FOSSPicks
Windows emulator
Snapped Wine Games
The super convenient containerized snap packager has been gaining momentum recently, thanks to applications like Spotify, LibreOffice, Skype, and Bitwarden all becoming instantly installable from any of the distributions that support snap packages. Not all of these applications are open source, but the underlying snap technology is completely open. Anyone with a little spare time can roll their own and start publishing them, just as you can with Flatpak, DEBs, or even RPMs. But a recent weekend project that experimented with both Wine and snap packaging has repeated real benefits for gamers. That's because it's now feasible for some Windows games that work well with Wine to be packaged up within a snap, making them as easy to install as any other snap package: just snap install <game>
, for instance.
This is a great development because Wine, the open source platform for running Windows software, often requires a very specific set of configuration options, often unique to each piece of software you want to run. Wine uses bottles to keep these configurations from touching one another, and it's why projects like PlayOnLinux are so popular. These take the guessing out of the configuration by bundling templates for trusted configurations to run a game or application. But now, in limited cases, you get all of this from the snap command line, and it starts with the rather excellent TrackMania Nations Forever. Type snap install tmnationsforever
on a recent Ubuntu version, for example, and the Windows version of the game will be installed and configured to run in experimental versions of Wine without asking any further questions. It's still very much all in the testing phase, but it works and hints at a powerful future for prepackaged Windows binaries via snaps.
Project Website
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs