Installing and Running Programs with Wine
In this post I wil try to show you how to install and run Windows programs with Wine, installed on Ubuntu 8.04 .
Wine is an application that allows computers using Unix-based operating systems to run Windows applications, not emulate them. The way this works is that Wine is an implementation of the Windows application programming interface (API). An application programming interface is actually the interface that allows one program, let’s say Microsoft Word, to communicate with another program, Microsoft Windows. When applications written for Microsoft Windows utilize a format that GNU/Linux operating systems can’t understand, it is due to the API. In other words when you start a Windows application Wine takes its instructions and modifies them into something that Ubuntu will understand. But let’s see how it works.
Firt of all you need to install Wine, if you haven’t already done so. All you have to do is go to Applications > Add/Remove…. and type ” Wine” in the search box. Now from the list check “ Wine Windows Emulator ” and click the “Apply changes” button. Then in the new window click “Apply” and wait for the installation to complete.
Now that Wine is installed let’s see how it works.
As you probably know the default directory to install programs in Windows is “C:\Program Files“, which is also used by most program installers. That’s why Wine creates fake C:\ drive that contains the folders Windows and Program files like in a real Windows installation. This allows you to install applications into Wine in the same way you would in Windows. The installation process is simple. Just download the program you want and double click on the executable file. You may find that Wine allows you to create icons on your desktop and in your app menu (if the installer provides such an option ). If so, you can start the applications by clicking on them.
For example I’ve tested Wine by installing Winamp 5.53 and it worked fine. There were some bugs such as not working timer and broken playlist editor window which goes back to its orginal shape just by clicking the PL button. Of course these are things that do not affect the normal operation of the program.
Note that during the installation of Winamp you may receive a message saying: “This application is trying to show an HTML page. Wine needs Gecko (Mozilla HTML engine) to be installed to show the page. Click install if you want Wine to automatically download and install Gecko.” If so, then just click the ” Install ” button.
Here is a screenshot of Winamp working on Ubuntu.
