Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3627 mails)

[Geoff Bagley <geoff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In message <3B1B87EE.CAA6A041@xxxxxxx>, Paul Abrahams <abrahams@xxxxxxx>
writes
>Clayton Cornell wrote:
>
>> On Monday 04 June 2001 12:18, Geoff Bagley wrote:
>> > I have two machines, both Pentiums.
>> >
>> > One runs dual boot SuSE 7.1 and Win98.
>> > The other just Win98.
>> >
>> > I have to keep at least one machine working with W98 because I have
>> > three Windows and two DOS applications I wish to keep.
>> >
>> > If I had Bochs,  would this enable me to run windows and DOS progs on
>> > the LINUX box ?
>> >
>> > I have never tried emulators before.
>> > Any other LINUX newbies running Bochs yet ?
>> > Does Bochs compete with vmware etc. ?
>> >
>> > Regards
>>
>> Another Windows/MSDOS emulator you could take a look at is Wine.  It works
>> for most of your basic MS based applications.  It is quite easy to setup -
>> has a handy graphical interface for configuring - and works quite well most
>> of the time.  It tends to fail on high end stuff like games and some custom
>> (non-standard) applications.  It's a good idea to download and install the
>> latest version of Wine... I found that the version shipped with SuSE7.1 would
>> crash a lot.  the new version available at http://www.winehq.com/ is much
>> more stable.
>
>I'd advise anyone who is concerned about stability to avoid Wine for now.  Last
>time I looked, the website was full of warnings about Wine's experimental
>nature.   I would take those warnings very seriously.  There are also
>performance issues.  If you're looking for something to play around with, Wine's
>fine.   If you're looking for something to get real work done with, I'd avoid
>it.   (Unless you're entered in a high-stakes Minesweeper tournament -- but then
>again, KDE has a fine version of Minesweeper.)
>
>
>> Honestly I like Wine (haven't tried Bochs yet, but I do plan on trying it out
>> soon) much better than VMWare.  VMWare starts a virtual machine in a window.
>> This has it's advantages such as in a commercial environment where a robust
>> emulator is critical.  In Wine, each application runs like/similar to an X
>> app.  Also.... Wine is free for distribution under the terms of it's
>> license... VMWare is quite expensive to purchase.
>
>A cheaper and better alternative is Win4Lin (www.netraverse.com).   Be sure to
>get Version 3.0, which came out very recently.   I think it costs about $70,
>maybe much cheaper from places like Linux Mall (I haven't checked).  I've used
>Win4Lin for about nine months, with very good if not totally perfect results.
>In particular, I've not had problems running Quicken, TurboTax, or Word 2000,
>and the performance on my machine is probably 80% of native Windows.   (With a
>faster startup time.)   But it won't run some games that depend on DirectX.
>
>Paul
>
>
I made the original enquiry. Thanks for the replies.

The DOS applications I want to run (under LINUX) are Wordperfect 5.1,
and Turbo Pascal 7.0.

The Windows 9x applications are TURNPIKE (for the time being), the front
panel to an ICOM IC-PCR1000 radio, the support software for a Motorola
DSP EVM, and a QUATRO spreadsheet.

Quite a mixture !

I guess I'll get suitable LINUX substitutes or emulators one day and
become a M$ free zone.

Regards
-- 
Geoff Bagley