WINE 9.0 improves ability to run 32-bit Windows apps on 64-bit-only xNix WINE 9.0 brings the benefits of better WoW64 support to 64-bit x86 – and Arm – kit, plus native Wayland support on Linux. WINE releases have become pleasantly regular in the last half-a-dozen years. WINE 9.0 was released on Tuesday, almost a year after we reported on WINE 8.0 and two years after we reported on WINE 7.0. The …
Right now, as a freelance programmer and consultant, I am tied to Windows. As a gamer, I get along fine with that, but knowing that there is future where I will be retired and able to enjoy top-notch performance without Redmond stupidity is a balm that soothes my nerves.
Keep up the good work, guys. I'll be joining the ranks soon enough.
I am curous what windows version it reports itself as, and whether there are specific applications I might have to jump through hoops to have work properly on Wine in Linux. I'd set it up in a VM, probably.
Typical would be TAX SOFTWARE, which irritatingly requires newer and newer versions of windows to work. So far 10 is required but eventually I might actually need to go buy an El Cheapo CPU box with winders 11 on it JUST to do taxes (including corporate taxes, so there ya go). I guess I can try it, see what happens. But with latest/greatest MS shared components (read: CRAP) needed to run the latest version [probably] who KNOWS what incompatibilities lie in wait...
The default in Wine 8.1 onwards is Windows 10, prior to that for a while it's Windows 7, but it can be changed with winecfg.
Note that just because it advertises a specific Windows version does not mean it implements all the APIs or supports your application. Games are a large emphasis in Wine because that's what many people wish to run. If you can find native software instead of running the Windows version, it's always a better idea.
Thanks. Unfortunately, the tax software (particularly the business version, which I have been told is written in Java) only installs on whatever version of Windows that Intuit "blesses". SO yeah.
Best I can manage is to buy the el-cheapo Win1.1 box and connect it to the KVM (once that is my only choice).
> ...TAX SOFTWARE, which irritatingly requires newer and newer versions of windows to work. .....need to go buy an El Cheapo CPU box with winders 11 on it JUST to do taxes (including corporate taxes, so there ya go). ... .... ....who KNOWS what incompatibilities lie in wait...
FWIW: last year's H&R Block ran fine under Win7. I get a strong feeling they have never changed the core engine. Some interface oddness (like menu non-cursors) have been around more than a decade. It still tells me to "connect to the internet" before it checks for updates, and IIRC defaults to a very low speed for transfer time estimates.
OTOH, a $300 flaptop or mini-PC comes with 10 today and 11 next year, which may be less than you pay a Preparer once.
Not to mention that the trend is to default to "Online" or "in the clouds" tax preparation. So they can study and monetize your data at leisure. Then you only need an approved Browser. And if they want to get the CellPhone-Only market, they have to be somewhat tolerant on that.
For other reasons not relevant here I will never run H&R again, and will not run TurbidTax since they root-kitted me 20 years ago, so I'm off to a list of less arrogant vendors.
Ages ago, when I tried this, the stumbling block was the tax software's dependency on MS' browser.
I sent emails to the specific program I wanted to use, reminding them that they used Linux on their servers. Since I knew they were aware of Linux, I was hoping they'd develop future programs for it.
I just gave up, and switched to OLT, On-Line Tax (olt.com) and have been quite happy.
I'm really, really looking forward to steam wallpaper engine support! The existing solutions range from clunky to virtually impossible. I know it's a difficult one to achieve but come on, Steam deck is Linux based!
Context: Tied to winblows for work, had a machine with a windows 8 licence, nope, not interested. Linux mint + SSD is absolutely superb!
I have heard it said, amongst other reasons, that one of major roadblocks to implementing Linux in one form or another in the corporate environment is that there are key applications that run only on Windows systems.
I understand that historicaly Wine may not have cut the mustard, but are we getting to the point where this will be a none issue?
In other words would Linuxisation of the NHS be feasable?
Without bias, I do not believe most corporate environments will consider the cost of switching to an unknown OS in order to run their required / legacy code base in an unsupported (from the codebase POV) compatibility container. I frankly cannot see computing a reasonable ROI on such a process.
Indeed. Plus there is so far as I'm aware no Linux management platform with the features of Intune or SCCM, and last time I tried it Wine could not install any recent (post 2016, after Microsoft stopped using MSI installers) version of Microsoft Office. Before anyone says 'LIbre Office', yeah that's fine for home use and some small businesses but in a big organisation with the requirement of integration with Microsoft cloudy services, add-ins for integration with other systems, and loads of staff who would need training, it's really not a viable option.
As it stands, no.
The only production ready way to use WINE is with a determined strategy to move to native applications, using only a certified/tested WINE release to run line of business applications that cannot be ported. That still causes issues when the Windows applications are updated, and one only works on a later release of WINE, whilst another only works with an earlier one.
Unfortunately applications can and do break between releases
If it was me I'd rather use virtualised Windows over WINE to be certain of compatibility.
For home usage, especially since the main applications I'm bothered about are games (most other things I can go for native apps), it's hardly mission critical if one breaks occasionally.
WINE is a lot better than it used to be, so maybe one day it'll be a sufficient replacement, but I suspect getting the last 5% correct will take a large amount of further work.
[Author here]
> If it was me I'd rather use virtualised Windows over WINE to be certain of compatibility.
It is indeed more compatible, but there are at least 3 issues with that approach that WINE avoids.
1. You need a Windows licence for each VM.
2. Integration is poorer: separate virtual filesystem, not cut-and-paste between host, and guest, etc.
3. You now have 2 OSes to maintain: that VM now needs updates, patches, anti-malware protection, etc.
TBH in a corporate environment I'd favour apps on a Citrix server or something like that. It does't solve the integration issue, but one (expensive) shared licence for the server and you're compliant, and it's just one box to maintain.
WINE is easier and cheaper and integrates better.
I want to use WINE as many people do: to run their old Windows games.
Earlier versions of WINE did install and run one of my favorites (and its mods), Battlefield: 1942.
Later versions of WINE refused to install Battlefield: 1942.
Upon reading this article, I checked the WINE HQ site, and searched for "Battlefield: 1942". Not found. I searched for "Battlefield". Not found.
To me, this is reverse progress. Despite all the wowza-dowza new features touted in the latest version.
Try here
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=1370
and take care of the notes :
To make it launch the game, not just exit silently, make sure your cd drive is configured in winecfg properly - the content of the CD has to be accessible through some drive letter and the drive type has to be CD-ROM.
To start the game from a terminal: $ cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/EA\ Games/Battlefield\ 1942 $ wine BF1942.EXE
The main menu resolution being different from the in-game resolution is normal: the game programmers hard coded the menu screen to a fixed resolution.
If you want a faster startup time, you can delete the .bik files in the Movie folder and it will load directly to the menu.
HOWTO
Patching to 1.6 is done by installing two patches:
battlefield_1942_patch_v1.6.19.exe
bf1942_patch_v1.6_to_v1.61b.exe
The Munich City Council is likely the most famous case of a successful migration away from Windows to Linux. Microsoft was so terrified of that, that it mobilized the full weight of its marketing department to try to badmouth the whole project, without much effect.
In case you think that’s an isolated case, the lxer.com site maintains a database of other migrations, too.
I would say that Linux migrations have become such a routine thing, they’re no longer really newsworthy.
Also let's note, it was never fully completed after a decade of trying They still had to run Windows as well. And the Linux solutions were universally detested by those that had to use them. They are now busy returning to Windows as that actually works.
They tried for 15 years!
Hübner said the city has struggled with LiMux adoption. "Users were unhappy and software essential for the public sector is mostly only available for Windows," she said.
She estimated about half of the 800 or so total programs needed don't run on Linux and "many others need a lot of effort and workarounds".
Hübner added, "in the past 15 years, much of our efforts were put into becoming independent from Microsoft," including spending "a lot of money looking for workarounds" but "those efforts eventually failed."
You are a bit out of date. Which means you must work for Microsoft. The migration back to Windows was supposed to take 3 years, but ran over time and over budget, as you would expect. Hence the switch back to Linux.
At the moment win32 support is still a necessity in many cases, and it requires not only fiddling with WINE prefixes, but also the 32 bit version of WINE.
I'm not sure if it's been built for the quarterly (default) pkg system for FreeBSD yet, but wine8 32 bit FreeBSD was only unbroken on 23rd December, and I had to switch to the current pkg distribution in order to get it to work.
I'm having a fair bit of luck with older and 2D games. Modern 3D games are causing issues when I try under FreeBSD/WINE.
If you can use Crossover I'd recommend it over having to faff with WINE.
It's also a considerable bonus that the Steam Deck exists now, WINE Proton is now a target for developers with a sizeable market share, so moving away from Windows (at least for games) will become more possible than previously.
Yes :
The new WoW64 mode is not yet enabled by default. It can be enabled by passing
the --enable-archs=i386,x86_64 option to configure. This is expected to work
for most applications, but there are still some limitations, in particular:
Lack of support for 16-bit code.
Reduced OpenGL performance and lack of ARB_buffer_storage extension
support.
If you need 16 bit support, you'll need to run 32 bit wine.
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