Linux On Windows - The Thin End Of The Wedge?

AYeomans writes: "LINE version 0.3 has just been released.'LINE is a utility which executes unmodified Linux applications on Windows by intercepting Linux system calls. The Linux applications themselves are not emulated. They run directly on the CPU just like all other Windows applications.' Could this be the thin end, to which the Linux wedge is attached, allowing people currently tied to Windows the opportunity of easily using native Linux applications?" I wonder how many Windows users are actively waiting for Linux programs to use. (TuxRacer one day maybe?) The version number is low but this is an interesting, oddball project.

Comments

All kidding aside...

[astrashe]

I'm not sure this software will be very useful, but I'm not sure it's as dumb as people here seem to think.

My windows 2000 desktop is rock solid. Machines that I've built myself aren't that great with windows, but my Dell never crashes. I think windows is pickier about hardware than linux.

I run linux (and BSD now) for the applications. Things like sendmail and apache, mutt, vim, and fetchmail.

Exchange might be a wonderful package (never used it), but it's expensive, and I'm running email for my own personal domain, not an enterprise -- so the thousands of dollars 2000 Server and Exchange would cost are out of the question. Outlook does a lot of nice stuff, but it won't let me read the headers (at least I haven't figured out how), things like that. Too much hand holding.

The problem with unix apps like sendmail is the learning curve. Once you know it, it really is good stuff, especially when it's free.

The whole idea that w2k isn't solid for a desktop is just silly, and the argument will only be taken seriously when you're preaching to the choir at places like /.. Whenever a linux guy says that his w2k box crashes all the time, I always assume he built it himself, or that he's overclocking or something like that. If you buy a Dell, it will work fine. To put it another way, it's certainly possible to make w2k solid, and if yours isn't, well you're not doing it right.

But at the same time, the idea that stability is the only drawing card of linux is silly too. Unix is simple, it's clean, and it's easy to use, once you've climbed up a bit on the learning curve. It's more than clean, it's elegant. And a lot of the apps are key -- if you want to run NAT, if you want to handle your email, if you want to filter net traffic, Linux or BSD is the way to go.

I'm not sure this particular software will be that useful -- it really makes more sense to me to just have two machines.

Re:Double standard? No.

[istartedi]

WINE: Good for users because you can use Windows applications on Linux.
LINE: Good for users because you can use Linux applications on Windows.

The problem some people having with the Windows part of this is that they want to see Linux do better. Users don't care which does better. They just want more and better choices, and LINE gives them another choice. Open source doesn't empower users (not directly anyway) because they can't modify source (most of them are not programmers). Additional choices empower the users, because they are all capable of making choices.

This can only hurt Linux

[multipartmixed]

...just think, now all the Micro$oft users can see how unstable Linux applications are when running under Windows -- talk about a great way to present bad publicity to the uninitiated masses.

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Uhhhh

[Masem]

TuxRacer is already available for Windows -- I know I've played it on my system. (It's an openGL application with standard C calls, not much more to needed to make it highly portable)...

Re:I've been looking for a program like this

[vidarh]

You have a much simpler solution: If it's an X app, run it on one of your Linux machines, and install Exceed, or some other Windows X servers (there's plenty of them available) to display the user interface on the Windows boxes.

Alternatively, you can run VNC on the Linux box together with the app, and let them use a VNC client or even a webbrowser (with Java) to get access to the application that way.

Ahhhhahaha!

[atrowe]

Yeah. The only thing holding me back from running Windows is the lack of decent apps. Not that I can run all of my wonderful Linux software, I've got no reason NOT to switch!

Finally...

[NMerriam]

At long last, the stability of windows with the broad application base of Linux -- we could make a less useful computer if we really put our minds to it!...

---------------------------------------------

Re:Finally...

[haystor]

Have Apple do the pricing.

Just cool...

[Warphal]

I mean who cares if its useful or not?
The only thing that matters is that its just so COOL. I say it again: Its just cool!

Warphal ;)

What's the point?

[b0z]

The biggest reason the average person doesn't use linux is the lack of a lot of good applications. I can see using something like this if you can run xterms and such out of it without paying a lot of money for exceed, but that's about it.

Also, it's obvious that the author doesn't really know what he's talking about because:

1) - There is a version of GIMP that has been ported to Windows. 2) - There is a TuxRacer version for Windows.

Also, I tend to think that the apps on linux mostly suck when you are using linux as a desktop. Server applications are where linux shines, and if you were going to run something like apache webserver, why not just use the linux version on linux, or the windows version on windows?

Anyways, I think this could be an interesting project, but it's no holy grail to get people to start using linux apps since the applications for Windows are usually superior. It's the OS that everyone hates, not the applications (well, some of the applications too.)

Re:About time...Wait a minute, that already exists

[multipartmixed]

I use bash on my windows box daily (along with sed, awk, gmake, uname, find, file, RCS-5.7, telnet, in.telnetd, and a host of other common tools).

Ever heard of Cygwin? It's a pretty damned fine piece of kit. It understands the way UNIX people work, and all that Windows stupidity at the same time. Brilliant, I say.

Wes

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Great for advancing Linux Acceptance --

[Bonker]

Not so great for creating stability.

As I write this, the link to the information has been slashdotted out of existence, so I'll have to make some assumptions.

First of all is the fact that this is going to have to intercept pretty much all file-system calls and do some pretty damn nifty conversion to get the different shells to work properly. Heaven help you if you try to chmod kernel32.dll or something like that... ^_^

Second is the fact that this is going to be a popular program amoung 'amature' hackers, and people who consider themselves hackers because they know a little more about their workstation than the guy in the next cube. For every guy who manages to get 'xeyes' to run, you're going to end up with two or three calls to any given IT department like this:

'My computer won't boot into Windows any more!'

'What did you do to it?'

'I tried to run linuxcfg, but it crashed and deleted my Windows directory when it couldn't find /etc or /conf'

'Hybrid' sytems are never fun to support.

If this works, however, and starts working reliably, it could be a great boon to getting certain apps ported over to Linux. If a Windoze software developer can run an app that will allow him to a compile a linux binary of his Windows program, it will start to open the door for a lot of 'effortless' porting work between the two OS's.