Running Windows Programs with the Wine API
PRACTICAL WINE
The Wine compatibility layer lets Linux users run Windows programs. Unfortunately, configuring Wine is anything but trivial, and it helps if you enjoy experimenting.
Linux offers a number of options for users who need to run an occasional Windows program. You can emulate a complete machine using an application such as VMware or Qemu, or you can simulate a machine subset with Win4Lin. These solutions work quite well but also have some drawbacks: for one thing, users need to buy both the emulation environment and the operating system, both of which take up valuable space on the host machine. Emulation also taxes performance and soaks up memory. An average program running in an emulator will achieve just 50 to 80 percent of its normal native performance, even with increased static RAM memory use by the guest operating system. An alternative to emulation is simply to provide Windows libraries for the Linux system. In theory, this approach would allow the program to run in Linux. Unfortunately, this approach is complicated. First, the Windows library functions, or so called API (Application Programming Interface), is not adequately documented.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux newsletters
News
-
Alpine Linux 3.17 Now Available to the General Public
The developers of Alpine Linux have officially announced the release of the latest version of the security-focused Linux distribution.
-
The New StarFighter Linux Laptop Now Available for Preorder
A new, completely customizable Linux laptop is now available to preorder from Star Labs.
-
Critical Escalation Vulnerability Found in the Linux Kernel
A new local privilege escalation vulnerability has been discovered in the Linux kernel and users are encouraged to upgrade/patch immediately.
-
AlmaLinux 8.7 Now Available
The developers of AlmaLinux have released the latest version of the OS, named Stone Smilodon, to the general public.
-
New Arch-Based Linux Distribution Aims to be Beginner-Friendly
CachyOS has been created to serve as a Linux distribution for everyone, even while being based on the more complex Arch Linux.
-
elementary OS 7 Getting Closer to Release
The team behind elementary OS has announced they are now focused on putting the finishing touches on the next major release of the Linux distribution.
-
Nitrux 2.5 Released with Kernel 6.0 and KDE Plasma 5.26
Nitrux 2.5 has been officially released and is the first systemd-free distribution to include both kernel 6.0 and KDE Plasma 5.26.
-
Zorin OS 16.02 Now Available
Zorin OS 16.2 has been officially released just seven months after the first point release of the user-friendly Linux operating system.
-
Linus Torvalds Considers Dropping i486 Support
In a message to the Linux kernel mailing list, creator Linus Torvalds indicates that it's time to jettison support for i486 machines in with Linux kernel.
-
Firefox 106 Lands with Back-Forward Swipe Gesture Support
The latest release of Firefox is out, and it adds two important new features to the open source browser.