PPL on Linux with Wine?

[plinydogg]

Hi,

I trolled these forums in the early days of PPL but shortly thereafter switched to Ubuntu as my main OS. Since PPL is Windows only I stopped paying attention to it when I switched to Linux.

I was wondering: has anyone tried using PPL in Linux using Wine (a program that implements the Windows API, allowing one to run Windows software from within Linux)?

Thanks!

Ben

[plinydogg]

Alright. I finally had some time to try to get this to work. I downloaded the latest version of PPL (1.51) and installed it from within WINE. The installation went flawleessly. When I tried to run the PIDE, however, I got the following error:

"For security purposes, this program will not run while system debuggers are active. Please remove or disable the system debugger before trying to run this program again."

Needless to say, I'm not running any "system debuggers." Does anyone know how to turn these phantom debuggers off?

[plinydogg]

FYI (for anyone who's interested), it appears that this issue occurs with some other programs run with WINE. See e.g, this:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=773119

[Mike Halliday]

This appears to be an issue with not being able to disable the WINE debugger!

If you run PIDE as follows;

WINEDEBUG=-all wine PIDE.EXE you get

fixme:process:SetProcessShutdownParameters (00000100,00000001): partial stub
fixme:mountmgr:harddisk_ioctl unsupported ioctl 560000
fixme:mountmgr:harddisk_ioctl unsupported ioctl 560000
fixme:mountmgr:harddisk_ioctl unsupported ioctl 560000
fixme:mountmgr:harddisk_ioctl unsupported ioctl 560000

before the error message about the system debugger appears.

Looks like PPL might not run under WINE! - this is a shame as I was thinking about changing to Ubuntu from Windows XP! :(

If I get any better results I will post here! :)

[Mike Halliday]

Woo hoo

I fixed it [I think]!!!! rofl. :D

It looks like there are some disk routines that PPL uses (Maybe for its copy protection) that stops PIDE from running under WINE. Or at least causes WINE to throw a fit!

I have managed to get it running though.

If you add WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay to the command line of the icon, PIDE loads, but takes a long time to do anything (I mean at least 2 1/2 mins)

The first time through after installation when PIDE asks for the location of the files, it will close down automatically, so you have to run it again.

The second time it is run, the IDE appears on the screen with the familiar interface! :)

I have this working with V1.40 and 1.51 too.

Unfortunately at the moment I have not been able to use the register runtimes option, as I get an error. - This stops PPL from running any code at all! (PANTS!!!!!)

More investigation is needed, but it does look like PPL will run under LINUX using WINE!

Alain, - I wonder now how many more users will use PPL??? :D

Regards

Mike.

[plinydogg]

Mike,

This is FANTASTIC! Thanks for your replies.

However, adding the debug instructions to the icon command line doesn't seem to work for me, unless I'm doing something wrong, which is very possible since I've never used WINE in debug mode before. I tried this (as the command associated with the PIDE WINE Icon:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/ben/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe" WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay

as well as this:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/ben/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay"

But got the same results. Am I using incorrect syntax or something?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. To each their own of course, but I absolutely LOVE Ubuntu and never use Windows as my primary OS again (I'm not a hater, Linux is just infinitely better (except in a few areas)!

[Mike Halliday]

Mike,

This is FANTASTIC! Thanks for your replies.

However, adding the debug instructions to the icon command line doesn't seem to work for me, unless I'm doing something wrong, which is very possible since I've never used WINE in debug mode before. I tried this (as the command associated with the PIDE WINE Icon:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/ben/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe" WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay

as well as this:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/ben/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay"

But got the same results. Am I using incorrect syntax or something?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. To each their own of course, but I absolutely LOVE Ubuntu and never use Windows as my primary OS again (I'm not a hater, Linux is just infinitely better (except in a few areas)!


I think your syntax is fine,. but in the wrong order?

I have it like this.

env WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay WINEPREFIX="/home/mhalliday/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe"

I think the arguments have to be in the same place befire you execute the windows application.

Try that and see if it works! - I will try it myself too just to make sure.

The only difference is that I am running VMWare GSX server (under windows XP) with Ubuntu 8.04 running WINE. - Seems to work quite well, but it is slow.

Keep me posted on how you get on.

Ta.

Mike.

[plinydogg]

Darn, it didn't work for me. I tried this:

env WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay WINEPREFIX="/home/ben/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe"

Curious that it works for you but not for me...

[Mike Halliday]

Darn, it didn't work for me. I tried this:

env WINEDEBUG=-all,+relay WINEPREFIX="/home/ben/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\PPL\pide.exe"

Curious that it works for you but not for me...

Do you still get an error or does it just seem to hang?

Any chance of a screen dump?

(I will try it again over the weekend and make sure that I am tellig you the correct information!) :)

[plinydogg]

I'm still getting the errror message (see attached screenshot).

[Mike Halliday]

Hmmm, not sure why you are still getting the errors.

Check out the images.

1st one is of the properties tab on my PIDE

Then various grabs of PPL running and doing its thing.

Still not able to register the runtimes. I defo think that PPL is hard coded for C:\ (Maybe Alain can confirm this) so this is why it sill not run (Maybe) or is it a registry issue??? - This defo needs more investigation.

I think that because the runtimes are not registering this is the reason I cannot run even the most simple of demos.

Will keep everyone posted as I find more out!

[Mike Halliday]

While I am playing about with this, I have also submitted it to the WINEHQ forum to see if their developers can trace the issues with PPL.

[plinydogg]

Good suggestion re: WineHQ.

Your screenshots demonstrate that it SHOULD work but it still isn't on my end.

Thanks for all of your work on this.

[Mike Halliday]

I have had another go at this today and to my dismay it looks like it could be an issue with PPL 1.51

When I ran PPL this morning it reported 1.40 and not 1.51 (Which I thought I had installed)

So I did regedit and zapped the install of PPL, and removed the folders and proceeded to install PPL 1.51 (from the newly downloaded EXE of the forum)

This now does not work, and I get the same error as you do.

I think I might do a fresh VMware install of Ubuntu and WINE, then try it again.

It could be that the differences between 1.40 and 1.51 is the reason why it does not work.

Definately more investigation is needed before a concrete conclusion is reached. Hopefully before we give up on this we will get a responce from WINEHQ with either a total fix or a 'bin it - it will never work!'

EDIT: - There does seem to be a difference in the way PPL 1.51 runs - I have re-installed PPL 1.40 and it now is back to running without compiling.

[Mike Halliday]

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

I dont like to be defeated in anything I do, but this is now beginning to get on my wick!

I have cloned the VM Ubuntu and installed it on my development laptop;

1 x Windows XP Host - VMware - Ubuntu 8.04 (Works PC)
1 x Windows Vista Host - VMWare - Ubuntu 8.04 (Home Laptop)

Guess what?? - The Vista Machine reports the same error as PlinyDogg gets! :(

Another spanner in the works! - Is it permissions, service restrictions, compatibility????

Who knows. - Back to the drawing board for fresh installs I think. - I may even give up and wait until WineHQ give me something useful!

Very strange that it works on 1 host system, but not the other (These things are supposed to be transferrable between hosts) :S

[plinydogg]

Thanks for trying :)

[Mike Halliday]

I have not given up just yet on this. I will keep coming back to it every so often until a solution is found.

[Mike Halliday]

After some investigation I think the problem is with the way PPL requires the runtimes to be registered.

When WINE launches a Windows application it is contained in its own memory space (Ie for the current runtime session), because of this PPL is unable to find the required windows components to allow it to register the runtimes.

PPL appears to require a full installation of Windows before it will work. When I say work, I really mean compile and run code. PPL itself does load under WINE, but thats about it. It will sort of compile your code, but the output is un-reliable.

I was certainly unable to execute any code, due to the lack of registered runtimes.

This is not a bug, it is just to way PPL runs.

Sadly, I am not sure that we will every be able to run PPL under LINUX, unless Alain makes a LINUX compatible version of PPL.

I will keep trying different ways round this problem, so keep watching.

Mike.

[Mike Halliday]

I have now completely removed Wind*ws from my machine and run Ubuntu 10.04lts - Its much quicker and more stable and does everything I need without paying MS for a license. :)

The upside is that all my PPL projects actually work under Wine! :D - The old newsletters run a treat! (Cant believe its almost a year since I stopped doing them)

Wine will now allow PPL1.60 to be fully installed and it works and allows for editing of your programs and sourecode etc. It will not however run the source code interactively, nor does it compile code that runs under WINE. For some reason, any app I created on Windows XP using PPL1.53 works fine, but anything I create under Ubuntu using PPL1.60 does not work! :(

Oh well....

Luckily I still have a Windows XP laptop to develop on, and once I have cleared out the office (via fleabay) I will have some time to carry on the development work.

I see that there are not many new posts on the forum. Does this mean that PPL is dying? I hope not!

[kornalius]

Hi Mike,

That is some amazing experiment you did. OMG, 1 year since you have stopped doing the Newsletters? Wow, time flies by so fast.

PPL is still active but dormant. We are working on iPhone games for the time being and hope to find a viable route to take for PPL 3 in the future. We are still thinking in which direction we should take the product.

[Mike Halliday]

I will experiment with PPLV2 to see if that fairs any better under Linux.

Dont know how much use it will be as PPL cant (yet) compile Linux binaries. But it should still open up some more development potential for other users.


I think I may have got my sums wrong. The last newsletter was in December 2009 so Its only bee 6 months and not 12. Still, the time has flown by quickly. Maybe in the future when PPL returns to its peak, I may take up the reins of newsletter editor again.

[kornalius]

You are more than welcome to join the team at any given time.

[Henerusic]

Kill yourself)

[Mike Halliday]

Kill yourself)

Severe! - Obviously some sort of kiddie with a death wish!

For everyone in the forum, I can't kill myself as I am immortal and will live for ever! ha ha

Seriously - Henerusic, you need therapy matey! - You really think that your words are going to hurt me or make me angry? such a child!

Your command of the English language is rubbish too - didn't finish school/still at school? - Since when do you finish off a sentence with a close bracket??? LMAO - ooo we got a really clever one here! :D

So sad. Joining all the forums you can on the same day ... Do you need friends little man?

Henerusic joined the following forums yesterday; - Almost at the same time

http://www.unrealkillers.com/member.php/315-Henerusic
http://www.fragnet.net/forums/member.php?795-Henerusic
http://www.nextgenupdate.com/forums/members/469539-henerusic.html
http://dailypaintworks.com/forum/member.php?27-Henerusic
http://www.ewzine.com/member.php?3843-Henerusic
http://www.camaro-scanners.co.uk/member.php?30-Henerusic
http://www.music.pbtone.com/f5/welcome-henerusic-213271/

From that I can tell that you like Camero cars, watch wrestling and play Unreal Tournament... or do you ....

Google is amazing, Especially when you use the same login name everywhere!

http://forum.sistersapps.com/showthread.php?p=767417 - The same post here too!

I'm bored with you now. I have more important things to do than make fake postings on every forum I find ..

Obvious spam bot? - me thinks so.