WINE Arrives for Intel Macs

OSX86 Project ^ | Tuesday, 07 February 2006

[Swordmaker]

Though the precious dream of dual-booting our Intel Macs has not descended, a convenient alternative has arrived. Although fully functional on developers releases of OS X for Intel, the WINE compatibility layer, which allows Windows programs to run on *nix systems including OS X, was not available for the public release of 10.4.4. However, thanks to the hard work of the folks at Darwine and their contributors, it appears this barrier has been broken! Find out how to compile WINE and view screenshots in our forum.

Read more and see screen shots on the OSX86 Project website...

[Swordmaker]

Thanks to N3WBI3 for the heads up.

[Swordmaker]

WINE soon to be available for Intel Macs... run native MS Windows apps transparently in OSX.4.4? PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[antiRepublicrat]

Honestly, I'm thinking why bother with VMWare and other virtual machines now free.

[N3WBI3]

(1) Unlike VMWare wine does not add the extra overhead of CPU emulation, does not reserve a given chunk of memory for a VM.
(2) Wine shares directly the file system of the host operating system, no need to depend on SAMBA or NFS to share files between a VM and the hosts. A side benefit is you can save yourself a couple of gigs worth of windows operating system install on the disk.
(3) Windows application can be called directly by native os components, for example links in your email or chat programs can directly open internet explorer.

[SunkenCiv]

"links in your email or chat programs can directly open internet explorer."

That's not sweetening the deal. :')

[surely_you_jest]

(1) Unlike VMWare wine does not add the extra overhead of CPU emulation, does not reserve a given chunk of memory for a VM. (2) Wine shares directly the file system of the host operating system, no need to depend on SAMBA or NFS to share files between a VM and the hosts. A side benefit is you can save yourself a couple of gigs worth of windows operating system install on the disk. (3) Windows application can be called directly by native os components, for example links in your email or chat programs can directly open internet explorer.

Is there something like WINE available for the G5 chip?

[antiRepublicrat]

Unlike VMWare wine does not add the extra overhead of CPU emulation, does not reserve a given chunk of memory for a VM.

No more emulation, same platform. Plus VMWare doesn't reserve all of the physical memory, it shrinks and grows as needed up to the maximum allocated (but you can prevent VM memory from getting swapped). What is the stability of running Windows in with OS X? As far as file transfers, it's pretty much transparent, you just share out folders and move your files around as you normally would.

Sorry, the "ick factor" of putting Windows into OS X is just too up there for me. I'd prefer to have a nice wall between the two.

[Richard Kimball]

I agree. I work well without Windows, and see little reason to put that fugly interface on my Mac. However, if people find they can run Windows apps on a Mac without emulators, the whole M$ dominance is up for grabs. People wanting to try a Mac can do so, and slowly migrate, using their Windows programs until they upgrade, then doing a cross-platform, a little at a time.

Also, from what I've been reading, there's a good possiblity Vista will run on a Mac natively. Apparently the reason XP won't is because of a quick boot program built into the new chips Intel is furnishing. XP isn't designed to run on them, but Vista will. With Apple recently passing Dell in stock value, an influx of former PC users wanting to be able to use both platforms could turn Apple into a significant player in the PC end, also.

[N3WBI3]

Well keep in mind that wine works because you're running the same processor architecture, fro the G5 you would have to use QEMU or VirtualPC which don't have the advantages over vmware that I mentioned below..

[N3WBI3]

Plus VMWare doesn't reserve all of the physical memory, it shrinks and grows as needed up to the maximum allocated

Which includes the memory needed to run the Operating system you are running in the virtual box, with wine its memory on demand for *only* the application you want to run.

What is the stability of running Windows in with OS X?

Thats the point, with wine you *dont have to* run windows.

As far as file transfers, it's pretty much transparent, you just share out folders and move your files around as you normally would.

So im working on my document in MS word in vmware I have to save it to a specific share (or just share the entire drive) then pull it over to the OSX operating system to mail it? And what happens when you upgrade OSX and suddenly SMB is not quite working like it used to (as happened to many people going to tiger)

Sorry, the "ick factor" of putting Windows into OS X is just too up there for me.

Wine is *not* windows, is more of an API library..

[antiRepublicrat]

I understand WINE's uses, but it's just not my thing. Mixing Windows libraries with a stable OS is just scary. I prefer to have that wall. Besides, a lot of apps don't work in WINE.

So im working on my document in MS word in vmware I have to save it to a specific share (or just share the entire drive) then pull it over to the OSX operating system to mail it?

The way I use VirtualPC there's not much of a difference, except that you couldn't use "Send To : Mail Recipient" from within Word.

[anonymous_user]

That's not sweetening the deal. :')

ROTFLMAO!

[pageonetoo]

Just a note. I bought APPL at 13 3/8, a little over two years ago, and sold two weeks ago when it hit above $80. My final price was an average $82.57. I've noticed a downward trend, and wonder why it has settled back. If it falls again, I may pick some back up.

I don't know a lot about the stock market (though I just turned a profit of about 1400%+/-) and haven't seen enough to give me an answer. I sold just because it seemed time...

[ontos-on]

Could you [or someone] put this into English for the rest of us. What is WINE? What is VMWare? How are they related to the audio program when you follow the link. If I buy an INtel IMac, and want to run certain Windows programs, what would I do. Buy WINE whatever that is, from who. Or buy sometning else?? VMWARE??

Does this mean you could be running Tiger and just launch the Wundows application, eg, I need to run some specific law practice software which do not come in Mac versions.

I know this must sound so basic, but I cant decipher this discussion and it is important to my purcahse decision. I want to leave my PCs behind and buy several of the new INtel Imacs for my business. But I need to run some Windows programs. Would this mean I would not launce my xp on the new Mac? would not have to wait for tje launch of Vista? And, would they all [both my Mac and Windows apps] be available on my desktop without any distinction immediately?

[Swordmaker]

Some of your questions can be answered at Winehq.com