My wife has been using Filename Magic Pro for Windows for many years; she has version 1.00, which still appears to be the latest version. The software "offers robust functionality for batch renaming files within folders. It streamlines the process for organizing large collections of documents, music, or images." I transitioned her desktop PC from Microsoft Windows 11 to Ubuntu Linux 25.10 and installed Wine so that she could run Windows applications that she might want to still use on the Ubuntu system. I was able to install Filename Magic Pro and use it without any problems on the Ubuntu system. If you choose to have the program create a desktop shortcut during the installation, you will see two shortcuts on the desktop, Filename Magic Pro.desktop and Filename Magic Pro.lnk. If you right-click on Filename Magic Pro.desktop and choose Allow Launching, you can then double-click on the shortcut to start the application. You can delete the Filename Magic Pro.lnk by right-clicking on it and choosing Move to Trash.

When you start the program, if it is unregistered, you will see a countdown timer that counts down from 15.

You can wait to the countdown gets to zero or just close the countdown window to proceed, which will then lead to the display of the window below.

There is a "click here to purchase" link, but that no longer works; if you click on it, you will see a HTTP 404 error indicating the page no longer exists. But if you previously purchased a license as we had, you can transfer it from an old system to a new system or, in our case, from Windows to Linux by exporting the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\L5 Software Group registry keys, which you can do with the Windows registry editor, RegEdit, or you can download or copy this L5SoftwareGroup.reg file and edit it with a text editor, such as Windows Notepad and replace the AppRegKey Xs with your license key (be sure to save it with just the .reg extension and not a .txt file extension tacked on). You can add the registry keys to the registry used by Wine by opening a Terminal window and running the command wine regedit filename.reg where filename is the name of the .reg file.

jim@Wonderland:~$ wine regedit ~/Downloads/L5SoftwareGroup.reg 
jim@Wonderland:~$ 

When you then open the program, you won't see the countdown timer and can just click on OK. You can press Alt-Tab afterwards to get to the main Filename Magic Pro window.

[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

I installed Wine on an Ubuntu Linux system to be able to run Microsoft Windows applications on it. I installed Sumatra PDF to view PDF and EPUB files. When I double-clicked on EPUB files in the Wine File Explorer window, which you can run by issuing the command wine explorer in a Terminal window, or wine explorer &, if you wish to open it and immediately return to the shell prompt, I saw an Error window which stated "There is no Windows program configured to open this type of file." If I double-clicked on a PDF file, it would open in the GNOME Document Viewer application. I was able to set the default application for opening those files under Wine with the following steps:

1. From the Bash prompt in a Terminal window, run the Wine registry editor program to modify the Windows Registry with wine regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.epub and set (Default) = epubfile. If you don't see a .epub entry, right-click on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and choose New. You can press the F5 key or choose View and Refresh to refresh the display to show the new entry in alphabetical order.
3. If you then click on the .epub entry, you will see (Default) under Name, REG_SZ under Type, and (value not set) under Data.
4. Double-click on the entry and then type epubfile in the Value data field and then click on OK.
5. Then navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\epubfile\shell\open\command, if it exists. If there is no epubfile entry you can create one by right-clicking on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and selecting New and Key giving the new key a name of epubfile. Then double-click on the (Default) entry under the new key and type EPUB Document in the Value data field. Then right-click on the epubfile key and choose New and Key and type shell for the name. Right-click on shell and create a new, open beneath it. Then right-click on open and create a new key, command beneath open.
6. Then right click on the command key and choose New then String Value.
7. Double-click on the new (Default) entry under command and then type the location and file name for the application that you wish to use to open .epub files within double quotes followed by a space and then "%1", e.g. "C:\Program Files\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe" "%1", if you wish to open the files with Sumatra PDF and you installed it so that it is accessible to all users of the system. Or use "C:\users\username\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe " "%1", where username is the relevant username, if you chose to install it just for the current user when you installed it.

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[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

I downloaded a YouTube video on a Ubuntu Linux with yt-dlp. When I tried to view the downloaded WebM file with the default video application, Videos, also known as Totem, which is an application for playing videos that is provided with Ubuntu, I saw the message below:

When I opened the video with VLC, which I had previously installed, I heard audio, but no video was displayed. I checked to see if the Nvidia driver was up-to-date since the system had an Nvidia graphics card, but they were up-to-date. You can check that by clicking on the Show Apps button at the lower-right-hand corner of the screen Ubuntu desktop. Then type Software Updates in the "Type to search" field. Click on Software & Updates and then click on the Additional Drivers.

To resolve the problem, I added the following line to the /etc/environment file with a text editor:

GDK_GL=gles

When I rebooted the system, I was then able to view the video with the default Videos application, though when I tried playing it in VLC I could hear audio, but did not see video.

[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

Then from the Behavior tab, I changed the setting from Follow System to Always, which resulted in the scrollbar appearing where it had been missing, but I could not scroll back any further than the text that had been appearing in the tab before I changed the settiing and that remained the same whenever I issued another command and text moved upwards, so that I could no longer see it or scroll back to see it, so I closed the tab.

When I opened another tab, the scrollbar was there and operated as expected.

[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

From a CD, I installed Microsoft Office 2007 under Wine, so that my wife could edit her Microsoft Publisher files on an Ubuntu Linux system. I also installed Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. All three seemed to be working OK when I checked them after the installation completed. I was able to open the programs from the File Explorer by issuing the command wine explorer from a shell prompt in a Terminal window and then navigating to the directory, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12, where the applications were located. I could also start Publisher by issuing the command below in a Terminal window:

wine "/home/alice@Wonderland/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Office/Office12/MSPUB.EXE"

To make it easer for my wife to open Publisher, though, I created a shortcut on her Ubuntu desktop. To create a shortcut you can take the following steps:

Open a Terminal window and create a new .desktop file on your desktop. You can use the nano editor or another text editor to create the file. E.g., nano ~/Desktop/AppName.desktop.

You then need to have lines like the following ones in the file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Name of Your Application
Exec=wine "/home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/AppName/app.exe"
Type=Application
Icon=wine
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true

You need to use the absolute path the the .exe file for the program and, if the directory path contains a space, you must enclose the path within quotes. Also, you need to replace username with your username on the system. For Publisher, I could use the following lines:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Publisher
Exec=wine "/home/alice@Wonderland/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Office/Office12/MSPUB.EXE"
Type=Application
Icon=wine
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true

If you use the nano text editor, you can hit Ctrl+X, the Y, then Enter to save the file. You then need to make the shortcut executable, which you can do by right-clicking on the file on the desktop, selecting Properties, and then makng sure "Executable as Program" is on. Or you can use the chmod command to make the file excutable by a command like chmod +x ~/Desktop/AppName.desktop . You then need to permit launching of the application from the shortcut by right-clicking on it and selecting Allow Launching.

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[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

My wife was using Advanced Diary for journaling on a Microsoft Windows system, but wanted to transition to Linux, so I installed Ubuntu Linux and then, since there is no Linux version of Advanced Diary, I installed Advanced Diary under Wine. She wanted to adjust the size of the Advanced Diary window, but when she attempted to adjust the window size by clicking on the Restore Down icon at the top right side of the window (between the dash and the "X"), the Advanced Diary window became transparent and it was not possible to close it or adjust the size of the transparent box that appeared for the Advanced Diary window. So I had to open a Terminal window to determine the process ID (PID) of the Advanced Diary process with the ps and then kill that process with the kill command. I could also have used the killall command killall AdvancedDiary.exe. I tried closing and opening the program several times. The behavior was consistent — the window would become transparent whenever I tried resizing or minimizing the window. If you are using the GNOME desktop, you can use the steps below to try to resolve the problem. GNOME is the default desktop environment for Ubuntu, but you can verify it is the desktop in use by the command echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP.

Steps that may resolve the problem:

1. Run winecfg in a Terminal window.

2. In the Wine configuration window, click on the Graphics tab.
3. Toggle the settings for "Allow the window manager to decorate the windows" and "Allow the window manager to control the windows" one by one to see if one of those settings change the behavior. When I toggled off "Allow the window manager to decorate the windows", I now no longer saw the icons to adjust the size of the window or minimize the window at the top of the Wine window for Advanced Diary, but when I clicked where I expected them to appear, the window became transparent again. I toggled the setting back on and then toggled off the "Allow the window manager to control the windows" setting. That resolved the problem. I then closed the window and reopened Advanced Diary and toggled that setting on again, also, so that both settings were checked. I could still adjust the window size as expected. I closed and reopened the application several times and was still able to adjust the window size, so just toggling the "Allow the window manager to control the windows" setting off and then back on seemed to resolve the problem.

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[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

I needed to install Advanced Diary on an Ubuntu Linux system. for someone who had been using the program for journaling on a Microsoft Windows system. I had previously installed Wine, a program that allows one to run Windows applications on Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD systems. I used AdvDiary.sh, which contains the following lines, to install Advanced Diary:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -e

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
  echo "Usage: $0 AdvancedDiarySetup.exe"
  exit 1
fi

INSTALLER="$(realpath "$1")"
PREFIX="$HOME/.wine-advdiary"

echo "Creating 32-bit Wine prefix..."
export WINEPREFIX="$PREFIX"
export WINEARCH=win32
winecfg -v win7 >/dev/null 2>&1 || true

echo "Installing required components (gdiplus, corefonts)..."
winetricks -q gdiplus corefonts

echo "Forcing native GDI+..."
cat > "$PREFIX/user.reg" <<'EOF'
[Software\\Wine\\DllOverrides]
"gdiplus"="native"
EOF

echo "Running Advanced Diary installer..."
wine "$INSTALLER"

echo
echo "✔ Installation complete"
echo "Run with:"
echo "WINEPREFIX=$PREFIX wine \"$PREFIX/drive_c/Program Files/Advanced Diary/Diary.exe\""

To run it, you need to assign "execute" permission to the file, which can be done in a Terminal window with chmod + x filename or chmod a+x filename to make a file executable by all users or chmod u+x filename to make it executable by just the owner of the file, i.e., the user.

alice@Wonderland:~/Downloads$ chmod u+x install-advanced-diary.sh 
alice@Wonderland:~/Downloads$ 

When I ran the shell script .sh file, I realized I hadn't installed Winetricks beforehand, so I installed it with sudo apt install winetricks after running the script. I then reran the installation script for Advanced Diary. The installation completed successfully — I selected the option to have the program opened automatically at the conclusion of the installation — and it appeared to open normally (I had to press Enter in the terminal window to return to the shell prompt).

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[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

You can run the Big Fish Games Game Manager on an Ubuntu Linux system under Steam. You can install Steam as a Snap package from the Ubuntu App Center.

Steps:

1. Download the Big Fish Games App (Game Manager) for PC
2. In Steam on the Ubuntu system, click on Add a Game, which is at the lower, left-hand corner of the Steam window, then select Add a Non-Steam Game, then browse to where you downloaded the .exe installer for the game manager, click on it, and then click on Add Selected Programs.
3. You should then see the Big Fish Game Manager in the "Uncategorized" list of games at the left side of the Steam window, e.g., you may see bfginstaller32_s1_l1.exe listed. Right-click on it and then select Properties, then Compatibility, and then, from the drop-down list that becomes available, select Proton Experimental or the latest stable version — I selected Proton Experimental.
4. You can then close the Compatibility window by clicking on the "X" at the upper, right-hand corner.
5. Then with the Big Fish Game Manager selected in the Uncategorized list, click on the Play button to launch the Big Fish Game Manager Setup and agree to the License Agreement when you see it appear.

When I started the install process, the installation appeared to hang at "Execute: C:\Program Files (x86)\bfglient\epoch.exe". When I clicked on the title bar for the window, I saw "About Wine", so it appeared to be using Wine, which I had previously installed on the Ubuntu system. But I waited and eventually the installation succeeded, though I think it took over 15 minutes. I closed the window and then went back to the Steam window, I saw bfginstaller32_s1_l1.exe was still there. This time when I clicked on it, the Big Fish window where I could sign in to Big Fish Games opened fairly quickly.

Note: if the window goes blank or displays just a white background, minimize it by clicking on the "-" in the upper, right-hand corner of the Big Fish window and then switch to it again, which you can do with Alt+Tab — continue to press the Tab key while continuing to hold down the Alt key to cycle between open open windows until you get to the Big Fish window.

Initially, you will see "No games to play," but if you have already purchased games that you've played on another system, you can click on Purchase History and install them on the Linux system. When I installed the Big Fish Games Manager under Steam, I had my wife check one of her games, Aquascapes, and that ran fine. I then closed the Big Fish window and the Steam window and reopened it. Note: if you want to change the name that appears for Big Fish Games in the Uncategorized list, you can right-click on the entry, e.g., bfginstaller32_s1_l1.exe, and choose Properties and then change the "Shortcut" value to something you prefer, such as "Big Fish Games". When I reopened Steam and started Big Fish Games, I saw the Aquascapes game under "My Games".

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

To access a directory that is shared from a Microsoft Windows system in a Windows domain, you can take the following steps on a Ubuntu Linux system. Note: you will need to have a package installed that provides Server Message Block (SMB) support. If the libsmclient0 package is installed, you should be able to use these steps. You can check if it is installed by opening a Terminal window and issuing the command dpkg -s libsmbclient0. If it is not installed, you can install it with sudo apt install libsmbclient0.

alice@Wonderland:~$ dpkg -s libsmbclient0
Package: libsmbclient0
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 259
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
Architecture: amd64
Multi-Arch: same
Source: samba
Version: 2:4.22.3+dfsg-4ubuntu2.2
Replaces: libsmbclient
Provides: libsmbclient (= 2:4.22.3+dfsg-4ubuntu2.2)
Depends: samba-libs (= 2:4.22.3+dfsg-4ubuntu2.2), libbsd0 (>= 0.0), libc6 (>= 2.38), libndr6 (>= 2:4.17.2), libtalloc2 (>= 2.0.4~git20101213), libtevent0t64 (>= 0.15.0)
Breaks: libsmbclient (<< 2:4.22.3+dfsg-4ubuntu2.2)
Description: shared library for communication with SMB/CIFS servers
 This package provides a shared library that enables client applications
 to talk to Microsoft Windows and Samba servers using the SMB/CIFS
 protocol.
Homepage: https://www.samba.org
Original-Maintainer: Debian Samba Maintainers <pkg-samba-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org>
alice@Wonderland:~$

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link