MCC Pilotlog

What works

- Adding, deleting and editing logbook entries.

- Airfield information.

- Database queries and management.

- Database backup and restore.

- The forms that I have tested.

What does not

Most stuff, BUT:

The application has been demonstrated to work with wine, with some modifications. This included getting the pilotlog.mdb file from a Windows installation, and adding the AppData//Roaming folder to the wine prefix folder tree, then adding a link to the MCC Pilotlog folder (see howto). Then it seems to work well.

Outstanding issues:

- Printing logbook pages:  all fonts come out in lowercase only.
- Link to Google Earth does not work.
- Import from Excel. However, this will not work on any installation (in native Windows) without Excel installed, anyway. The developer may do this for you if you ask nicely.

Workarounds

What was not tested

- Import from other logbook software databases.

- Sync with PDA/mobile phone. Windows phone and Android apps are due out in spring 2011.

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

Works ONLY with some manual installation effort, as described in howto. Hopefully a new launcher will solve the problem entirely.

Next version of the installer expected in Jan 2011. The developers have been taking an active interest in getting the application working on Linux, and are aware of the steps needed to install on wine. I hope that a full solution will be available soon.

Steps to install MCC

I strongly reccommend using a new wine prefix for this installation.  The example shown uses .wine-mcclog .

Replace with your username.

Download the installer (Vista/7), from here:
http://www.mccpilotlog.net/order.html

Run winecfg for new env:
env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog" winecfg
select Windows 7 in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the  applications tab.

Run installer:
cd to where you downloaded the installer
env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog" msiexec /i mccpilotlog_vista7.msi

Type your name, and accept the error message.  The updater will now do some downloading.

We need to create the AppData/roaming folder, so:
cd ~/.wine-mcclog/drive_c/users/username
mkdir AppData
cd AppData
mkdir Roaming

Now, we need a link in this folder to drive_c/users/username/Application Data/MCC Pilotlog:
cd Roaming
ln -s ../../Application\ Data/MCC\ Pilotlog/ MCC\ Pilotlog

We also need one more file (a blank pilotlogbook.mdb) that's not created properly in the installation.  You can get it by installing on a windows machine /VM first.

And copy to ~/.wine-mcc/drive_c/users/username/Application Data/Database
overwrite the original file.

now you can run the logbook, ensuring you prefix the command with env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog".  The launcher in the wine menu should look after this.

You may see an error on the first launch, but on subsequent runs it should disappear.

The software downloaded and installed a new version in the last couple of days, which went OK until the program restarted.  The program will not start, giving error 428.

To repair this, you will need to copy the 'Tech' folder (AppData/Roaming/MCC Pilotlog) from a Windows install.