Running Windows Programs on Linux WITHOUT Windows !!

Hi there

For several years a Linux program called WINE has been available -- this basically attempts to install Windows programs on a "pseudo" "C" drive and execute them without needing Windows itself. The early versions were a bit "random" as to whether your program would work but the latest version really is quite good -- even to the extent of running OFFICE 2007. Don't expect it though to run specialized games etc yet though -- it's more intended for programs you like on Windows but want to keep on a Linux system. - Testing these on a Linux VM is a great idea IMO.

Quite a few games etc now work including STEAM I think too !!.

I've got a music server streaming app (server and client) that was designed for windows -- now although the SERVER works natively on Linux too I could never get the CLIENT to work on a remote Windows machine. Now with WINE client works perfectly!!! -- Strangely enough the Linux server could always use my Android mobile as a Client though !!


Just tested Office 2010 (32 bit version) !!! -- So far everything 100% !!!!!! including some quite complex macros -- use the LATEST release of Wine though.

My Windows boxes I think will soon be living on "Borrowed time" -- Office 2010 was a Big Windows one for me .

Now only really SAPGUI and Adobe photoshop CS6 - then I'll simply keep W8.1 as backup archive just in case I need it again.

So if you are tinkering around with Linux I suggest you have a look at WINE -- you might be surprised at how good its becoming.

WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X

Cheers
jimbo

They say anything you can do with Photoshop you can do with Gimp. I've only played around with Gimp a bit. And several years ago at that. I'm just curious if you considering switching. I know the way things are done is different than Windows graphics programs. Is the learning curve that steep? Or are there other considerations?

I'm just nosy.

Jimbo, Is that 1.6 or 1.7 you are using. And thanks for the heads up.

PS - I found the terminal commands for Mint to install 1.7. Maybe they are useful for someone:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine1.7 winetricks

Hi there

Was 1.6 - Office 2007 runs 100% -- Office 2010 needs 1.7 but IMO there's not a huge (if any) difference between Office 2007 and 2010 for what most people want to do - other than Office 2010 has a 64 it version.

Note WINE needs a 32 bit config if you are running 32 bit software on a 64 bit machine --set the compatibility to either VISTA or W7 for the best results -- just play around with it.

Fixes can also be installed from the UBUNTU repositories. - I'm using OPENSUSE which has RPM but I'm starting to compile this stuff from source more and more so it can be reasonably distro independent. You don't have to know a lot or even a little about compiling this stuff -- just follow the instructions usually contained within source files.

Cheers
jimbo