3 ms·

While they're at it, they could discuss what WINE is, and more specifically, what it is not ;)

tinix 9y ago
Oh my gosh, I was so annoyed by their utter lack of competency that I didn't even catch that they did call it an emulator. Classic.
sp332 9y ago
That's funny, but just because it says it's not an emulator... Well, see this page where it used to be short for Windows Emulator. http://www.faqs.org/faqs/windows-emulation/wine-faq/ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/windows-emulation/wine-faq/
- chungy 9y ago
  There is a lot of confusion about what emulation means, and the name shifted to reflect that it will not, in fact, allow you to run your x86 Windows EXEs on a SPARC or PowerPC.
  - Volt 9y ago
    It's emulating the Windows libraries, not the CPU instructions.
    - idonotknowwhy 9y ago
      That's like saying that Windows Explorer is emulating a filing cabinet with folders and files in it.
      - chungy 9y ago
        There is a good deal of validity towards calling Wine an emulator in this vein. It is reimplementing an executable format loader, calling conventions, and the entire runtime and libraries of a foreign operating system -- in other words, emulating the Windows operating system. However, emulating has also often been used to describe software that implements the opcodes of a foreign instruction set in software. For example, a program that implements 6502 opcodes and related modules that allows you to play NES games on a PC. Wine isn't an emulator of this type. Wine relies on the fact that x86 Windows programs can be made to run on x86 Linux by means of implementing everything I stated in the first paragraph. It does not allow for running x86 Windows programs on a SPARC machine (QEMU can assist in doing this, but that's a digression...). Wine is not an ISA emulation, but it is an ABI emulation.
      - joombaga 9y ago
        That also sounds like a correct usage.
  - simonh 9y ago
    Sure, but that was a point of confusion that was relevant back when SPARC and PowerPC and x86 emulation on them were things people cared about. That hasn’t been the case for a looong time though.

Oh my gosh, I was so annoyed by their utter lack of competency that I didn't even catch that they did call it an emulator. Classic.

sp332 9y ago

That's funny, but just because it says it's not an emulator... Well, see this page where it used to be short for Windows Emulator. http://www.faqs.org/faqs/windows-emulation/wine-faq/ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/windows-emulation/wine-faq/

chungy 9y ago
There is a lot of confusion about what emulation means, and the name shifted to reflect that it will not, in fact, allow you to run your x86 Windows EXEs on a SPARC or PowerPC.
- Volt 9y ago
  It's emulating the Windows libraries, not the CPU instructions.
  - idonotknowwhy 9y ago
    That's like saying that Windows Explorer is emulating a filing cabinet with folders and files in it.
    - chungy 9y ago
      There is a good deal of validity towards calling Wine an emulator in this vein. It is reimplementing an executable format loader, calling conventions, and the entire runtime and libraries of a foreign operating system -- in other words, emulating the Windows operating system. However, emulating has also often been used to describe software that implements the opcodes of a foreign instruction set in software. For example, a program that implements 6502 opcodes and related modules that allows you to play NES games on a PC. Wine isn't an emulator of this type. Wine relies on the fact that x86 Windows programs can be made to run on x86 Linux by means of implementing everything I stated in the first paragraph. It does not allow for running x86 Windows programs on a SPARC machine (QEMU can assist in doing this, but that's a digression...). Wine is not an ISA emulation, but it is an ABI emulation.
    - joombaga 9y ago
      That also sounds like a correct usage.
- simonh 9y ago
  Sure, but that was a point of confusion that was relevant back when SPARC and PowerPC and x86 emulation on them were things people cared about. That hasn’t been the case for a looong time though.