I'm once again trying to make Linux work for me as a composer. Last Spring I gave it a good go, but gave up after a few weeks. This time I got pretty far, getting the NI Kontakt Player working. Also, Garritan Personal Orchestra.
Then disaster struck. I was on Ubuntu Studio, and after an update Kontakt would no longer work. I fumbled around quite a bit, then started trying other distros. AV Linux is probably the best choice, but I don't like MX Linux. Ditto for Manjaro, which a lot of the guys on Reaper use. I installed Zorin 16 Core last night on my music rig. I'm basically starting over, and am hoping the overall excellence of Zorin OS will help me this time, as well as this great forum.
I'm confused as to whether Zorin 16 Core has wine preinstalled. I think it does but I can't find it anywhere. In any case, I usually have to use Wine Staging to get things to work. I think I was on 7.0 or 7.1 before the update broke everything.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed at this point? Just try installing stuff with the built-in Windows installer? Use Play On Linux? Winetricks? Q4Wine? I'm familiar with all three of those front-ends for Wine, but I have a tendency to plunge in, and this often leads me to become hopelessly confused by the various fixes I've attempted. I'm hoping to be more organized this time.
I see that you can install wine and its variants in the software center. WineHQ in my experience is so confusing. I think they do it intentionally, believing that this will force you to learn the "right" way of doing things. but for most of us this is just irritating!
Thanks Aravisian. I have indeed found Play On Linux helpful.
I found this tutorial. Looks pretty good, what do you think? I like the idea of installing from the software center, as opposed to using the terminal. I have never even attempted downloading directly from WineHQ, it looks like a minefield to me.
Yes, you certainly can install from the Software Store, as well.
If I may... I would still encourage you to use the terminal.
You mention a minefield. What makes a minefield particular is that you cannot see the mines.
This can be true with the Software store... as user @Frog can attest.
The terminal will notify you of all changes and this includes where packages are being removed or replaced. The store gives no notifications and with something complex, that can make things tricky.
Thanks again aravisian. I have no aversion to the terminal, I use it every day. the tutorial has some good info if I go that route, which I probably will. One thing I have not been able to figure out: how to install a specific version of wine staging. Try as I might, iIcannot find any info on how to do this. Everybody assumes you want the latest, so they give you the "recommends" qualifier, which gets you the latest version. I have tried amending the install command with the version number, like so: "wine-staging=7.1~focal", but I always get the "can't locate package" error.
I just installed the basic wine package as you suggested. My next step will probably be to install staging 7.0. I see the software center has it, but if I go the terminal route, I can't figure out the right command to get 7.0, and not 7.2. I suppose I could just go with the latest and hope for the best. I know about the dependencies. I always do this stuff from tutorials as it is complex and so much can go wrong.
Just to wrap this up, for the few people who may be interested:
I went back to Ubuntu Studio, where things like this are just easier. What I have learned is this:
If you want to use Windows/Mac apps, like the Kontakt Player, you do need Wine Staging. I ended up using version 6.17, which is the latest that Play On Linux will install. It's just one or two removed from 7.0, so pretty recent. The other thing you need to do is configure Wine for Windows 10, as this is the now the minimum Windows system that their products will work with.
I was able to install both the Kontakt Player, as well as Garritan Personal Orchestra 4, an older product but still good. For that I configured wine for Windows 7, since it is an older product. Both apps work perfectly, both in sound and GUI. Just like I'm on windows. Amazing. It almost feels illegal.
I used Play On Linux because you can easily create a separate "prefix" (which just means directory) for each install, and configure wine however you need to. Also, it allows you to have different versions of Wine, which otherwise is difficult, if not impossible, to do.