I am very new to linux and am trying hard to use linux and get away from windows. All of my computer use has been with windows specifically the GUI, I have not used the command line at all. I have Suse linux 9.2 pro installed and all went well with the install and configuration of sound ensoniq pci 128, modem best data v.92external , scanner epson 2450, printer Hp 932c
and is obvious even got on the net using mozzila firefox, and evolution for email. But my daughter is on a bible quiz team and she uses a quiz program that we need to use and it is inconvenient to shut doawn linux and boot win XP to do this. Could someone talk a newbie through the process of using this program with wine. The program name is Question Writer Pro It works fine in win xp and win 98. I am using an amd 700 mghz duron cpu, and have win xp installed on a 30 gig quantum fireball HD, and Suse linux on a 20 gig western didital HD. Ihave a liteon 16x dvd player, and a cdrw writer .

Once wine is installed, you would drop into a console and issue wine /path/to/file/setup.exe.

Or were you after more specific help? Have a look at www.winehq.org and www.frankscorner.org

I guess I need more help. I read the links you sent me but I really can't make heads or tails of it. I really need step by step instuctions. when you sssaid wine/path/to/file/setup.exe I am not sure what it is I need to type into each area, as I said before I am not at all familiar with thecommand line if it does'nt have an Icon I guess I am lost. I appreciate your patience I am trying but am somehow missing something that is real obvious.

Path to file:
in Windows, you would do (as an example) Start --> Run --> d:\setup.exe
in Linux you would open a console and type (let's say for this example that Linux accepts .exe files)
/mnt/cdrom/setup.exe

All Windows does is assign a letter to the path - d:\ does the same thing as /mnt/cdrom

So, using our example, to run something under wine, you would open a console and type:
wine /mnt/cdrom/setup.exe

In a console type in dir /mnt so you can see what your cd drive is set as. You can then transfer that to our example above.

I am new to Linux myself, and also new to wine, but maybe that is no bad thing, as i will maybe understand where you are coming from.

Assuming you have installed wine, then installing apps is not normally too difficult (getting them to run is another matter though...)

It depends what type of installer your quiz program is using - you may need to install the windows app DCOM98 - see here http://www.frankscorner.org/index.php?p=ishield for some good instructions. Your fake windows files are normally somewhere like /var/lib/wine and you should see your 'normal' type windows folders like 'Program files' etc. Just plonk your DCOM98 download there (you'll probably need it in future, if not for your quiz app).

In a console, goto your /var/lib/wine directory (or wherever your fake C drive is) and type WINEDLLOVERRIDES="ole32=n" wine dcom98.exe as per the link above to install DCOM98.

Take your quiz app installer (from CD, website, wherever it is) and run it by typing wine 'name of app.exe' in the command line from your wine folder. If this doesn't work, you may have to type WINEDLLOVERRIDES="ole32,oleaut32,rpcrt4=n" wine 'name of app.exe' instead.

Once your app has installed, it may be that it has various W*ndows dll files that it requires to run (then again it may not). If you try and run your newly installed app by typing wine 'name of my app.exe' into the console and it throws a wobbly and prints a load of errors about 'such-and-such.dll' file then you know what is missing. Get hold of this dll from your real windows folders (if dual boot) or CD or from www.dlldump.com , or whatever and stick it in your fake windows 'system' folder. You should have a config file for wine in your user home folder (in a folder called .wine). This config file can be appended with information to tell it to look at certain dll files for certain apps.

If for exapmple you had an app called 'blibble.exe' and it required a file called 'blah.dll' (which you had got hold of and put in your fake windows system folder) then you would put the following in your config file:

[AppDefaults\\blibble.exe\\DllOverrides]
"blah" = "native"

Clear as mud?