HOWTO: Run Sonnet Lite on OSX under Wine

[hendorog]

Sonnet Lite is an EM simulator which is useful for analyzing RF microstrip structures. It is frequently mentioned in dispatches here.

So when I found it works well under Wine on my Mac I thought it helpful to share that it works well. I also found this post suggesting it also works in Linux: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-do-i-get-offa-windows-and-learn-something-else/msg419096/#msg419096

Wine has always been a bit hit and miss for me, but Sonnet works flawlessly, no crashes and almost no issues.
There is nothing clever in the steps below, just follow your nose.

1. Install XQuartz: https://www.xquartz.org/
2. Install Wine. I used the Staging Install package from here: https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/macosx/download.html
3. Download Sonnet Lite
4. Run Wine staging from Launchpad, a terminal screen should appear with some instructions on how to install applications.
5. Configure wine for Windows 7 (Note: All of the wine commands in the following steps have to be run from the Wine terminal)

Code: [Select]

winecfg
In Applications tab select Default Settings, then Windows 7 then OK

6. Install Sonnet

Code: [Select]

wine msiexec /i Downloads/setup_sonnetlite1553.msi

7. Run Sonnet

Code: [Select]

wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/Sonnet\ Software/15.53/bin/sonnet.exe

I did this a few days ago so hopefully I have captured all of the steps.