Should I Swich To Linux+Wine?

[matthew850]

I have a computer running Vista at the moment, which seems to be going fine at the moment (apart from some compatibility issues). I was wondering if it would be a good choice to switch to Linux using Wine. I have heard it has beaten XPin running Windows apps; however I have also heard Wine has some compatibility problems from places like Microsoft. I have used Linux a little already, and like it a lot. I don't really want to dual-boot, it seems pointless having an OS with the W indows API when I also have Windows itself. Any advice?

[oz]

I'm not a big fan of Wine at all, so my personal opinion is that Windows apps should be run under Windows and Linux apps under Linux, but that's just me. You might actually like Wine and the results you get with it.

The best thing is to try it for yourself and make up your own mind.

Good luck with it whichever route you should take...

[techieMoe]

I have a computer running Vista at the moment, which seems to be going fine at the moment (apart from some compatibility issues).

This is the most telling section of your post, as far as I'm concerned. If you're perfectly happy with what you have, there's no reason to rock the boat and risk screwing something up.

I was wondering if it would be a good choice to switch to Linux using Wine. I have heard it has beaten XPin running Windows apps...

You heard wrong. Although I'm sure the person (or people) who told you that had good intentions, they were outright lying. WINE is at best a half-measure if no better options exist. I agree with ozar on this: if you have Microsoft Windows, use that to run your Windows software. It will always, unequivocally run better inside the OS for which it was written.

WINE performance depends on a number of things, not the least of which is what software you're trying to run, what environment (hardware and software) you're running it on and what your definition of "good performance" is.

If you're a gamer, I can say without a shadow of doubt that you're better off keeping your MS Windows installed just for that, even if you only game and do everything else in Linux.

I have used Linux a little already, and like it a lot. I don't really want to dual-boot, it seems pointless having an OS with the W indows API when I also have Windows itself. Any advice?

Well, it's not pointless, that's the thing. It may seem so, but WINE is not a complete MS Windows API. It's not a replacement for Microsoft Windows. It's not even a very reliable go-between most of the time. If you have Windows software, run it in Windows. It's just a more elegant solution.

I'm not saying you won't have good luck with WINE. What I'm saying is that if you rely on a particular piece of Microsoft Windows software and want it to be stable, it's not worth your effort to try to go all Linux with WINE as your safety net.

[Runn3r.cze]

if you want to switch to linux, i can only recomment it. linux is good system...
but i think that if you want to use windows apps, it will be better for you stay with windows system. or try to find some alternative apps for linux...

[netstrider]

As TechieMoe said, you are happy with your current system and the gripes aren't really enough to put the effort in and risk your system. That is of course unless you have a deep burning desire to try out something new, in which case you've already answered the question yourself.

For the most part WINE works for basic applications and *some* games, but it had never worked for any game for me but that's my personal experience. Dual-booting is not a bad idea because you can still run games on Windows then without a problem and running WINE on Linux is also a good idea since you can use your basic (Photoshop-Like) etc. applications on Linux without having to reboot.

Personally I don't play games and when I want to run a Windows application I start up VirtualBox with Windows XP...

[matthew850]

Thanks for the help everyone! Does anyone know if Vista tends to crash a lot, like in XP? Also, I know Linux doesn't crash, but when using wine is it more likely? One last thing, does anyone know how Half-life 1 & 2 play on it?

[techieMoe]

Thanks for the help everyone! Does anyone know if Vista tends to crash a lot, like in XP?

I've only played with the second beta of Windows Vista, and no one I know has the full version on their computer, but when I played with it I didn't have any crash issues. I did however have serious resource management issues. It used a ton of my RAM in an idle state (no applications running at all). That bothered me.

Also, I know Linux doesn't crash, but when using wine is it more likely?

The Linux kernel and underlying OS aren't likely to crash, but you're probably going to end up crashing the X Windows GUI from time to time. All this does is dump you back to a command line prompt. You can usually start X Windows back up with the startx command.

WINE apps could possibly freeze or crash X Windows. Usually it's not a hard freeze, meaning you can kill X Windows with CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE and restart it with startx. If it's a hard freeze, you'll need to restart your computer.

One last thing, does anyone know how Half-life 1 & 2 play on it?

It's *possible* they might run using either WINE or Cedega, but not guaranteed. Your best bet for games is Cedega, since that's what it is designed to do. It's not free, but they usually offer a trial and the program itself is not that expensive ($15USD for the minimum 3-month subscription).

[matthew850]

When I went through the setup process, it had a partitioning step (which oddly i couldn't skip) to split the hard drive in two. I decided to try wine on that partition. I downloaded Kubuntu and burned it to a CD. I restarted and booted it, selected to load the os and it froze dead. I had to hold the power down to shut it down. I downloaded Ubuntu and got the same result. What could be going on?

[matthew850]

When I went through the setup process

Sorry I meant to say the Vista setup process.