Thread: Feature Request Ubuntu (or Linux) version
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Old 07-30-2016, 01:02 PM   #18
kaseki
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Join Date: Jul 2016

Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 19
Update 1

Having found my keycodes for versions 99(E - L), 1 and 2, I decided to do some experimenting.

It is possible to install versions .99L, V2, and V3 under Crossover on Linux Mint 17.3 MATE, and very likely most other distributions that Crossover supports. As installed, none of these installations will do more than present the initial keycode entry menu (and in the case of ver. 3, the configuration menu). The reason for this is pretty obscure, and not obvious in Wine's documentation that I've found so far. It is necessary with Wine to use an /s switch to get an executable screen saver to run even as a video window. This can be done by constructing a suitable command that can be built into a link (lnk).

Note that Crossover constructs individual "bottles" for instances of Wine tailored to particular programs using one of several Windows flavors.

Version 99L when commanded to run with the /s switch operates, but with two deficiencies: it is always night in the aquarium and there is a horizontal pattern in the background. Bubble sound works.

Version 2 when run with the /s switch crashes. I did not investigate it further.

Version 3.3 was my primary target to get running. With the /s switch in play targeted at drive_c/Windows/system32/MarineAquarium3.scr within the bottle established for this program under Crossover, the executable provides a black window, and presents the first menu for installing the keycode in a second window. The TESTFISH keycode when submitted opens the configuration menu. When this menu is OK'd the video window presents an even more beautiful dynamic seascape than the V2 and earlier versions did. Fabulous! Right clicking allows toggling between window'd and full screen operation.

In my case, s key actuation reports that Marine Aquarium is running at 60 fps (appropriate for my HP IPS monitor) with 1920 x 1200 x 32 resolution. This is using pure hardware video processing on my PC's GeForce 9800GT. I am using the nVidia 340.96 driver.

However, there is no sound. The bubbles are running, the sound is "ON" in the configuration menu, but nothing is heard. No guitar is heard either. Wine's console audio tab for this bottle contains an audio test button that when actuated produces a sound. Mint uses Pulse Audio and the Wine instance operating ver. 3.3 is using winepulse.drv as expected. An unrelated program in a different bottle generates sound normally.

So, at the moment I have a beautiful moving art form with quiet bubbles. This is worth the price itself. I will continue to pursue any hints I find for getting the sound running. (Of course, if I need a real keycode to turn the sound on, I guess I'll discover that soon.)

kas
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