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More => Old Versions => Media Center 14 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 01:24:19 pm

Title: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux? (solved, MC14 running OK in Crossover)
Post by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 01:24:19 pm
Hi all

Just wondering if anyone has succeeded in getting MC14 running on Linux, either under Wine or Crossover.

I've never bothered before, but now that MC supports TRemote, it would be great to be able to run MC on my Linux laptop for the purpose of remote controlling the MC running on my HTPC.  I normally do this by running MC in a Windows XP Virtual Machine (using VMWare), but it'd be nicer to have it running straight in Linux.

Unfortunately I'm not having any luck getting it to run.  I am trying in CrossOver Linux 8 Professional.  I've tried the method defined in the Wiki (install IE6 and Windows Media Player first), and I've tried both Windows XP and Windows 2000 bottles.  But in all cases, MC won't run.

It installs OK, and then the splash screen appears and disappears, but MC itself never appears.  Looking in my Linux task list I see the Media Center 14 process listed as defunct:

tomj     29098     1  2 19:08 ?        00:00:00 [Media Center 14] <defunct>

Anyone had any more luck than me?


Thanks


Tom
Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: JimH on September 04, 2009, 01:32:21 pm
It's been done many times.  I'm not sure how good or current it is, but this is the FAQ thread on this board:

Linux:  How to run MC under Wine by Scott_R
http://www.wand.net.nz/~smr26/wordpress/?page_id=42

Thanks (again), Scott!
More here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32250.0

Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 01:38:42 pm
Hi Jim

Quote from: JimH on September 04, 2009, 01:32:21 pm
It's been done many times.  I'm not sure how good or current it is, but this is the FAQ thread on this board:

I know, I've followed those guides but unfortunately it's not working for MC 14.  All the guides I've seen refer to MC 12 or before, so I suspect something is different now in MC14.  One obvious example of difference is that the Wiki entry refers to installing MC under Linux using a Windows 98 Wine bottle, but MC14 doesn't support Windows 98 at all, so one has to try XP or 2000.

So I'm looking to see if anyone has installed MC 14 specifically on Linux.

By the way, the first link on the Wiki - Scott's blog at http://www.wand.net.nz/~smr26/wordpress/?page_id=42 - is an empty page, so you might want to remove that (unless it's just a temporary issue.)
Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 03:03:05 pm
I've identified the error that appears to break MC14.

Unhandled exception: unimplemented function dwmapi.dll.DwmEnableBlurBehindWindow called in 32-bit code (0x7b840c39).

I'll continue to research solutions within Wine/Crossover itself.

But a question for the MC developers:  is there any mode/option/skin with which one could run MC such that it didn't call  dwmapi.dll.DwmEnableBlurBehindWindow  ?  It appears to be a graphical UI command that sounds purely aesthetical.  So I'm wondering if there's any way to get MC to run in an 'ugly' or 'basic' way such that it wouldn't try to execute the DwmEnableBlurBehindWindow  function.  I tried a couple of different skins, and also running MC in safe mode (when it prompted for that on the second run, after the first crashed),  but haven't had any luck so far.
Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: JimH on September 04, 2009, 03:13:34 pm
Are  you trying to run Theater View?  Did you try Standard View? 

On a default install, I don't think there's any 3D drawing, but there may be some animation.
Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 03:21:41 pm
Quote from: JimH on September 04, 2009, 03:13:34 pm
Are  you trying to run Theater View?  Did you try Standard View? 

On a default install, I don't think there's any 3D drawing, but there may be some animation.

This happens on first run, after the splash screen disappears.  The MC window itself never actually displays, so I don't get the chance to try Theater View or anything else.

What's interesting is that it appears dwapi is a Vista-only library?  So I'm not sure why it's being called when Wine is telling MC that it's on Windows XP or Windows 2000.

I'm looking for ways in Wine to completely disable dwapi.dll, as if it wasn't there, but haven't succeeeded so far.
Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 03:44:32 pm
Edited:  Alt problem fixed, mini guide below updated.

Ahhh! So close!

I have now go it to load, and to work pretty well - including TRemote.  But there's one outstanding bizarre and annoying issue, which is that it crashes every time I press Alt.  Which is really annoying because I am constantly hitting Alt-Tab to switch windows, and MC picks up the Alt, does something with it and then dies with an Unhandled Page Fault On Read exception in Wine.

I wonder if there's any way to stop MC from processing the Alt key?  That would work around whatever this problem is for me.

Here's a mini guide for anyone else wanting to run MC 14 in Linux:

How I got MC 14 to run (mostly) in Crossover

Title: Re: Anyone had luck running MC14 on Linux?
Post by: tjobbins on September 04, 2009, 04:19:14 pm
OK I've solved the Alt key problem.  It was caused by the Remote Control feature - I guess this module taps into the Alt key somehow.

To disable it, go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Features and untick Remote Control, then restart MC.

So now I have a working TRemote on Linux.  Awesome!  Screen refreshes are a bit slow, but it's much better than having to load a fat Windows XP virtual machine when I don't need to.