Linux Wine

Ever hear of it?

[Echo_Tyme]

I was wondering if all the Linux people here have ever heard of Wine. It makes Windows applications run on a Linux system (maybe all *nix). If not then this can help me, if so then it may be old news.

I dunno if I can leave a link... just ask and i'll try.

[nobody]

Wine has been around for a while - but it's not a magic bullet - you can't run every windows application under it (although a fair few work). IIRC there is a list of applications which people have got working along with instructions on the wine site.

[trillianjedi]

Almost all users of Linux will know about WINE.

It does work pretty well - falls over with some networking tasks though.

TJ

[mack]

It falls a little short where the application you want to run requires direct access to the graphics card. Only a major issue if you want to run windows games on your nix box.

Mack.

[calande]

That would be nice to be able to run Adobe Photoshop with X11 :)
Has some one been able to do so?

--
Charles.

[edited by: rogerd at 6:28 pm (utc) on Aug. 4, 2004]
[edit reason] No sigs/e-mails/URLs, please... [/edit]

[MattyMoose]

There's also WineX [transgaming.com] and VMWare [vmware.com]

[Echo_Tyme]

I'm guessing WineX is for games and VMWare is just like wine?

[aquaMarine]

vmware is a virtual machine program (not free).

When you run Windows programs under the Linux version vmware, they don't know that there is any Linux involved at all.

Actually you are running the entire Windows operating system session inside of a separate process and window. You boot, run and shutdown just as if you had a second computer to run Windows.

[Chaos]

correct, VMWare imitates actual hardware, which allows someone to install Linux inside of Linux, Windows inside of Linux, BeOS inside of Linux. I think there is a Windows VMWare as well. WINE is an Implementation of the Windows API calls in Linux.

[nalin]

Wine is rather well known amoung the linux community in general but seems to be increasingly disused. There are a slew of derivitives, and a handful of programs that implement similar functionality, my favorite being crossover office (because it will allow the google toolbar, and it feels cleaner then any of the others I have used which are relativly few).

Generally I think those who are using linux tend to prefer an open version where functionalities are similar; if not for idealogical reasons then because you see faster, more stable, and cheaper program when comparing a linux native binary to a commercial exe counterpart running under an emulator. Additionally mastery of wine configuration leaves something to be desired (admitedly I have done very little of it), because it combines some of the most ugly portions of windows (for instance dll dependencies) with the single most intemidating task in linux (configuring a programs settings while deprived of a gui). A lot of configuration is wading through error dialougs made doubly cryptic because you are missing the meat of the os you are emulating - when a program requires some tweaking to run it is most reminecent of a windows box that you have somehow or other destroyed in some crippling but not completly disabling manner.

Considering the above I much opt for say, gimp over photoshop, not because its equivelent - its not - but because its less painful then emulating photoshop and its more then suitable for my purposes.