Goodsol.com - Pretty Good Solitaire

Good Solitaire for ubuntu 18.04?

Hi all, wondering if GoodSol will be available for Linux Ubuntu 18.04.? I have played it for years, but when I got this box of tricks, I couldn't remember how to install it under WINE. Half the fun of being an oldie....😉 Thanks to anyone who can give me a step by step installation, or to the boss if he makes it Ubuntu ready.

Comments

  • There will never be a Linux version but the Windows version works under WINE.

    I've not used the Linux version of WINE, but I've used a Mac version and all you need to do is run the install file under WINE.

  • Thank you for the reply, as you say there is a way to use it with wine. I have done this in the past but it escapes me now how I did it.

    Maybe I will have to lower my standards and go back to Windoze. Or perhaps make a double boot with the old Windoze I purchased years ago.

    Regards,

    Rod.

  • Rod,

    I have no answer for you, but I do have an opinion :O ....

    I'm so happy to hear that you using Ubuntu 18.04 (although 20.04 has passed) ... it's freakin' awesome. Creating a double-boot for playing solitaire however sounds clumsy: if you will want to play a quick game you will have to abort all your other work, reboot, play the game, and then reboot back to ubuntu ...

    Personally I try to stay away from WINE and either 1) look for native alternatives, 2) don't use the software application at all, 3) create something myself (if it is not too complicated). However, wine has been around for years and with any search engine (I am not using any names here ;)) you could find tons of descriptions and how-tos. BTW, if you were able to install it once, you should be able to achieve that again a second time, right? Here is my first hit with the 10^100 search engine: https://vitux.com/how-to-install-and-use-wine-for-running-windows-programs-on-ubuntu/

    According to this PGS is supported: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=15667

    I cannot judge about the legality of the content, though. I hope the how-to in the first link helps. However, I would advice not to give up too soon with trying to install it under Linux. Going for a dual boot option could potentially lead to a whole new realm of headache, certainly if your computer has UEFI boot loader with secure boot enabled ... it has already cost me days of my life ...

    One other tip: whatever you do under Linux, whether installing or configuring software... TAKE NOTES ... write down everything that you are doing, copy every link of source code or how-to page. YOU WILL NEED IT LATER! Believe me, I had to learn this the hard way. Or write a bash script that does all the difficult work for you ... Getting the initial setup under Linux can be a lot of work, but it is totally worth the effort. The eventual pay-off is very sweet.

    Good luck!

    Your linux-brother

  • G'day cosmicdebris,

    Thank you for your words of encouragement and your ideas. I have played Goodsol on ubuntu 16.04 up 18.04. I did make rough notes of how to do it but, the brain is 77+ now and the notes were changed too many times until I got it right. Going over them now, I guess I should have rewritten the notes at the end of a successful install but... I love Ubuntu and I also love goodsol. It is a pain trying to go through trials and (mainly) errors trying to get it going again.

    The first link you gave me, I think this was the one I followed before and if memory serves (which it usually doesn't) then I think that was for installing Notepad++...? Again, I thank you for your input and will try a few more things before I give up.

    Regards,

    Rod....... Ubuntu Brother.

  • Hi Rod,

    Did you succeed?

    Just for the fun of it I tried to install PGS on my copy of ubuntu 18.04 and managed to get it working. I can see how you ran into issues, because it was really not as straightforward as one might hope. Here are the steps that I took:

    I installed WINE following this KT: https://tecadmin.net/install-wine-on-ubuntu/

    Note that the description in the first link of my previous post is for ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) and differs a bit for ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)

    command 1: sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

    command 2: wget -qO - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo apt-key add -

    command 3: sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main'

    The previous command is the correct one for ubuntu 18.04 (bionic) and where it differs from the previous link. After this the ppa has to be added and wine has to be installed:

    command 4: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport

    command 5: sudo apt update

    command 6: sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable

    This will install WINE. The installation took 1.6GB!! of space on my system, which for me personally would be a reason not to install WINE, but for you, since you have made this commitment in the past before ;) ... I checked the version of WINE:

    command 7 (optional): wine --version

    Answer: wine-5.0.1

    Then, go to the directory where you have stored the gdsol.exe file and do the following:

    command 8: wine gdsol.exe

    This will start the Pretty Good Solitaire (windows) installer ... actually three times I got a pop-up from WINE:

    ... as always I just pressed "Install" (without properly reading the text first :S). This installed another couple of hundred MBs of data on my system ... but eventually I got the PGS installer and was able to install pretty good solitaire. I just installed everything in the default location, which should then mean that it ends up in: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/goodsol/

    where ~ is your $HOME directory. I navigated to this location and try to run PGS as follows:

    command 9: wine goodsol.exe

    This gives me the following error message:

    0009:err:module:import_dll Library MSVBVM60.DLL (which is needed by L"C:\\Program Files\\goodsol\\goodsol.exe") not found

    0009:err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Importing dlls for L"C:\\Program Files\\goodsol\\goodsol.exe" failed, status c0000135

    This error message is because visual basic runtime is still missing. To correct this I followed https://wiki.winehq.org/Winetricks and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

    command 10: wget  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks

    optionally first go to your ~/Downloads or any other directory before downloading winetricks ... really doesn't matter, as long as you have write permissions there ... Then make it executable and install visual basic runtime 6:

    command 11: chmod +x winetricks

    command 12: sh winetricks vb6run

    Now we are there ... pfew ... that was tiring .. I am exhausted. I navigate back to the install location of goodsol as indicated above step 9, run the executable again with command 9 and now it runs!!! I can play solitaire. Hopefully you can too!! I really hope that this will enable you to install and play the games that you love!! Let me know if it works. Hopefully your previous failed attempts will not interfere with the installation process. For me, since I am using a live-version of ubuntu, I will loose everything again when I restart my computer tomorrow morning ... and I will certainly not go through those steps again installing 2GB of data on my system ...

    Good luck my friend. Please prove to the world that ubuntu is suitable for all ages if one just persists ;)

    C

  • oh ... hey Rod ... once that the application runs with visual basic runtime also installed, the game can also be launched through this icon in the applications menu:

    ... but I think that you will probably know this already ...

    Good luck!

    C

  • Thanks for those instructions. I now have a project if I ever find any free time. 🙂

    Gregg 🐵

  • I saw the comment above saying that "There will never be a Linux version..." and don't agree with that because I am a user of Mint Linux and have a multiple card game application installed called Aisleriot that includes a version of Freecell. The application's home page is here:

    I have been playing that version for about two years and, while I would like it to have some features added to it, it works fine. For example, I would like it better if it also gave you the game number of the game you are playing.

    I also have Freecell on my Android cell phone and that is the very nice version from Odesys.com. With that I can see game numbers and look up game solutions if I want to.

    That was installed from the Google Play store and, if I remember right, there is a nominal charge for thye ad-free version and that is well worth the money.

    Jack

  • Pardon me if my post mislead or offended anyone, I am new here and stumbled across this thread while looking for something else.

    When the gentleman above said "There will never be a Linux version..." he was actually saying that there will never be a Linux version of the Pretty Good Solitaire application and I misunderstood that.

    So my post above really just points out that, if you want to run Linux and play solitaire, there is an alternative to having to run the Pretty Good Solitaire application under wine.

    I am not a big fan of Wine but use it a little...

    My apologies are offered if anyone feels they are due... :>)

    Jack

  • Hi Jack,

    Why would you have offended anyone? Someone who is willing to take the time to write an honest, constructive contribution like yours should be thanked! ... I have lost count of the number of times that I have found the solution to my computer problems in those type of comments 😉

    Actually, your suggestion to seek out native software is one that I support and your proposed alternative seems decent and generally available in the repositories, but indeed the impression I also got is that Rod is/was set on using PGS in particular. From the pieces of information that I gather from this site Pretty Good Solitaire has been around for many many many years already and also it offers an amount of different solitaire game versions (1000+ or so I think?) that is probably(?) unparalleled by any other implementation ... so I can totally understand that it has amassed a large following of devoted users that would even resort to using WINE to play it 😉 (actually, using WINE to play PGS is pretty easy as long as one does not forget to use winetricks as workaround for the missing visual basic runtime engine) ...

    BTW, does one also get games with very pixelated pictures of cats in the background in Aisleriot?

    Thanks again for your contribution, Jack! 👍️

    C

    ps.

    In case one does not like playing solitaire on pixelated background pictures of cats I think PGS offers the option to change the background ...

  • edited September 2020

    >From the pieces of information that I gather from this site Pretty Good Solitaire has been around for many many many years already and also it offers an amount of different solitaire game versions (1000+ or so I think?) that is probably(?) unparalleled by any other implementation

    Indeed, Pretty Good Solitaire has been around and actively supported since 1995, and its 1030 different games is unmatched on any platform. The Mac, iPad, and iPhone versions far exceed the number of games on any solitaire game available on those systems as well. Those are objective facts.

    On the subjective side, I am absolutely biased, but I think that these games are also the best in terms of playability, interface, and options. I can understand why somebody would run PGS in WINE (for the reasons above), but I cannot fathom why anybody would need any other solitaire game. 😉 (I have seen a fair [read: extensive] number of competing products, but none that measures up, honestly.)

    Another huge benefit is this forum; post requests for features or improvements and you directly reach the people who can make those changes.

    >In case one does not like playing solitaire on pixelated background pictures of cats I think PGS offers the option to change the background

    It certainly does, but this comment suggests that something is misconfigured on your system (or else your resolution is huge and your eyes excellent). Click the 'Options' button on the toolbar (or 'Options|Options...' from the menu) and select 'Background'; there you have options to 'Restore Defaults' (FreeCell is simply a green gradient, for example), 'Set All Games' to one background (even a bitmap of your own), or modify the backgrounds for individual games. Select 'Options|Background...' within a game to change the background for just that game.

    There are some neat backgrounds shipped with PGS to try; I suggest everybody take a look. (If you have "very pixelated pictures of cats", please post a screenshot so we can see what's going on.)

    Gregg 🐵

  • >On the subjective side, I am absolutely biased, but I think that these games are also the best in terms of playability, interface, and options. I can understand why somebody would run PGS in WINE (for the reasons above), but I cannot fathom why anybody would need any other solitaire game. 😉 (I have seen a fair [read: extensive] number of competing products, but none that measures up, honestly.)

    Of all solitaire collections I've seen, PGS delivers on all three. I've played other solitaire collections but their quirks bring me back to PGS. The only reason I would play those other collections is to scour for new game ideas that could and should be in PGS.

    Bastiko

  • edited September 2020

    Hi Seelhoff, pgsBP348,

    To prevent any misunderstanding ;): I fully recognize that the authoritative position of PGS in the field of solitaire games is absolutely unchallenged! ... It is actually the only solitaire software I have tried the last decade or so, but that was enough to realize that certainly from a game-playing point of view there is no need of any other solitaire software. Just the sheer number of games already proves that: 1030!, wow!, just imagine playing one every day it would take almost three years to try them all out!!!

    The only "if" that I can come up with is that it is Windows software ... (well, apparently also iOS). For Linux to play it requires WINE which seems like a huge amount of overhead. On my system it would requires installing 2GB of satellite software, all if it for WINE (PGS itself does not require a lot of space I believe, ~10^1 MB?).

    One small annoyance one has when using WINE to run Windows software on Linux is that one notices that it is not native software which may result in peculiar quirks, for instance the mouse wheel not functioning for the scrollbars, game elements not properly scaling with the window, etc. One of the other quirks that I noticed on my setup for games with a waste pile is that at first launch of a game all "turns" are performed automatically by the autoplay functionality until the stock pile is completely empty. These type of oddities are not caused by PGS software: they are more general for Windows software running on a Linux setup with WINE (they have forced me to let go of some other very much-loved Windows programs before, such as foobar2000). Native software usually will use widget managers that are fully integrated into the functionality of the Linux kernel and may in some cases give a more streamlined experience. That is the only valid reason I could come up with for going for an alternative implementation build on top of for instance the KDE or GTK widget manager.

    Probably the resolution of the cat backgrounds is a result of the WINE quirks as well? ;) Don't worry about it: I don't mind cat backgrounds at all. It was just a joke ;) In fact ... it triggered my imagination into thinking that perhaps they were pictures of the cats of the game developers(?) ... perhaps some cats that may have solitaire games named after them(?) ... Random(?) ... Caramel(?) ... Bandit(?) ;) :D ... (btw, I am a cat-person myself ;)

    C

  • >In fact ... it triggered my imagination into thinking that perhaps they were pictures of the cats of the game developers(?) ... perhaps some cats that may have solitaire games named after them(?) ... Random(?) ... Caramel(?) ... Bandit(?) ;) :D ... (btw, I am a cat-person myself ;)

    Thomas would have the definitive answer, but... Yes, Caramel and Bandit (added at the same time) were named after his latest two cats, and Random was also added to PGS shortly after Random arrived, as I recall. (That name sometimes causes confusion with the 'Random' button.)

    I believe that Ace of Hearts was named after Ace, the grey mackerel featured in backgrounds (and marketing). Other games named for prior Goodsol cats include: Pumpkin, Inquisitor, Queenie, and Lady Jane.

    My two cats are (siblings) more than 15 years old and have not known a world in which I was not working with Goodsol. They do not have any games named after them, but if Thomas gets stumped for names, both "Theseus" and "Socrates" are available. 😉

Sign In or Register to comment.