Running Tally 9 on ubuntu

Next on the line... Typical Indian office setup requires MS Office and Tally Accounting Package to be installed (Tally 9).

My first reaction to installing Tally on ubuntu was - "this should not be that difficult", and trust me it is not. Just follow these easy steps -

1) Get WINE for ubuntu. (I used WINE 1.0.0) To update it use System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. This should either update it for you or install it afresh.

2) Download the Tally installer (www.tallysolutions.com), You shall get install.exe

3) Get hold of a Windows XP SP2 installation in hand. Required step - DO NOT SKIP. We shall require few files from the installation.

Let us suppose you copied the installer at '/home//Desktop/install.exe', Fire up the terminal and type the following command -

$ wine '/home//Desktop/install.exe'

This should fire Tally setup just as it would have run in windows. Let the system install Tally in C:\ (which is actually '/home//.wine/drive_c')

Tally should now be showing on Desktop and also in Wine -> Programs.

At this situation, you cannot double click Tally9 icon and execute anything.

Now copy the following two files from a current live Windows XP installation -

• odbc32.dll
• odbcint.dll

Both these DLLs are in C:\Windows\System32 folder.

Paste these files to '/home//.wine/drive_c/Windows/System32'. Alternativly, you can choose Applications -> Wine -> Browse C:\ drive and paste the files there (there are no such files there and if there are, you should overwrite them)

Now open Wine Configuration (Applications -> Wine -> Configure Wine)
Go to the Libraries tab and type full names of the above DLLs and click Add. Be sure to edit each entry and convert its type to Native (Windows). The should now look like this



Click OK.

That is it! Go ahead and double click on Tally icon on the desktop and enjoy the pinks and the yellows and the greens of Tally!!

P.S.: If nothing happens when you double click the desktop icon, open Terminal and type -

$ wine '/home//.wine/drive_c/Tally/Tally9.exe'

You should see some errors therein with a file name (some DLL). Just copy the DLL from a live running Windows XP installation and follow the steps above.

Keep smiling.