wine questions

[Fred]

Warren Block wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Jan 2011, Fred wrote:
>
>> I need to buy an expensive logic device programmer that connects to a 
>> PC through USB.  Unfortunately, the user software that make it go 
>> only runs on Bill Gates' cancerous, virus-infested, scourge of the 
>> Earth excuse for an OS which I do not use.  Is it likely to work ok 
>> using wine?  What type of programs do not work well with wine?  There 
>> is a supported, commercial version of wine that runs on Linux.  Would 
>> I be better off buying that and running it on the FBSD Linux emulation?
>
> If you were to be more specific about the device you're considering, 
> someone may be able to suggest specifics.
>
> Sometimes Wine is surprising.  This was the case when I managed to run 
> the Arduino software on Wine under FreeBSD.  That software speaks to 
> the microcontroller via serial or USB-to-serial:
>
> http://wiki.freebsd.org/AVR/ArduinoWINE
>
> If your device speaks serial like that, it might work well.  If it 
> wants to do low-level hardware or anything uncommon, it probably will 
> not work in Wine.
>
> If you have to get the device anyway, there's little harm in trying it 
> on Wine.  If it doesn't work, you've lost nothing but time, and 
> probably not much of that.
>
>
>
I am interested in the Xeltek SuperPro-5000.  This unit will alsowork 
stand-alone with a CF card programmed by the PC in addition to usb.  I 
believe the user software downloads a set of programming parameters and 
the file to be programmed rather than driving the programmer directly or 
otherwise do low level hardware stuff.  I am going to ask Xeltek if they 
will give a refund if I can't get the unit working in a reasonable 
time.  If it doesn't work I would otherwise be out of $1500.  I will not 
use Windows.