HeroLab and Linux - a REALITY!
 

It works! It really works!

You'll need PlayOnLinux to make it work, but it works!

I installed PlayOnLinux on my Ubuntu Linux box (my RPG game machine), and then loaded/installed Wine 1.3.37 into PlayOnLinux - because it "identifies" itself as WindowsXP SP3. I then installed HeroLab with "Install a Non-Listed Program", and after a few minutes it came up! Fully functional! Well almost: I had to pay for/register HL to get full functionality - but now I run HeroLab natively under Linux - and it supports all of the features seamlessly.

In short: it works, and nobody had to code anything any differently.

And I get to stop running WindowsXP under VMWare just to access HeroLab. Not that VMWare isn't awesome, but I like not having to start XP (it takes forever sometimes) just to run my ShadowRun campaign. And now I don't have to.

I've been running like this for about a month now, with no ill effect whatsoever. Just wanted you people to know that. :D

That's great news! Is "PlayOnLinux" easy for other users to install?

PlayOnLinux: Easy to Install, Easy to Update
 

Yep. If it weren't, I'd never have mentioned it. Go here for some initial (basic) information, and Ubuntu has it available from the Ubuntu Software Center. (Search for PlayOnLinux to cut to the chase.)

I found that - because I want PlayOnLinux updates with my normal system updates - I needed to do the following:

Open a Terminal, and type this:

sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_oneiric.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list
sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/public.gpg
sudo apt-key add public.gpg
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install playonlinux

...when you're done, you will be running the latest and greatest version of PlayOnLinux - and be ready to have all the fun that comes with it... ...and when it comes time to update, the updates will get pushed along to you with your normal (system) updates. This truly rocks!

I'll be hanging around to provide some support, should you need it. But by and large, on the four machines I took a notion to install this on, this has worked flawlessly every time. (Crosses fingers, just in case...)

I'm still sounding the depths of this utility (PlayOnLinux), so I'm still learning all of the in's and out's of how it works. Right now, I'm delighted that "It just works". So far, so good!
http://i46.tinypic.com/1z5uhz7.jpg

Durring the setup you say to install v1.3.37 of wine. But you don't mention for x86 or for 64bit? I installed both.

After finishing installing HeroLab things look like they run ok but when I try to close the "add class levels" dialogue when making a pathfinder character it crashes. Have you seen that when using PlayOnLinux?

Bump.
I am slowly switching over to Ubuntu. Herolabs is one of the few things I have left to take care of.

Concerro: I had a similar problem. It was giving me X Error: Bad Alloc, Major opcode: 53. This was with wine 1.3.38.

I upgraded to wine 1.4.0 following these instructions and it went away.

Wine is not cooperating so I installed playlinuxonline.

I was asked to created a virtual drive, but then I got a message saying "No setup lcoation found in autorun.inf"

Hey there, first time posting here.

Does this method still work? I see that it was posted about a year ago and just want to make sure before I give it a shot.

I love Herolab and am currently using Windows 8... which I'm not sure I like too much. If it'll still work, I'll move to Ubuntu.

Thanks all!

Does this method still work? I just got a new computer with Windows 8... which I'm not sure I like all that much. If Herolab will work on Ubuntu, I think I'll switch. But if not, I guess I'll stick with it.

Thanks all!

PDF issues
 

Hey, I installed HeroLab using Playonlinux. Finally! A way to use HeroLab without Virtual Box!

However, I've noticed some issues when I print and especially with saving pdfs.

When I print or save a pdf, the symbol of the "u" with two dots over appears in several places. Not the end of the world but irritating.

The big problem is saving pdfs. If I ask Herolab to save pdfs, the pdf is created missing information. Just big empty sections of the pages.

Thoughts?