de-db Linux setup instructions



[Notes]

Tested under Debian 12 with Xfce desktop environment.
All functionality seems to be working, including TTS (female voice only).

The instructions here are mainly for Debian and derived distros.

Because of the nature of the many and different Linux distros and software/hardware configurations,
no troubleshoot can be provided with these instructions in case something goes wrong for you.



[Install Wine]

This is only possible thanks to the WINE project: www.winehq.org

Installing Wine may vary between different Linux distros and system configurations.
Here is a method to install it on Debian (x64 machine with 64-bit OS):

- Be sure to be connected to the Internet.
- Open a terminal window.
- Issue the following command to register and install platform specific x86 (32-bit) binaries:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update

- Issue the following command to actually install Wine:

sudo apt install \
      wine \
      wine32 \
      wine64 \
      libwine \
      libwine:i386 \
      fonts-wine

- With Wine installed, optionally set it up with:

winecfg



[Install Microsoft .NET Framework with Wine]

- Be sure to be connected to the Internet.
- Open a terminal window.
- Install winetricks with the following commands:

sudo wget 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks' -O /usr/local/bin/winetricks

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/winetricks

- Install cabextract with the following command:

sudo apt-get install cabextract

- Install winbind with the following command:

sudo apt-get install winbind

- Optionally reboot the system just in case.
- It is recommended to create a new Wine prefix. This will copy a new Wine instance into a new folder that
you can delete and recreate in case something goes wrong with the new instance or
you want to start again from scratch (it's like formatting a Microsoft Windows system).
Notice the arch "win32", this is needed when having a 64-bit host/Wine to setup a 32-bit Wine environment:

env WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet wineboot --init

Also, the name "winedotnet" could be anything else like "MyWineInstance" for example.

- Optionally setup Wine environment options (like Windows version for example) with:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet winecfg

Notice that from now on, you don't need the arch "win32" part. That was only for setting up the new Wine instance.
For de-db, I recommend setting Windows 7 as the Windows version for the Wine environment options. Although setting it to a newer version seems to have no impact.

- Install .NET Framework 4.6.1 (and optionally corefonts) with the following command:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet winetricks --force dotnet461 corefonts

- At this point you are ready to run de-db, but first you could optionally install the Text-to-speech libraries.
Instructions for running de-db are at the end.



[Install Microsoft Speech Platform with Wine]

- Be sure to be connected to the Internet.
- Open a terminal window.
- Install msxml3 (it seems this is used by the Speech API) with the following command:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet winetricks msxml3

- Install msxml6 (it seems this is used by the Speech API) with the following command:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet winetricks msxml6

I want to comment here that we may get away by only installing msxml6, but just to be sure we install both (msxml3 and msxml6).

- Issue the following command to install the Speech API:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet winetricks sapi

- Manually download the Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime (Version 11) from my website: http://www.tripleheinz.com/index.php?page=download&id=9
- Issue the following command to install the Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime (Version 11):

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet wine msiexec /i x86_SpeechPlatformRuntime.msi

- Manually download the TTS german female voice from my website: http://www.tripleheinz.com/index.php?page=download&id=10
- Issue the following command to install the TTS german female voice:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet wine msiexec /i Patched_MSSpeech_TTS_de-DE_Hedda.msi



[Run de-db]

- Open a terminal window.
- Issue the following command to run de-db:

env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/winedotnet wine /path/to/de-db/de-db.exe

- Alternatively, you could use the included script "de-db.sh" or the launcher "de-db.desktop" by (double) clicking on them.
But please be aware that before using any of these files, both of them require to be modified with a text editor and
set the path(s) to point to the corresponding de-db absolute path(s) and your Wine prefix/instance absolute path.
Depending on your window/desktop manager, you might need to mark both files as executables, trusted or to run as programs.
If correctly set, the launcher "de-db.desktop" can display its icon when placed in your desktop. At least that's how it works in Xfce.



[Additional notes]

That'd be all. I wish you the best with your Linux things.