There are lots of ringing applications that are available that will run on Windows. However I currently have not found any that have been designed to work on Linux; As I do a lot of my work in Linux I find this quite annoying. However I have found a solution that at least gets things running on Linux.
I have put this page here so that others may find out what I have done and hopefully be given a jump start. I cannot guarentee that anything will work, or that it won't kill your computer. By the way - this is probably not the only way to do it.
If after going through this page, you are still having problems feel free to email me at mark-at-standard8.demon.co.uk. Replacing the - at - with the normal symbol.
Page last updated: 07/05/04
I used Linux Mandrake 9.0, it's available from most computer shops, sometimes on the front of linux magazines or you can download it from http://www.linux-mandrake.com/. Other versions of linux should work just as well.
You need:
Note: Wine is probably already available on your linux distribution, however it will probably be worth getting the latest version from the web site as it's under constant development and improvement.
The following table contains a list of the software that I have tested with Wine version dated 18th April 2004 (obtained via CVS) along with my comments of how I thought it worked. It is not exhaustive and only details software that I have available to me at the current time.
NOTE: The problems are to do with the wine implementation rather than the program itself. As far as I know, these programs do not experience these problems on Microsoft Windows - their intended platform.
| Application and URL | Version Tested | Installed via Wine? | Notes | Noticeable Problems |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abel http://www.abelsim.co.uk/ |
3.4.0 | Installer with existing Windows installation didn't appear to work, however installer without existing Windows installation worked fine. | Appears to run generally quite well without needing any special tweaks from the standard installation. |
|
| Rope Sight Tutor http://www.ringbell.co.uk/software/ |
1.0.3 | Yes | Runs well with few noticeable problems. |
|
| Call Change Ringer http://www.ringbell.co.uk/software/ |
3.2.0 | Yes | Runs well I didn't find any problems | N/A |
| Method Tutor http://www.ringbell.co.uk/software/ |
3.0.1 | Yes | Runs well I didn't find any problems | N/A |
| Method Workshop http://www.ringbell.co.uk/software/ |
2.03 | Yes | Runs well with only a few problems |
|
| Tower Visit Logger http://www.ringbell.co.uk/software/ |
1.01 | Yes | Seems to run reasonably well. |
|
| Learn the Line http://www.squidsoftware.co.uk/ |
1.2 | N/A - no installer | Seems to work fine without any problems. | N/A |
| WinDove http://www.saddleton.freeuk.com/software/windove.htm |
0.7 | N/A - no installer | Seems to work fine without any problems. | N/A |
Most Linux installations are different, so whilst giving you an idea here on what to do, I don't want to go into too much detail about my particular installation as it'll probably confuse things further.
First if you haven't already, get and install wine - instructions and the source for this are on the website http://www.winehq.com.
Next, set up your wine config file. This can be found in your home directory under .wine/config:
Now open up a console and navigate to the directory which holds your executable (could be something like cd /mnt/windows/Program\ Files/Abel\ 3/).
Next run it by typing wine 'appname' where 'appname' is the application executable name without the quotes (e.g. wine Abel3.exe).
Hopefully within a minute or two your chosen application should be displayed. If there is a problem, wine will normally put out a load of debugging information on the console, or prompt you with error messages. With a little digging around you should be fix these - for the versions I checked above, I had no problems in getting them running by using the default installation.
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