Install RMS Express on Linux

HAM is my hobby and I recently switched to using Linux Mint 17 as my main workstation. Since I couldn’t find any documentation on how to do this, I’ll post my how to here.

RMS Express is a HAM program that transfers email over amateur radio. This guide used Linux Mint 17.3 on Cinnamon, but should work on any Ubuntu based system.

First, setup your username with permissions to access the serial ports. This is needed for accessing your USB connected rigs.

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USERNAME
sudo usermod -a -G tty $USERNAME
sudo usermod -a -G audio $USERNAME

Clear out your old wine configuration. If you have Wine installed, remove it and delete your .wine folder in your home directory. This will remove any installed wine applications.

rm -r ~/.wine

Wine 1.8 -Stable Version

Now install Wine 1.8 .Set the architecture to 32bit for Wine and add the official Wine repository. Then install wine 1.8.

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 
export WINEARCH=win32
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wine1.8 wine-gecko2.40 wine-gecko2.40:i386
sudo apt-get install wine-mono4.5.6 wine-mono4.5.6:i386
sudo apt-get install gnome-exe-thumbnailer

The winetricks file in the repository is a few versions back and has a bug with Wine 1.8. Download the latest version.

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks
sudo chmod +x winetricks
sudo mv winetricks /usr/bin/winetricks

 Set our Windows version to Win 7 (RMS Express does not support XP), our sound driver to ALSA (works better with our USB soundcards), and install Microsoft .NET 3.5 sp1 quietly into Wine (takes a long time).

winetricks win7
winetricks sound=alsa
winetricks -q dotnet35sp1

If you get prompted to download and install wine-mono or wine-gecko, do it.

Add the COM1 port for our rig. We create a link from our port to COM1 in the dosdevices folder. If you need multiple ports, change the number after ‘COM’. If your rigs uses the physical serial port, replace ttyUSB0 with your actual port.(ttyS0, etc). Use dmesg to see what USB port is used.

ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com1

Then add the COM port to the windows registry.

gedit ~/.wine/system.reg

After “#arch-win32”, add the following two lines, save and exit.

[Hardware\Devicemap\Serialcomm] 1131331688
"COM1"="COM1"

Download RMS Express from their website. http://winlink.org/RMSExpress

Extract the zip file, and then double click on RMS Express Setup. Click Next and accept all defaults (yes, including installing on C: ) Once the Setup finishes, run RMS Express by clicking on the icon on the desktop or in the menu (under Wine)

Fill out your setup information – entering Call Sign and Password may pull your info. Click Update. Now you’re ready to use RMS Express. If the properties window keeps loosing focus, move your mouse off the window.

Use RMS Express normally. You may be asked to install additional software. Install them normally, just like windows. Accept the default locations. I’ve tested two of the helper applications.

• Install ITS HF using defaults when prompted for propagation information. Follow the link in the message box.
  • ftp://autoupdate.winlink.org/User%20Programs/
  • After download, extract the file. If it won’t run the installer when double clicking, Right click and choose “Open With…” and select Wine Windows Program Loader.
• If you need the ViewFax Grib/Fax viewer, install the New ViewFax version 5 beta at the bottom of the screen.
  • http://siriuscyber.net/wxfax/
  • Use “Open with…” as above
  • When RMS Express asks for the location, use C:Program FilesAirmail

Good luck and 73

 

NOTICE : Do not use version 1.5 or allow a upgrade to 1.5. RMS Express 1.5 is broken in this configuration. See my new post for more information and how to revert back.

RMS Express 1.5 Broken on Linux