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Wine 1.2 Released

David Gerard writes "Stuck with that one Windows app you can't get rid of? Rejoice — Wine 1.2 is officially released! Apart from running pretty much any Windows application on Unix better than 1.0 (from 2008), major new features include 64-bit support, bi-directional text, and translation into thirty languages. And, of course, DirectX 9 is well-supported and DirectX 10 is getting better. Packages should hit the distros over the weekend, or you can get the source now."

21 of 427 comments (clear)

  1. I used to use wine... by foxtyke · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Long ago when I first switched to Linux I made the decision that I would not run a dual boot environment and would instead use Wine to run my apps I NEEDED from Windows on my Linux machine.

    Fast forward six months from that switch, I removed the NEEDED applications because I found better ones (hello GnuCash) and haven't used a Windows application or required Wine since then, that was almost 3 or 4 years ago now when I fully switched my desktop to Linux.

    1. Re:I used to use wine... by donstenk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I had the same experience with Mac. I only bought a Mac when they released them with Intel chips and got mine with VMware straight away as I had many licensed Windows programs.

      However, it did not take long to let go of Windows programs, but the option being there made the switch less daunting.

      --
      Dennis Onstenk
  2. people still use wine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    i thought people were all about VM's now

  3. Re:Never Works Properly by icebraining · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The summary doesn't say it runs "pretty much any Windows application", it says it runs "pretty much any Windows application better than Wine 1.0".

  4. Re:Every windows application by eapache · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think Wine needs a usability team. Some kind of gui/tooling to make things easier for newbies to Wine.



    The vineyard project is working on that, I believe: http://vineyardproject.org/
  5. Re:Make the switch from Dual Booting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    You can use Mangler, a native Linux vent client to talk to your friends on vent. And in the meantime you can convince them to use Mumble

  6. 1.2 already? by Windwraith · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wow, brings memories of the pre-1.0 phase. Do you remember when only the most basic apps would run in WINE and required a lot of tweaking? Nowadays I can run most apps but Game Maker (Like Hydorah, Spelunky, etc) based games. Even painting and music apps, or games like Touhou or other doujin arcade games work practically out of the box (mostly requiring directx 9 runtimes). I don't play much mainstream, but I have been satisfied with my indie/arcade gaming needs and WINE.
    This is only going to get better with time, and I am kind of happy about it. Years ago I had to use virtualbox or use my laptop to run simplistic apps reliably, and it's not the case anymore (in my use case at least, you know, generalizing, anecdotal evidence, your mileage may vary, etc)

  7. Quickbooks? Quicken? by bucketoftruth · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I'm not even going to check the website. Pretty much everything worth running already works, except Quickbooks. That's the game killer for real desktop adoption. I completely understand why it's nearly impossible to make it happen, but It would sure be nice if Quickbooks completely worked.

  8. Re:Never Works Properly by Jorl17 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've used Wine for a long time. I've modified its source-code several times to make my apps run and I'm usually around the winehq.org forums.
    I can say with a high degree of confidence that it runs most applications flawlessly. Of course, you need to remove many of the new .NET crap, which is ruining the industry for everyone. The only issues I found Wine to have were related to sound. Progressively, I fixed those and got the best out of my Wine installations. Heck, when I cross-compile, I always test my apps in Wine and verify that they are 1:1 with Windows. I constantly run different games in Wine and sometimes with better performance than my windows peers.

    Occasionally, you'll have to bring out the nerd in you and do some hacking to get games to work. For instance, it was a long process for me to get Red Alert 3 to work online and via LAN. The forums helped me a lot. It was also difficult to get Age Of Empires III to run, but I did it.

    I am only sorry that so many people end up bashing Wine. If they'd waste part of that time in contributing to the community, submitting patches, helping out in forums and irc, or simply stopping complaining, I think we'd be better.

    --
    Have you heard about SoylentNews?
  9. Re:And here come the paid Microsoft trolls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Okay, fuck. Well, at least go out and post FUD and outright lies

    You mean like you just did by making up this bullshit?

  10. Any try a Qemu on MIPS running x86-Wine/Starcraft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Qemu compiled on a MIPS let's someone run/translate a Wine compiled for x86 Linux that in-effect run a Win32 Starcraft.

    I'm recently buying one of these Linux-based MIPS embedded specialty computers and just want to touch base wether anyone has tried this yet. I know DosEMU is slow, so I can't try much of that. Tho Xevil, Abuse, NetHack, and Quake2 is man-tier for native Linux use on this handheld.

  11. Re:Every windows application by YokoZar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think Wine needs a usability team. Some kind of gui/tooling to make things easier for newbies to Wine.

    That is exactly why Codeweavers makes money. And it is not even that expensive ...

    Yeah it's basically me and the Vineyard author working on Wine usability at this point (Hopefully I can get Vineyard more or less finalized for inclusion in Ubuntu 10.10)

  12. Re:Never Works Properly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    only to get about 70% of the functionality working and only 40% of the performance

    I thought that was a feature of everything that is Linux?

  13. Steam by Rydia · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hopefully the wine project and Valve are working together on this and that linux version of steam pops up soon. I installed DAO via steam in linux the other day and there was an intermediate step about configuring wine (in the windows version of steam) that gives me some hope.

  14. Re:And here come the paid Microsoft trolls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Hmm. I see the Wintrolls got mod points this week.

    By the way, don't pretend you don't exist. I used to work for a company that worked closely with Microsoft, and they *admitted* they do exactly what I describe -- trolling boards to make their products seem much better by comparison (when they're really not). So don't give me this "you made this up" garbage.

    Sad that MS trolls are so afraid of this that they'll mod down an AC from 0 to -1 just to make sure as few people as possible see it.

  15. Re:Replacement to DOSBox? by BobNET · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Anyone expecting their 20-year-old legacy system to run on a modern OS is insane.

    ...or a Linux user. DOSEMU+FreeDOS is awesome for old apps (games still run better in DOSBox, though).

  16. Re:Replacement to DOSBox? by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Anyone expecting their 20-year-old legacy system to run on a modern OS is insane.

    I do half my work using 1980s DTP software (Ventura GEM). Runs in XP fine full screen in glorious VGA resolution. Prints to Postscript which my HP laser can print as-is; and I can convert to to PDF if I need to exchange files with anyone.

    Old software doesn't wear out; it just gets faster as hardware gets exponentially more powerful.

    But I will look at running it under Wine, probably a safer bet in the long term than hoping Microsoft doesn't break it.

  17. Re:Every windows application by amentajo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wine Doors (and the supporting website linked above) has had a lot of trouble in the past keeping the website running, probably due to its popularity climbing above the level of obscurity required to keep the webserver from melting. The app itself was a Ports-like system for Wine. They kept a repository of customized scripts that would help users install certain free applications, like Notepad++ or even the World of Warcraft Trial, with a click. I personally wasn't very impressed by the size of the repository, and the software was flaky even on the days when the online repository (hosted on the same server as their website) was running properly... but sometimes it worked, in controlled circumstances.

    Wine proper has excellent technical merits. Most of my lasting complaints about Wine involve usability and desktop integration, and those complaints are at least addressed by the Vineyard project and/or Crossover's value-added products.

  18. Re:Hmmmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I wouldn't install either for a Laptop (2k for the reason you mentioned, XP for driver support) but if you're installing on a desktop, even a mostly later model one (EOL C2D era, not like i3/5/7) Windows 2000 is still awesome for gaming, flashing usb drives, burning anything on sata/ide, etc.

    Most of the places where 2k/XP fall down are technologies that normally make more sense for notebooks and the bleeding edge of gaming (due to drivers/features that the OS does not currently architecturally support.)

  19. Re:Replacement to DOSBox? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The question was about a 20 year old app on a modern OS, not about a 20 year old app on a new version of the same OS. On *BSD and Linux, I can still run apps written for SCO UNIX or SysV, for example. I can run any of the Win3.x software I've tried under WINE on my Mac.

    I can even run DOS and Commodore 64 software under emulation. Really, there's no reason not to expect 20 year old software to work. It's 5-10 year old apps that are likely to be a problem.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  20. Re:Soothing Apple? by DaVince21 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    File a bug to the Rhythmbox devs?

    iTunes seems to work fairly, but don't get your hopes up getting the software to actually detect your hardware. Windows USB driver support is actually out of WIne's scope, but surprisingly enough, still being implemented. It's just not in the official release yet.

    --
    I am not devoid of humor.