MX Linux Forum

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:06 am**

I've only been diving into using Linux for half a year now and there's still a bucket load I've yet to uncover and learn to do.
Case in point? WINE, which I now is a compatibility layer that allows you to run Windows apps and games in Linux and
there is a much more refined (and paid) version of it called CrossOver.

However I also heard that this software isn't 100% compatible with ALL apps and games and the only first-hand experience I had was
testing CrossOver in a live boot of Ubuntu Gamepack. I tried to install Adobe Creative Suite, Clip Studio as well as one of my old games.
Only Clip Studio installed but when I started it, it crashed.

That's why, at the moment, I'm sticking with Windows for the time being especially since I need Adobe for all my productive work and the majority of my games are
Windows games I bought from GOG.

But I am willing to try again although I'm interested to hear about anyone else's personal experience with WINE and/or CrossOver.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:16 am**

Before trying to run a Windows app in wine you should always visit https://www.winehq.org/ and search the application database. Some versions or particular apps work great while other versions don't work that well.

I've never heard of CrossOver and am not in favor of paid-for (and presumably closed source) apps on my Linux system, particularly when wine(or Play on Linux) does what I need for those very few Windows apps that I still use. For anything else that insists on being run in real Windows there are VirtualBox VMs.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:19 am**

My experiences with WINE were always bad. No experience with MX and in other distributions was terrible, for that reason I use VirtualBox with W7 for programs of my profession that only exist for Windows or MAC and thus they work for me without problem.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:43 am**

Very positive. If it works, it works very well. And it works surprisingly (for me) often.

To elaborate: wine is basically a layer that "translates" Windows API calls to their nearest Linux equivalent. Software that uses/needs API calls that are not easily or not at all translatable will either not work well or not at all. Many Windows developers are these days specifically including code to make their software work on wine but anything that needs a driver or direct access to the underlying hardware won't work (as a general rule, there may be exceptions).

I am using around a dozen Windows apps on wine for which I have, so far, found no real replacement (or where a change to my current working practices is not yet feasible). These include IrfanView, foobar2000, PopTrayU, my email/newsreader client and an Office package (not MS) and couple of smaller utilities. These are virtually perfect. Quite a few others are not completely OK but still quite usable.

One caveat. I tend to use software that does not need installation, ie portable software. In my experience, big packages which need installation are more prone to causing trouble than this type of software (again that's a general rule, there are exceptions).

Try it. It may work well. And it is regularly updated.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:54 am**

My experiences with WINE are that the things it works well with, such as office software, already have viable Linux alternatives.

As others have said, a Windows install in a virtual machine may be a better solution.

Chris

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 9:30 am**

Me... "no like"

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 9:33 am**

There are a few Windows programs I use Wine for, but I keep a Win7 VM because my preferred Tax Software is a no-go in Wine.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 10:00 am**

timkb4cq wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 9:33 am There are a few Windows programs I use Wine for, but I keep a Win7 VM because my preferred Tax Software is a no-go in Wine.

I like this solution...Win7 VM. I wonder to what extent running VM...requires a heftier faster computer, than what I have, a Dell D630 Duo Core2?

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:01 pm**

gbhollr wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:06 am However I also heard that this software isn't 100% compatible with ALL apps and games

This does seem to be the problem with WINE. I have only tried two window programs using WINE and only one of the programs worked reasonably well. So obviously I'm not an expert using WINE and I'm not much of a gamer so it is not a big deal to me. "However, I have found good alternative applications to windows programs in the Linux repositories. If you are a big gamer you might like to try steam. I hear it has really improved the gaming experience for Linux users. I hope Linux works out for you. I love it

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:05 pm**

I'm using two Windows apps on one of my machines via wine. foobar2000 and the great burning application AnyBurn. Both works great but CD-Ripping via foobar is not possible.

In my opinion there are no native Linux programs good replacements for that apps. For example I'm ripping Audio CDs with asunder but only foobar2000 can create flac files with a correct embedded cuesheet in it. There are good files for archiving. Two native Linux players can read embedded cuesheets (deadbeef and qmmp), but no one can create such files. Maybe theres a solution with abcde and mkcue on the command-line.

Burning with Anyburn works great. Such a small app and a wide range of functionality, a bit similar to ImgBurn but better. Ok, k3b is a also a good app, but I would not install so much KDE dependencies on a GTK based Desktop like Xfce.

Posted: **Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:35 pm**

rc racer wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:01 pm If you are a big gamer you might like to try steam. I hear it has really improved the gaming experience for Linux users. I hope Linux works out for you. I love it

Yeah, I heard. Although some of the games I have on Steam aren't listed as Linux compatible, such as Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (One of my biggest favourites!)

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2019 12:23 am**

Use wine only for google picasa..

dunno why, so many picture manager in mx but i felt different with picasa especially faster for bulk rotate, crop, fix color etc.
Install manual from winetricks with solving dependecies library mscorefont, gdi+, ie7, msls31 and msxml3. Have try picasa.deb package from mint distro but they're same wine dependent.
I've done replacement photoshop with gimp since no need special plugin. only some corel file that i've using vbox with win7 minimal install inside mx.

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2019 5:00 am**

gbhollr wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:35 pm
rc racer wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:01 pm If you are a big gamer you might like to try steam. I hear it has really improved the gaming experience for Linux users. I hope Linux works out for you. I love it
Yeah, I heard. Although some of the games I have on Steam aren't listed as Linux compatible, such as Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (One of my biggest favourites!)

Apparently this game works in steam beta program. See and search your favorite games here:

https://www.protondb.com/app/19830

Opt in steam beta program:

https://itsfoss.com/steam-play/

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2019 5:22 am**

... For me WINE is a good tool but mostly as workaround, for the new Linux users coming from Windows ...useful to keep the habits of the Windows softwares ... but step by step, I using it less in less and prefer the Linux native softwares .

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2019 7:39 am**

my experience, with ./wine is that it is surprisingly bad, when running "my favorite program"
- however, having said that,, the programs that meant the most to myself, do in fact work well with the Crossover software.
the rest, and I've tested quite a lot, actually, are an mixed bunch & that's no surprise, either.

therefore, I've settled on using that Crossover Software, as it works for the programs, that I'm generally interested in using.
- - yeah - - it's Paid Software & I'm happy to use it:
- that company is an very active supporter of the ./wine project, itself.
- having to Not Buy stuff from Microsoft is saving me, some $$$ & thus I'm happy to give a little back to the World of Linux.

Posted: **Thu Mar 28, 2019 10:07 pm**

gbhollr wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:35 pm
rc racer wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:01 pm

Yeah, I heard. Although some of the games I have on Steam aren't listed as Linux compatible, such as Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (One of my biggest favourites!)

I'm not a big gamer, but if I were, having a PC set up specifically for Windows games and a Linux system set up to do personal business on for security reasons sounds good to me. Easier said than done; If you can not afford a good gaming computer.

Posted: **Fri Mar 29, 2019 7:52 pm**

I only have about 6 Windows programs that have no possible Linux alternatives.
One program has several toolbar icons that don't display (only shows a blank button but the buttons work), two programs have fonts that don't render properly but otherwise they all function the same as they did on Windows 7.
One program requires .NET 4.0 and after I figured out how to install that using Winetricks it works the same as on Windows 7.
The others all work ok and I can't tell the difference between running them on Windows 7 and WINE except they might be a little slower.

Posted: **Sun Mar 31, 2019 4:33 pm**

I'm a relative newbie to Linux (about 15 months, mostly on Mint Cinnamon) but when I was asked to used MS Word specifically for a project and tried Wine it was a complete disaster. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I couldn't get it to work reliably at all. The word docs would open but I couldn't save anything and almost all functionality was lost. I eventually gave up and used WPS office instead and nobody knew any the wiser ;-)

Posted: **Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:34 pm**

Space Engine and Balaboka work well in Wine for me. Linux really doesn't have anything like those two programs, unfortunately.

Posted: **Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:56 pm**

Teamviewer 12 (Version 12) one of the best remote support tools is a wine-application. The newer Teamviewer version13 is pure Linux implementation, which I tried a couple of times, but being back using to teamviewer12, if I cannot use AnyDesk (pure linux).
PDF-Viewer and PDF-Exchange Editor seems also to work very well in wine. OK, not really using it much since we have MasterPDF.
OK IrfanView was already mentioned. TotalCommander .. just for fun, not really needed in Linux, but for me very helpful on the other OS to give quick support for those Dual-Booter's....

Posted: **Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:45 pm**

All bad, and ultimately, not worth the chase. If I can't run it in native Linux, I don't need it.

Posted: **Mon Apr 01, 2019 5:15 am**

It seems that happiness or otherwise with wine's performance depends largely on one's expectations. I came to the show with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Others may have higher (perhaps even unrealistic) expectations and come away displeased. I use wine for five or six apps regularly (ie more than once daily) and for a few others every now and then. I can honestly say that the my transitioning from Windows 7 to GNU/Linux would be a lot more troublesome than it is if it weren't for wine. A case for YMMV if there ever was one.

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:45 pmAll bad, and ultimately, not worth the chase. If I can't run it in native Linux, I don't need it.

Wow, that's a well-reasoned argument.

Seriously. This may be possible for those who have lived in the Linux universe for a long time and had no exposure to Windows machines. Many of us don't have that "luxury". Some are switching from Windows after many years of working with it, others have jobs where they have to work with Windows. For these people there may well exist a plethora of apps they are used to (or even depending on) that are either significantly better than the best offered by Linux or that may not be available in a Linux version at all.

Posted: **Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:01 pm**

thomasl wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2019 5:15 am I use wine for five or six apps regularly (ie more than once daily) and for a few others every now and then.

That's a LOT. Are you able to do that all in wine? A list would be edifying.

Posted: **Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:18 pm**

@figueroa: from my post #4 in this thread:

thomasl wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:43 amI am using around a dozen Windows apps on wine for which I have, so far, found no real replacement (or where a change to my current working practices is not yet feasible). These include IrfanView, foobar2000, PopTrayU, my email/newsreader client and an Office package (not MS) and couple of smaller utilities. These are virtually perfect. Quite a few others are not completely OK but still quite usable.

I can further elaborate if required.

Posted: **Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:31 pm**

I missed IrfanView until I found Kolourpaint.
https://alternativeto.net/

I don't care for WINE.

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