I am currently trying to pension off my old Thinkpad laptop on the boat running Windows 2000 pro but one critical application I run (Transas Navigator) requires the presence of a Sentinel superpro USB dongle to validate software and appropriate charts. All attempts to get this software running under wine 1.0 on Ubuntu 8.04 fail, primarily because the App can't see the dongle driver (linux or windows). Extensive searches on the internet indicate that this is a moderately common problem under wine and there are some hints that a solution my be "on the horizon" I would be grateful if anyone could confirm that sometime in the future this problem can be circumvented.

Have you asked their technical support. If enough people request a linux driver....

http://www.transas.com/x/forms/support/

Maptech's Outdoor Navigator runs on a PDA, but claims that it can be loaded and serviced by a linux computer:

http://www.sailmagazine.com/sailellison.pdf

as can zCapn from Nautical Technologies (same document)

Also (runs on Java, so can be used via linux),

http://www.navgator.com/ConsumerProducts.html

and

http://www.barcosoft.com/seafarer/seafarer.html

Software solution can be "on the horizon" for a very long time, before they really do arrive. And even then it still has to be seen if they truly work. Dongles are supposed to play difficult outside their own permitted playground, that's the reason why they exist.

In a similar situation I would rather keep that laptop intact, if the dongle-based software is really required.

Thanks for the replies, I was aware of other navigator packages that run under Linux - Software On Board, nominally a windows package that will allegedly run under wine is probable the best but for performance, Transas Navigator is the best by far (for my needs) and I am not prepared to "Downgrade" to a raster based application. I would keep the Thinkpad a little longer - it's been very reliable, but I also run DrDepth and it's struggling for memory and processor speed.

I've built a little purpose boat computer with dual core Pentiums but need an OS that will support my Apps - the prospect of having to buy a copy of Vista appalls me! I'd sooner gargle razor blades.

I'll fill in the Tech support request to Transas but when you realise that leisure boating is a tiny backwater and their systems are mainly used on large commercial setups..........

I can't think of how to fix that without Transas making a Linux equivalent or putting effort into a Linux kernel module + WINE code to support what you want. It really depends a lot on what sort of driver is needed for that dongle; if there is already an existing driver which works with the chip, then WINE just needs to be modified to make it available to the software (not as trivial as it may sound). If a kernel module needs to be written as well - augh! Even with cooperation from the manufacturer it would take some time - I'd say at least 2 months of someone working full time on it (if they already know what they're doing).

I was thinking you might consider XP embedded (for x86) + virtualbox + Linux (Linux as guest), but I don't know what MS will charge for XPe.

Thanks I understand the severity of the problem but I was hoping the gamers etc, who also suffer this problem, may have exerted their influence. As for virtualbox - I tried that; w2k as guest under Ubuntu but apparently, I'd need to swap out my processor to dual core duo as the older Pentiums don't support VT-x - even that would be a gamble. Win2K (I have a genuine unused copy) would be the answer but Intel have withdrawn w2k support for the Mobo and all attempts to load it fail - but I'm still working on that one. However, I would prefer to go the Linux route longer term for many reasons not least that having used at least 12 totally different OS's in my life, I can honestly say I never want to use Microsoft's presumptuous, interfering bloatware ever again.

Might it run under freedos or reactOS?

http://www.freedos.org/

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

Thanks for the info - I might give those a try!

Try to search USB in winehq wiki.