Wine for Linux

I currently have Linux with a dual boot with Windows Vista.

I am trying to use programs via the WINE program on Linux so I can use Windows programs within Linux.

I have no idea how to set the WINE program up so I can use windows programs with it. Ive looked all over the Internet trying to find a help guide but have no look. Am help in using the WINE program would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Sean

why don't you try the official WINE site?

I would suggest trying either WineHQ or this site for FAQ's and how-to's.

Which distro are you using? Why dont you try the command line
$ wine

I have not used it for a long time but, if it is installed already just download your winprogram.exe file and save it to desktop then open it if prompted for what with select wine and it will walk you through the process

[Moderator]

WINE (Wine is Not an Emulator -- that's what it stands for) is not an emulator (if you didn't gather from my acronym definition).

It's an important point to make. Most people expect out of WINE what they would expect out of an emulator.

I am going to assume that you are using a common Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu or Debian.

Open your Package Manager ("Add/Remove Software", in some systems) and search for "Wine"
Double-click Wine, and the "Install" button.

When you want to run a .exe program, right click the program and "Open with WINE"

I also advise looking into PlayOnLinux for use with Microsoft Office and other games.

Best,
Jesse Zylstra

WINE is a compatibility layer. the problem is that all compatibility layers, by definition, are emulating features that otherwise are not present. So the acronym really isn't true at all, kind of like LAME (LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder, yet that's exactly what it does).

Linux doesn't use the Win32 API. WINE emulates it for windows programs. It's not a low-level emulator, like, say, SNES or NES emulators, that have to emulate an entirely different CPU architecture, but a higher level one- it emulates the functions of the windows API.

It's kind of like the old unicode layer dll, UNICOWS.DLL; you packed it up with your app so that you could still call the Unicode version of API functions through the layer; if you were running on NT, the layer called the native routine. Otherwise it emulated it. the program really didn't need to know which of these occured; all it did was call the function. wether the feature was emulated or "real" was inconsequential.

So the acronym really isn't true at all, kind of like LAME (LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder, yet that's exactly what it does).

It's one of the well known "recursive acronyms" beloved of 'Nix folks, like Linux — Linux Is Not UniX, GNU — GNU's Not Unix, etc

 

would Crossover make things easier than if you're just going from WINE straight on?

One thing that has not been asked is which windows programs do you want to run on Linux because there is generally an equivalent or better linux program.

One thing that has not been asked is which windows programs do you want to run on Linux because there is generally an equivalent or better linux program.

good point.

I read somewhere where they said Linux has the capabilities of M$ Windows NT + $5000 worth of software on it. You believe that?

I read somewhere where they said Linux has the capabilities of M$ Windows NT + $5000 worth of software on it. You believe that?

not really. while most commercial windows programs have freeware equivalents on Linux, there are also freeware equivalents of them for windows, so the comparison is a bit biassed in that regard. (the 5000$ software for windows could easily have freeware equivalents that are also for windows)