interpreter and that was it. There was no OS!! It had 65 Kbytes (yes kilo-bytes!!) There was no rich resources online - like the World-Wide-Web - to refer to.

You wanted it do anything fancy - then you were hand-coding Z80 machine code or using an Assembler - using a Z80 reference manual. That was what I cut my teeth on. I guess there is no incentive for people to tinker under the hood these days - they just get spoonfed all the software they need...
Plus the subsystems today are orders of magnitude more complex though - just look at the complexity of a modern Intel CPU or Operating System. Ah I hearken back to the good ol' days, going all misty eyed now...

Bob

[chiron]

Hello Bob, Owned a computer in 1985 that was called an Exidy Sorcerer. It ran CP/M 2.2. But as it ran off 1.2 Mb. floppy disks it ran as slow as treacle in winter. So we (myself and some mates) set about expanding the memory with a 1 Mb memory drive (the base memory was 64k). It made it into a useful machine for business applications.
Anyhow, I have never been good with manuals. I learn best when doing hands-on work (at least when it comes to mechanical contrivances such as computers and cars, science is another matter), and the best manual for me is an encyclopedia of terms. But when it comes to Linux, I have only used this for a couple of years, most of my machines still run Windows XP, which is a reliable operating system that is easy to change and maintain. I have had a look at and play with Windows 10 and think it is an abomination. It is complex to get into and has the worst features of both the Windows and Mac operating systems.
In the meantime I have been able to get into the GRUB side of my Ubuntu machine and found out that my attempts to change the properties of the symlink did something weird. It made my user directory inaccessible except through root privileges (su). This stopped Ubuntu from booting. I tried to change the properties of my user directory /home/paul by all kinds of means, but without luck. I then made a /home/temp directory and copied the directories and files from /home/paul into it; renamed the old directory /home/old_paul (which is reasonably accurate) and renamed temp to paul and deleted the old_paul directory; and lo and behold Ubuntu booted up but with a packet of errors. Found the errors were due to the "." directories not having been copied. Fortunately I have a backup program on the machine and this put everything back where it belonged, the machine is now close to what it was before; and apart from a few missing programs it all seems to work fine.
I am not sure what version of Wine I now have, but that can wait.