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Posted on 10/25/2005 9:16:48 AM PDT by N3WBI3
This is release 0.9 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix. After 12 years of development, this release marks the beginning of the beta testing phase. Everybody is encouraged to try it; while there are still bugs, most applications are expected to at least install and do something useful.
Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:
http://www.winehq.org/site/download
About Wine:
Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix.
Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs to run on x86-based Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris.
More information can be read in the articles Why Wine is so important, and Debunking Wine Myths. If you are wondering how well a particular application works in Wine, please examine the Applications Database. For installation instructions and step-by-step help with running Wine, take a look at the User Guide.
Wine is free software. The licensing terms are the GNU Lesser General Public License.
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I am very excited to announce that we have shipped version 5 of CrossOver Office.
We have added initial support for Microsoft Office 2003, added a powerful new feature we call 'bottles', which lets you manage your Windows applications more easily than ever before, and dramatically improved the installation and execution process of nearly every Windows program.
CrossOver Office - Our flagship Linux desktop productivity tool. Allows you to run many popular office productivity software applications, such as Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Project and Visio, graphics applications like Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, and Adobe Photoshop, and many more. Not only that, but CrossOver Office also allows you to use many Windows Web browser plugins, such as QuickTime and Shockwave, directly on your Linux browser. No Windows Operating System license required; CrossOver is a complete replacement for your Windows OS as far as your applications are concerned.
We offer two versions of CrossOver Office: Professional and Standard. The Standard version provides home users and Linux enthusiasts with all of the great features that CrossOver has always been noted for, at an affordable price point. Professional builds on the functionality of Standard, by adding enhanced deployability features, as well as the ability to run CrossOver in shared mode from from a single machine. Professional also comes with a longer support period, and a higher support level, making it a more robust Windows-to-Linux migration tool.
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Software emulation on a slow machine, even in best case, is a poor substitute for native apps.
But it does prevent you from having to rewrite apps like visio and project for different platforms..
Personally, I use Cedega and VMware (for that one program that Cedega just won't run). Also, did you see that VMware has released Vmware Player for free--as in beer?
Both wrong. WINE is "WINE Is Not an Emulator" It is more of a compatibility environment. It provides the same functional API that Windows does and runs the executables natively. The main problem it has is that it isn't a perfect API nor does it have all the functions that Windows does so some applications don't run quite right. However, it is almost there.
VMWare is a virtual machine. It provides all the functionality of the seperate PC running under its host OS. It runs the applications on the native processor.
For an EMULATOR you'd want to check out BOCHS or VirtualPC for Mac.
One big difference that WINE differs from the others is that the others require you install Windows on a virtualized environment. WINE doesn't require a copy of Windows to use it.
Can you analogize? I am having some difficulty understanding exactly the differences. I'm trying to learn, though.
Virtual Machines: WINE, VMWare
Virtual Machines operate by running the program on the computer (Host PC) and emulate services. So a Windows program will operate normally under WINE but its Windows calls will be handled by WINE instead of Windows.
Emulators: BOCHS, Virtual PC for Mac
Emulators emulate the PC. They don't run x86 instructions directly, rather they interpret them. So instead of simply calling the "add" instruction they would simulate the "add" instruction by creating 2 variables and add them in the program. This interpretation slows down the execution process significantly.
There are advances in some emulators that increase the speed, for example dynamic recompilation. This technique uses the executable (binary) as a "source code" of sorts and recompiles for the native processor and then executes the recompiled code. I believe Virtual PC works this way. This is also a popular way of emulating console gaming platforms to increase performance.
Virtual Machines can only work for applications that would work on the architecture natively. So a Windows program would run on a PC operating Linux but not a Mac since Macs use a completely different processor. In order to run non-native code you'd have to emulate.
I see your point but wine is significantly different than almost every other VM I have ever worked with..
Ack I called VMWare an emulator... dang I see where I goofed... Nice catch..
WINE.........
Wine
Is
Not (an)
Emulator
WINE.
That helped. Thanks!
Is there a Windows VM that's 60MB or less and at minimal cost?
Do you mean a VM that runs under Windows, or a VM that runs Windows inside it?
WINE is not software emulation, but essentially a replacement for the Windows kernel/shell that supports the same interface (API) as the native Windows.
Though, if I know how big the VM is, I could try to cut out some things that aren't used very much.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to run IE6 (testing websites) and iTunes, as well as a few other small Windows applications.
Some of the smaller apps I can get to run in WINE, but they are fairly slow, even at my school, where we have relatively fast machines.
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