5 ms·

What are some applications that people run under Wine that are most useful? I currently use VM for windows but would be interested in what HN users of Wine find

What are some applications that people run under Wine that are most useful? I currently use VM for windows but would be interested in what HN users of Wine find as most helpful uses of Wine.

clearleaf 2y ago
I see wine as being pretty much obsolete so I'm interested too in finding out what people are using wine for at this point.
- greenknight 2y ago
  I am curious as to why you think wine is obsolete? Proton uses wine heavily, so there is a massive market with the steam deck using wine to run their games.
  - pxc 2y ago
    Proton is Wine, isn't it? It's a friendly downstream fork.
    - Ruq 2y ago
      Afaik Proton is just Wine + Prebuilt configs and tweaks.
- autogn0me 2y ago
  Wow
- wolf89618 2y ago
  [dead]
- anticorporate 2y ago
  For me, I have a few pieces of older hardware with proprietary Windows applications and no Linux equivalent. A 10 year old Cricut and a 15 year old scanner. Also, some 16 bit Windows applications that probably won't even run on current Windows, like the Windows Entertainment Pack that shipped with Windows 3.1. You can pry that version of Tetris from my cold, dead hands. Of course, I also use the version of Wine that's built into Steam for nearly every game I play.
- kcb 2y ago
  Pretty much has only gotten more relevant over time. Since the advent of Proton there are even less native Linux games being released.
  - porphyra 2y ago
    Yeah, for example, The Talos Principle, which was championed as a great example of a game that works natively on Linux, decided to go with a Windows-only release with Proton support on Linux for the sequel, The Talos Principle 2. To be fair, though, the game does run flawlessly via Proton.
SuperNinKenDo 2y ago
My main, everyday use at the moment is I use it to run a Chinese dictionary software called Wenlin. Its THE Chinese dictionary software, for Desktop at least. Interestingly, if you have access to the source, which takes some effort but is available after some paperwork, it has tools to compile specifically for greater Wine compatibility. Besides that, I run Excel 2003, because nothing else even comes close to the power of Excel+VBA. I also run some old multimedia educational software, as well as a multimedia Encyclopaedia Britannica. A really nice tool to work with timing transcripts to audio and then using them for shadowing/chorusing, called WorkAudioBook. Some old typing tutors for Chinese. Would LIKE to run Paint.NET like someone mentioned elsewhere. Winamp and foobar2000, two media players that are simply unbeaten by anything on Linux, and believe me I've tried everything. Although at the moment I'm committed to running mpd, so they're not getting as much use now. Also games obviously.
heavyset_go 2y ago
Games, mostly. Every once in a while I'll find a Windows-only toolchain or something that works well in WINE. If I'm going to use a Windows app I'll see if it runs in WINE first before breaking out a VM, it's convenient like that.
porphyra 2y ago
Apart from games, there are many CAD tools such as Rhinoceros 3D which don't work in Linux and have no open source equivalents.
threePointFive 2y ago
Annecdotally, from my dad who is a controls engineer programming PLCs for manufacturing equipment, the proprietary toolchains needed for the PLC control language runs better under Wine.
gausswho 2y ago
For me, WINE + yabridge means I can run Windows audio plugins (VST) within Bitwig (a Linux native DAW or digital audio workstation). And there's more interesting plugins than I have days left to explore. Now that doesn't mean I don't have other issues trying to do sound in Linux, but things have been improving considerably in the last couple years. Pipewire is also pretty solid now.
- JeffeFawkes 2y ago
  Being able to use VSTs outside of windows sounds fantastic! How's the latency? Would you mind sharing some details about your setup? I'd love to use my Steam Deck as a tiny VST host for live play.
shmerl 2y ago
Games. I practically never use it for anything else.

What are some applications that people run under Wine that are most useful? I currently use VM for windows but would be interested in what HN users of Wine find as most helpful uses of Wine.

clearleaf 2y ago

I see wine as being pretty much obsolete so I'm interested too in finding out what people are using wine for at this point.

greenknight 2y ago
I am curious as to why you think wine is obsolete? Proton uses wine heavily, so there is a massive market with the steam deck using wine to run their games.
- pxc 2y ago
  Proton is Wine, isn't it? It's a friendly downstream fork.
  - Ruq 2y ago
    Afaik Proton is just Wine + Prebuilt configs and tweaks.
autogn0me 2y ago
Wow
wolf89618 2y ago
[dead]
anticorporate 2y ago
For me, I have a few pieces of older hardware with proprietary Windows applications and no Linux equivalent. A 10 year old Cricut and a 15 year old scanner. Also, some 16 bit Windows applications that probably won't even run on current Windows, like the Windows Entertainment Pack that shipped with Windows 3.1. You can pry that version of Tetris from my cold, dead hands. Of course, I also use the version of Wine that's built into Steam for nearly every game I play.
kcb 2y ago
Pretty much has only gotten more relevant over time. Since the advent of Proton there are even less native Linux games being released.
- porphyra 2y ago
  Yeah, for example, The Talos Principle, which was championed as a great example of a game that works natively on Linux, decided to go with a Windows-only release with Proton support on Linux for the sequel, The Talos Principle 2. To be fair, though, the game does run flawlessly via Proton.

SuperNinKenDo 2y ago

My main, everyday use at the moment is I use it to run a Chinese dictionary software called Wenlin. Its THE Chinese dictionary software, for Desktop at least. Interestingly, if you have access to the source, which takes some effort but is available after some paperwork, it has tools to compile specifically for greater Wine compatibility. Besides that, I run Excel 2003, because nothing else even comes close to the power of Excel+VBA. I also run some old multimedia educational software, as well as a multimedia Encyclopaedia Britannica. A really nice tool to work with timing transcripts to audio and then using them for shadowing/chorusing, called WorkAudioBook. Some old typing tutors for Chinese. Would LIKE to run Paint.NET like someone mentioned elsewhere. Winamp and foobar2000, two media players that are simply unbeaten by anything on Linux, and believe me I've tried everything. Although at the moment I'm committed to running mpd, so they're not getting as much use now. Also games obviously.

heavyset_go 2y ago

Games, mostly. Every once in a while I'll find a Windows-only toolchain or something that works well in WINE. If I'm going to use a Windows app I'll see if it runs in WINE first before breaking out a VM, it's convenient like that.

porphyra 2y ago

Apart from games, there are many CAD tools such as Rhinoceros 3D which don't work in Linux and have no open source equivalents.

threePointFive 2y ago

Annecdotally, from my dad who is a controls engineer programming PLCs for manufacturing equipment, the proprietary toolchains needed for the PLC control language runs better under Wine.

gausswho 2y ago

For me, WINE + yabridge means I can run Windows audio plugins (VST) within Bitwig (a Linux native DAW or digital audio workstation). And there's more interesting plugins than I have days left to explore. Now that doesn't mean I don't have other issues trying to do sound in Linux, but things have been improving considerably in the last couple years. Pipewire is also pretty solid now.

JeffeFawkes 2y ago
Being able to use VSTs outside of windows sounds fantastic! How's the latency? Would you mind sharing some details about your setup? I'd love to use my Steam Deck as a tiny VST host for live play.

shmerl 2y ago

Games. I practically never use it for anything else.