writemonkey on Linux (with Wine)

[Netean]

nearly, nearly got it working, but I'm not enough of a linux geek to
get it 100%

here's what I've done: (using 9.5 preview 3)

1 - install Wine
2 - install Winetricks
3 - install corefonts
4 - install dotnet20 (microsoft dot net framework 2.0)
5 - download riched20.dll from the web and copy it to ~./wine/c_drive/
windows/system32

it's a little bit slow but no errors on statup

Downside:

something somwhere doesn't allow the text to change colour until you
enter preferences. I initially changed paper/text colour but since
the first changing unable to change it via dialog box again.

Text reverts to black on each new line, regardless of what you set it
to be
[workaround, change background/paper colour to light and let text
remain default]

hope this helps

[josip]

This is GREAT! I thought that wm is totally incompatible with Linux
(I've never even tried to install it on one). I'll love to publish the
install procedure on wm web site, I am even prepared to tweak wm to a
certain extent in order to make it work under Linux and Wine ...

Will look into that... thanks!

btw: if you get any new insights, please do share them.

[Netean]

realised that my first post wasn't as clear as it could be:

I'm using Easy Peasy Linux 1.1, which is a modified version of Ubuntu
8.10.

First of all I installed Wine (using synaptic package manager)

Then I installed Winetricks from http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks

Using winetricks (via the terminal, I installed:)
sh winetricks corefonts (corefonts probably aren't needed, but I
wanted them anyway)
sh winetricks dotnet20 (downloads and installs dot net 2.0
redistributable by running the M$ installer)

downloaded riched20.dll (this was needed by Writemonkey so I googled
it) and then copied it into:
~./wine/c_drive/windows/system32 (.wine is a hidden folder in your
home directory you may need to show hidden files to find it)

Hope this helps everyone else to get it running also

[Netean]

I'll keep fiddling and keep tweaking and let you know.

I wasn't sure it was compatible, I thought not (being .net 2 etc) -
Although I'm a geek at heart, I'm kinda new to linux so I'm learning
as I go.

Luckily, what I've got so far, really wasn't that hard to achieve.
STill not sure how to fix the text colour issue -but I also tried
Darkroom 0.8b and it's .net2 also and also has exactly the same
problem. Text is black until you select prefs then it changes color,
but upon a new line it reverts to black again.

Even if I can't find/resolve the issues, the workaround is light
background/black text. Although there are plenty of distraction free
tools in Windows, (Writemonkey being about the best IMO) there is just
nothing decent for Linux at all - so there's motivation to get it
working.

Incidentally, for anyone interested. Q10 (2nd best distraction free
tool IMO) run without major problem on a basic wine installation -
the only drawback is that it displays scroll bars on the screen (which
to me kind of defeats the point).


I'm sure there are some real linux geeks out there who can explain
what causes the writemonkey issues, I'm not sure I have enough skill
to be able to know what's going on, but I'll certainly keep at it.

at the moment though, it's definitely usable.

[Condalmo]

Trying to muddle my way through this - longtime Windows user, complete
Linux newbie, also using Easy Peasy, on my netbook. How do I install
Winetricks?

On Aug 18, 8:19 pm, Netean <net...@gmail.com> wrote:
> realised that my first post wasn't as clear as it could be:
>
> I'm using Easy Peasy Linux 1.1, which is a modified version of Ubuntu
> 8.10.
>
> First of all I installed Wine (using synaptic package manager)
>

> Then I installed Winetricks fromhttp://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks

[Netean]

Interesting development running Writemonkey which I'll explain later.

to install winetricks look here:
http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks


I'm going to assume you've already installed Wine, using synaptic or
similar package management tool (details at: www.winehq.com)

open up a Terminal - ( i think I first installed this without a
terminal, but can't remember how I did that)

in a terminal window type Or copy and paste the text:

wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks


that will download winetricks to your home director (for me that's /
home/iain)

[taken from the website]

Once you've obtained winetricks you can run it simply by typing sh
winetricks at the console. If ran without parameters a winetricks
displays a GUI with a list of available packages. If you know the name
of the package(s) you wish to install, you can append the name(s) to
the winetricks command line and it will immediately start the
installation process. For example,

sh winetricks dotnet20

that will download and install M$ Dot net 2.0 (you may need a tool
called cabextract which I think you get by typing:

sudo apt-get install cabextract (sorry, again I can't remember how I
did it)


You can, if you want go ahead and download the m$ core fonts as well,
I did first time around, but haven't 2nd time around (more about that
later)

In theory, this is all you need. Using Nautilus (file manager) Go back
to where your Writemonkey folder is located : for me I've created a
folder in my home called apps, so for me this /home/iain/apps

you *should* just be able to double click on writemonkey.exe now and
it will load (the first time it loads it takes a few seconds, be
patient) If it doesn't right click on the writemonkey.exe icon and
select "Open with Wine Program Loader" and it should start then.

I hope this helps.. sorry if I'm a little vague in places, but I'm
although I'm a bit of a geek at heart, I'm not really a die hard Linux
user and certainly wouldn't class myself as an expert by any stretch
of the imagination.


=================

Right.. I had to nuke my ubuntu/easy peasy installation and re-install
(I borked the upgrade from 1.1. to 1.5)

I'm now running easy peasy 1.5 (which is very nice by the way, I'd
heartily recommend it for anyone with a netbook or laptop) - Easypeasy
is based off Ubuntu 9.04, so I presume this will hold true for people
running 9.04?

I installed wine, then winetricks, then dot net 2.0 and Writemonkey
0.9.5 and it seems to work perfectly. Gone are the old issues with
font selection and font color. I can now save color preferences,
change font and background colour and, as far as I can tell, it seems
to work nearly perfectly. The ONLY thing it doesn't do is work
completely full screen or when moving from full screen to windowed. My
menu bar is still visible at top of screen. (but you can set it to
autohide, like in windows)

So, as far as I can tell. Writemonkey works pretty well in linux under
wine with dot net 2.0 installed.

Bugs I've noticed:

Full screen - Windowed, if you do it a few times it throws a paddy-
fit and does strange things
Lookups, don't seem to work at all (ok for me, I don't really use
them)
Spellchecking: doesn't work : throws "this method or operation is not
implemented"
Switching between repository and regular throws a dotnet error and app
crashes.

[Netean]

Just thought I'd let you know what happens with Writemonkey 0.96
preview 2 under Linux.

It works - mostly!
Make sure you update to latest version of Wine and have
installed .net 2.0 (with winetools script - see previous post.)

Be aware, that it takes a long time to start, and when it loads, wait
a while longer, for everything to fully load - don't just expect to be
able to start typing, it will be slow and unresponsive. Have a bit of
patience and when it's loaded fully, you'll find Writemonkey usable.

I have also added font-smoothing (the Wine Equivelent of Cleartype) to
Wine apps and it makes Writemonkey fonts SO much nicer to use.

You can enable font smoothing via this very handy script:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1050920



What doesn't work:

Spell Check, it has a go, but fails, (I think this is a Wine issue)
Lookups don't work by default. you have to go into preferences and
tell it to use "internet explorer" (in the program files folder of
Wine. - My copy of "internet explorer" crashes in wine, so I couldn't
fully test the lookup feature.
Cut and paste - not sure why. Update - cut and copy work, so you can
copy text FROM writemonkey into another app, but not the other way
around. You can't paste into Writemonkey or paste text from one part
of the doc to another.
Segment Jump _ throws a wobbler, but you CAN continue - but save ASAP,
as I suspect it may be crash properly.
Respository - It goes to repository ok, but upon return it throws
a .net error - again you can continue - but I found my text went black
and was unreadable on my v. dark blue background.
Visual Progress Bar - word count seemed to be ok, but the progress bar
- I suspect it's is being drawn but in an area of the screen that I
can't see - I can just make out a different coloured box where I think
it should be. - update.. works in Visual mode, but not in numeric
mode.

That is as much as I've test at the moment.

For me, I don't really use lookups or repository, so it's not a huge
problem - if I did, I'd just jump back to windows. The basics are
working though.