Windows Newsreaders under Linux HOWTO
Prev		Next

3. Dialog

3.1. Setting up Dialog

3.1.1. Configuring Wine for Dialog

Wine is capable of "emulating" many different versions of Windows. Wine is not perfect, however; it runs slower than a normal Windows installation and it is not a stable product. Certain problems occur when running Dialog; these are discussed in the "Problems and Issues" section of the document. Note that Wine versions greater than 20030813 will not "emulate" Dialog properly.

Before Dialog or its installer can run under Linux, certain files from a Windows installation need to be copied to the directory containing Dialog's installer, and after installation, Dialog's root directory. Depending on which version of Windows the reader of this document has access to, there will be different files to copy and different instructions for configuring Wine. This document currently covers a Windows 98SE and a Windows XP configuration. Below are the instructions describing how to configure Wine for Dialog.

3.1.1.1. Windows 98SE

If you have access to a Windows 98SE machine, the Wine configuration file (found at $HOME/.wine/config) must be set up according to these instructions.

First, find the section "[Version]" in the .wine/config file, and make sure that "win98" is the version Wine will imitate:
[Version] ; Windows version to imitate (win95,win98,winme,nt351,nt40,win2k,winxp,win20,win30,win31) "Windows" = "win98"

Next, add an entry to the "AppDefaults" section which will also tell Wine to use certain files from Windows rather than Wine.
;; sample AppDefaults entries [AppDefaults\\dialog.exe\\DllOverrides] "commctrl.dll" = "native" "comctl32.dll" = "native" "riched32.dll" = "native"

3.1.1.2. Windows XP

If you have access to a Windows XP machine, you must set up the Wine configuration file (found at $HOME/.wine/config) according to these instructions.

Second, add an entry to the "AppDefaults" section which will tell Wine to use certain files from Windows rather than Wine.
;; sample AppDefaults entries [AppDefaults\\dialog.exe\\DllOverrides] "comctl32.dll" = "native" "riched32.dll" = "native" "riched20.dll" = "native"

3.1.2. Copying and/or Installing Required Files

Several DLL files must first be copied to the root Dialog directory from an existing Windows installation.

If Dialog lies on a Windows partition on the same machine, you must copy the DLL files to the Dialog root directory. Dialog will be run from this directory on the Windows partition.

If Dialog is being run on a Linux-only machine, you must download Dialog to your fake C drive (usually $HOME/c). You must then use the supplied installer according to the instructions in the subsection below entitled "Using the Installer." Alternatively, you may copy an existing Dialog folder to your fake C drive. The root Dialog directory must include the DLL files mentioned in the following subsections.

3.1.2.1. Using the Installer

To extract the archive which contains the Dialog installer, open up a terminal window, navigate to your fake C drive (where Dialog was downloaded to) and type:
unzip 40td2b28.zip
The name of the file may be different depending on the version of Dialog downloaded.

In order for the installer to work correctly, certain DLL files from Windows need to be copied to the directory where the installer is located. If you have access to a Windows 98SE machine, copy the file riched32.dll to your fake C drive. If you have access to a Windows XP machine, copy the files riched20.dll and riched32.dll to your fake C drive.

Finally, to install Dialog, open up a terminal window, navigate to your fake C drive, and type:
wine SETUP.EXE
Installation of Dialog should work fine from here. Be sure to copy the DLL files mentioned in the rest of this section to your Dialog root directory before running the program.

3.1.2.2. Copying required files - Windows 98SE

If you have access to a Windows 98SE machine, copy the files commctrl.dll, comctl32.dll, and riched32.dll (usually in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\) to your root Dialog directory.

3.1.2.3. Copying required files - Windows XP

If you have access to a Windows XP machine, copy the files comctl32.dll, riched20.dll, and riched32.dll (usually in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ to your root Dialog directory.

3.2. Running Dialog

Using a terminal window, navigate to the root Dialog directory and type:
wine dialog.exe

Use Dialog normally, noting the exceptions in the next section, entitled "Problems and Issues" Note that these are problems with Wine's "emulation," not Dialog.

3.3. Problems and Issues

3.3.1. Dragging the vertical scrollbar's placeholder doesn't work

Dragging the vertical scrollbar's placeholder within the message list will cause it to bounce back to its original position. To get around this, hold down the mouse at the down arrow of the scrollbar, or use your mouse's wheel if it has one.

3.3.2. Strange error message about fontinfo.dat

You may occasionally get an error message about the file fontinfo.dat needing to be rebuilt. Ignore this, as it doesn't seem to affect the program in any way.

3.3.3. Window sizing problems

Depending on the window manager used, the window may need to be re-maximized after switching to another window. Other sizing problems might be present as well.

3.3.4. Fixed-width fonts and alt.ascii-art

ASCII art requires fixed-width fonts to view. Only the font "Misc Fixed" will work.

To change the font, go into Settings - General Settings - Fonts/Colors. Change the "Bodies (monospaced)" font to "Misc Fixed."

Prev	Home	Next
Xnews		Free Agent