IMatch in Linux

[pajaro]

Have anyone tried installing IMatch in Linux recently? I did that with IMatch 5.7.2 and Linux Mint 18, used PlayOnLinux and actually managed (after some tweaks - installing the current 64-bit version of Wine and Gecko) to start IMatch. However, there is an error message on start-up (Scripting not available; see screenshot). My question is - is there an easy way how to get scripting work? There are numerous Windows components that can be installed in PlayOnLinux, but as I am not expert I just do not know where to look.

Thanks,

Pavel.

[Mario]

This looks like IMatch was unable to register the scripting component (see IMatch log file for additional details).
IMatch registers the component during the installation. If IMatch detects that the scripting component is not registered and it runs under an Admin account (Run as Admin...) it tries to register the component. Try that.

Besides that I don't know anything about PlayOnLinux . It tries to run Windows applications without actually using Windows and that's prone to problems I guess.

[pajaro]

This looks like IMatch was unable to register the scripting component (see IMatch log file for additional details).
IMatch registers the component during the installation. If IMatch detects that the scripting component is not registered and it runs under an Admin account (Run as Admin...) it tries to register the component. Try that.

Besides that I don't know anything about PlayOnLinux . It tries to run Windows applications without actually using Windows and that's prone to problems I guess.

Thanks, Mario. I will try to run as admin (provided that I figure out how to do that in PlayOnLinux  ).

[ianrr]

I would so dearly love to use Imatch on Linux !  getting very tired of windows 10 ... most of my good photo programs run also under mac, so mac I believe is a based on a distro of Linux.

Spend so much time just updating and dealing with windows issues ... avoiding potential virus issues/instability ...  everything I run under LinuxMint ( derived from Ubuntu ) is rock solid  ... seriously
started working on a LinuxMint with Win 7 VMWARE virtual machine to run Imatch and Photo programs. Can lock the Virtual machine off ever seeing the net ..  Please advise if there is any success with PlayonLinux  ....

[pajaro]

I would so dearly love to use Imatch on Linux !  getting very tired of windows 10 ... most of my good photo programs run also under mac, so mac I believe is a based on a distro of Linux.

Spend so much time just updating and dealing with windows issues ... avoiding potential virus issues/instability ...  everything I run under LinuxMint ( derived from Ubuntu ) is rock solid  ... seriously
started working on a LinuxMint with Win 7 VMWARE virtual machine to run Imatch and Photo programs. Can lock the Virtual machine off ever seeing the net ..  Please advise if there is any success with PlayonLinux  ....

I tried installing IMatch on Linux in the past using Wine but was not successful. This time I am at least able to load IMatch so I am a little optimistic. I will be experimenting with the PlayOnLinux settings to see if I manage to resolve the Scripting not available issue. So far I have resisted Win10 installation. My main PC (with IMatch and other photo-related software) still runs Win 7, other computers run Linux Mint. I am very happy with it and have no plans installing Win10.

In any case, I will let you know if there is any progress with IMatch and PlayOnLinux.

[Mario]

so mac I believe is a based on a distro of Linux.

Not really. The Mac operating system is a UNIX, but not based on Linux. OSX was build based on the Next operating system (a former company of Steven Jobs) which was build itself based on another UNIX (I don't recall which right now).

everything I run under LinuxMint ( derived from Ubuntu ) is rock solid

Lucky you. I work with Ubuntu and Linux applications and I see them crashing as often as Windows applications. Ubuntu itself is as stable as Windows 10 on my systems. I get it only to crash very occasionally, mostly when working on videos. Probably a graphic driver issue.  Since MSI fixed the memory bug in the BIOS on my motherboard, Windows 10 has never crashed on me again - and this for a developer PC which is maxed out very often and used for long hours.

I think it depends on what you do, the hardware you run and the kind of applications you use. I''m no fan of the "Linux is so much better" statement. Because It is not. It's free though. Although you can say it's paid for by all the volunteers who work on it for free - and who have earn a living by working at IT companies, including Microsoft.

Microsoft is opening up big time right now. They release a lot of stuff into the Open Source, even work on projects which make it possible to run Linux software natively on Windows and vice versa. Operating systems or the differences between them will start to vanish in the foreseeable future.  It's all going back into the data center (now "the cloud") and users will just use software that's hosted somewhere, without knowing or caring much for whatever operating system runs it.

The upcoming  IMatch Anywhere^TM is a (big) step into this direction. While at this time IMatch WebServices^TM still needs a Windows environment, the user interface IMatch WebViewer^TM runs on any device and operating system. It's browser based, responsive and enables users to browse IMatch databases locally or remotely using any modern web browser.

This is great if you want to view images on your tablet or smart TV at home - or if you want to make parts of your image library accessible to clients and friends. It's even greater for corporate or institutional IMatch users who then can roll out a company-wide DAM solution by installing IMatch and IMatch WebServices on a single PC. Users just connect using their web browser - whether it's a Windows, Android or a OSX device.


Besides: You can run IMatch and other Windows applications under Linux easily when you use something like VirtualBox, or Docker maybe. I do. Since you in this case have a real Windows running, typical problems caused by simulation layers like 'Wine' are not an issue.

Oh, and about viruses: Linux is currently not a main target for virus developers because it is not that widely distributed. Like OSX, who now sees the first viruses specifically aimed at it, Linux will also (very likely) get a virus problem once there are enough users to make it worth the effort for virus developers. Window is just the biggest target because of more than one billion installations world-wide.

[ianrr]

Thanks.  Imatch Photo programs etc works 100% as a Win 7 Virtual machine under LinuxMint  ... I use Vmware Workstation, there is a free Vmware Player and there is free Virtual box to create a win 7 Virtual machine.

Stability looks rock solid  ... Win 10 is becoming a nightmare with so many updates  ... plus I seriously suspect the integrity of my data is compromised with so much time with having the computer connected to the net to do updates.

Ian

[ianrr]

Thanks for the input Mario.

The Imatch anywhere sounds truly amazing !

My main problem with Win 10 is I hate having my computer with all its 1 G of data connected to the net so frequently. Problems are just waiting to happen eventually.

With a virtual machine under win 7 I can isolate it from the net.

[pajaro]

After several attempts I finally managed to run IMatch on Linux Mint 18 without the error message I reported yesterday (Scripting not available...). The trick was to use the latest version of Wine (1.9.19, 32bit). When I started IMatch I noticed that the content of the window does not fit the window (in other words, some text was hidden - see the first attached image). There were some minor problems (e.g. the names of individual tabs in the Categories Panel (Categories, Current, Recent) were outside the actual tabs) but mostly all seemed to look and work normally. I even managed to restore my main IMatch database and the settings using IMatch Pack and Go. Then I noticed that something is wrong - thumbnail layouts were all amiss. The example is in the second attached image - filenames and other texts were shifted and some texts were not shown at all. Later, I found out that the Map Panel does not work either - just the blank window appears without any map.

So, it seems that IMatch can be run on Linux (sort of): most functions seem to be working (at least those that I regularly use) but there are things that do not and that I am not able to fix - unfortunately, I am not expert and I only depend on what I find on the Internet. Maybe later when a new Wine version is available things might improve. Still, it is a big advance over my previous attempts several years ago when I was not able to run IMatch on Linux at all.

[Mario]

Looks like mostly text rendering is affected. And that's depending on the screen DPI settings. Maybe Wine is not properly informing IMatch about the actual screen DPI, and so everything that's scaled based on screen DPI is jumbled. You can see the screen DPI IMatch "sees" in the log file.

[pajaro]

Looks like mostly text rendering is affected. And that's depending on the screen DPI settings. Maybe Wine is not properly informing IMatch about the actual screen DPI, and so everything that's scaled based on screen DPI is jumbled. You can see the screen DPI IMatch "sees" in the log file.

Thanks, Mario, for this suggestion. I checked DPI defined by Wine and DPI that IMatch reports in the log file - they are identical (96 DPI). Lower value than 96 DPI cannot be set and using higher value results in increasing the text size but with all negative effects I described before. There must be something else going on and I don't know what it is. I think that I will give up for now and will try later when a new version of Wine is available...

[CollieDog]

I would so dearly love to use Imatch on Linux !  getting very tired of windows 10 ... most of my good photo programs run also under mac, so mac I believe is a based on a distro of Linux.

Spend so much time just updating and dealing with windows issues ... avoiding potential virus issues/instability ...  everything I run under LinuxMint ( derived from Ubuntu ) is rock solid  ... seriously
started working on a LinuxMint with Win 7 VMWARE virtual machine to run Imatch and Photo programs. Can lock the Virtual machine off ever seeing the net ..  Please advise if there is any success with PlayonLinux  ....

I feel exactly the same about Windows 10. There are many updates that take my system out of commission and lead to stability problems, not to mention the many layers of virus scanners that slow my system down. I run my computer with a dual-boot of Linux Mint 18 and Windows 10. My preference would be to never use Windows 10 at all, but I rely on IMatch and one or two other photo and video applications that only run on Windows.

If any users have tested methods for running IMatch successfully in WINE, please post your procedures! Thanks!

[Mario]

I cannot speak for others, but I have 4 systems running Windows 10 here. I don't experience any stability problems or slow-down caused by virus checkers. Not even on the five year old test system. If your virus checker causes a noticeable slow-down, try another product.

If more users would use Linux, the virus programmers would see a market and would tackle Linux as they have tackled Windows. Linux is not per-sé better protected than Windows. There are even viruses for OS X, MacOS, Android, iOS and all these are based on Linux or another UNIX derivate.

What Microsoft should get a grip on is the update process. Sigh. It's much better than on W7, but Linux is still way ahead of it. Windows sometimes takes minutes just to figure out what to update.
In that time Linus has checked for, downloaded, installed all updates already 

On the other hand, there are currently about 1.2 billion computers running Windows out there. Sending out updates to all of them seems to be a daunting task and for sure brings the Microsoft servers to a boil 

And, I still can use software written 20 years ago (on Windows 3.11 if I recall correctly) and it still runs on Windows 10 

[Jingo]

+1 for Win 10 without update issues.... of course, I have mine setup to NOT install updates via the Group Policy editor (Pro+ level only).. though can get around this with Home edition as well (registry edits to mimic metered connections)..

[Mario]

I use automatic updates. I don't want to miss an important security fix. So far, no troubles. Not even during the Windows Beta. But I use vanilla standard computers without any special hardware, and only install the software I need. Running a clean ship and all that 

After 3 years or so, a clean install of Windows has always solved mysterious problems and behaviors that crept in over time...

[Jingo]

and.. don't forget the Win 10 reset feature .. easy refresh without fully starting over

http://www.howtogeek.com/265054/how-to-easily-reinstall-windows-10-without-the-bloatware/