RegiStax running under Linux? (by Ken Hough)

RegiStax has been written and compiled to run under Microsoft Windows, but Linux users need not be denied the opportunity to use it. RegiStax can be run via wine (a recursive name standing for 'Wine Is not an Emulator').

wine provides an MS Windows API under Linux so that many MS Windows applications can function correctly while running under the Linux operating system.

The notes below refer to observations made while installing and running RegiStax under SuSE Linux v10.1, using the KDE v3.5.1 desktop manager with wine version 0.9.11. RegiStax will also run under other desktop managers. On relatively slow PCs, it might be preferable to use a 'lightweight' desktop manager such as fvwm, icewm or windowmaker.

Not all Linux distros include wine, but it can be downloaded from:

<http://www.winehq.com/>

Installation/running of RegiStax on a Linux system:

          1.If this is the first time that wine is to be used, make sure that it has been installed (for SuSE Linux
              use YAST), then as a normal user (ie not as root) run the command winecfg. This will take a few
              minutes to generate local directories, files and font metrics (residing under the hidden directory
              ~/.wine). Subsequent use of winecfg will immediately display the winecfg configuration terminal.

          2.To install RegiStax, move into the directory containing the 'intallregistax??.exe' file and enter
                the  command:

     'wine ./installregistax??.exe'.
RegiStax will be installed under '~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files'

3.Registax v3 will load and will run, but some components of the GUI will be  displaced, making it impossible use this version under wine.

Versions 2 and 4 are displayed correctly and can be run as intended.

4.During installation of Registax, desktop icons are generated. Icons generated under versions 2 and 3 work correctly under Linux and will find and run RegiStax. A different installer has been used for RegiStax version 4 which produces a desktop icon that does not work under Linux.

To generate a working desktop icon for version 4 (under KDE), right click the mouse on an empty desktop, select 'Create New', and then 'Link to Application'. Then under the 'Application' tab, set 'Command' to the following:    wine "C:\Program Files\RegiStax4\RegiStax4.exe"

5.In order to get fonts to display correctly, it is necessary to copy the normal MS Windows .ttf font files to the ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts directory. In the absence of these files RegiStax is usable, but GUI text items such as labels may not be optimally sized.

Under MS Windows 98, these .ttf files can be found in the directory C:\windows\fonts

6.wine will automatically map MS Windows drive and directory locations (as shown by RegiStax and other MS Windows apps) to locations on a Linux system. These locations are shown and can be modified under the winecfg configuration terminal.

That's all! Quite simple, really.

Although recent versions of wine can be configured via winecfg,  there should be no need to change anything from the default settings in order to run RegiStax. It is generally recommended that unless a specific version of MS Windows must be emulated, then wine should be configured to emulate Windows 98, which is OK in this case.

RegiStax is designed to run on a 1024 x 768 pixel screen and at least 16 bit colourdepth and will not resize to fit larger (or smaller) screens. The Linux desktop screen display must therefore be set to at least 1024 x 768 pixels. There is no point in setting wine to emulate a virtual desktop.

There is no need to add any native MS Windows DLL files to the wine system.

Have fun!

K. Hough

07/11/06

ref: RegiStax_Wine_notes