Win4Lin???
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| jdixon Jan 22, 2016 9:20 AM EDT |
Win4Lin was discontinued in 2008 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win4Lin). I think I even have a copy of it somewhere, but I have my doubts that it would work properly with a modern distribution. I may need to break it out and test though. |
| dotmatrix Jan 22, 2016 9:51 AM EDT |
Over the years, I've tried various iterations of the "How to run MS Windows application on GNU/Linux" wheel of pain. I discovered, for myself, that if "it" doesn't run natively, I just don't need "it" all that much. My own recommendation on running Windows applications in GNU/Linux would be to install 'virtualbox' and run a full Windows install on a VM. This will probably keep your GNU/Linux system safe from the Windows malware repo [i.e. anywhere on the Internet]... Interestingly, Wine seems to run into some malware murkiness: https://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#Wine_is_malware-compatible This may have been posted here at some time in the past -- I didn't look. |
| jdixon Jan 22, 2016 11:17 AM EDT |
> My own recommendation on running Windows applications in GNU/Linux would be to install 'virtualbox' and run a full Windows install on a VM. In general, I agree. But I've decided I prefer kvm to either virtualbox or vmware. There are several grahpical front ends to kvm that make it easier to use (gkvm, virt-manager, and aqemu are all options). |
| Ridcully Jan 22, 2016 4:43 PM EDT |
I used to use Win4Lin as my method of getting Win98SE (and associated crucial Win-based software) onto my Linux setup back in about 2000-2004; then Win4Lin discontinued support for 98SE and went to WinXP support and I didn't have a copy of that OS, so I eventually moved to Crossover Office which is where I'm at today. I think you are right about Win4Lin being discontinued Jdixon - although I haven't looked yet. But, Win4Lin, in my experience anyway, was a very good piece of software for running Windows in a Linux machine. Once you had it set up nicely, Win-based software ran as fast (if not faster) than in a full Windows OS. I was surprised to see it listed in this article myself. Wikipedia lists the software as discontinued. |
| jdixon Jan 22, 2016 7:07 PM EDT |
> But, Win4Lin, in my experience anyway, was a very good piece of software for running Windows in a Linux machine. I also ran Win98 with it, and it worked very well. |
| BernardSwiss Jan 23, 2016 12:51 AM EDT |
Quoting: > My own recommendation on running Windows applications in GNU/Linux would be to install 'virtualbox' and run a full Windows install on a VM. Anybody care to expound on why one prefers/should prefer one VM solution or the other to the rest? (I'd be interested -- and appreciative.) |
| Ridcully Jan 23, 2016 1:58 AM EDT |
If it is specific Win-based software packages that are supported by Crossover Office (and you can always find out if the packages are supported from the site lists) then I think Crossover Office is well worth a second look. I've been using it now for perhaps 6-8 years and like it immensely. |
| dotmatrix Jan 23, 2016 8:15 AM EDT |
BernardSwiss wrote:Anybody care to expound on why one prefers/should prefer one VM solution or the other to the rest? I'll give this a shot... There seem to be three general categories of 'VM':
Bare Metal Bare metal "VM" runs at the kernel level. With bare metal VM, you typically boot the machine into the VM supervisor. Then you create the VMs and load them with images. If you control a bare metal VM machine, you are typically the supervisor and not the user. The users are typically network clients. Examples:
Software Software "VM" runs over the top of a fully operational OS, not just the kernel. This would be a typical choice for testing multiple OSes on one machine or running a guest OS in a window for a special purpose. Examples:
Simulated API Environment A Simulated API Environment allows a user to run a single program compiled for one OS on another OS. The simulated environment provides wrappers around the host OS interfaces. Examples:
So... Choice of a "VM" is multifaceted. First you decide what it is that you are doing: running a single special application, or running an entire OS within an entire OS, or running multiple OSes from a small memory footprint kernel module. Next you generally have a couple of choices between these top level architectures. For Bare Metal, I use xen... There are many people who use kvm, but I find xen to be easier for my skill set. For Software VM, I use virtualbox... I find vmware very confusing to setup, and the licensing is rather complex. There is also a requirement to register on their website to get software... and it's non-free and proprietary. For Simulated API, I sometimes use wine... but, as I said, I don't really use wine anymore... There are many people who get everything to work in wine, but I find it's very difficult and time consuming - so I generally don't bother. So... My recommendation reads like this: Running a single Windows application in the 'wine' simulated API environment can be time consuming and have a high failure rate. I typically find it easier to simply install the whole Windows OS into the software VM, virtualbox. This has the advantages of providing greater isolation between my host GNU/Linux OS and the probably buggy and virus laden Windows OS -- as well as making installing Windows programs trivial, because the VM is the actual Windows OS. |
| jdixon Jan 23, 2016 9:21 AM EDT |
VMware versus Virtualbox versus KVM: While Virtualbox is opensource (gpl) it has proprietary extensions and it's owned by Oracle, who I trust as far as I can throw. It's my preferred solution for Windows though. VMware is proprietary and (as dotmatrix notes) has somewhat confusing licensing, which they like to change on a semi-regular basis. It also tends to break with kernel upgrades, unless they've fixed that in the past 5 years or so. KVM support is built into the kernel, and the required software stack is completely opensource. IMO, the user space front end gui's (I use aqemu) make it as easy to use as Virtualbox or VMware. |
| BernardSwiss Jan 25, 2016 4:58 AM EDT |
Thank for the replies. Sorry for the late response -- I was fighting off the flu, and let a lot of things slide. |
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