If there’s a Windows program stopping you switching to Linux, or stopping you doing so full time, now is the time to see if it works with Wine. No, we’re not advocating drowning your sorrows or drinking on the job (uh oh–Ed). We’re here to tell you about the powerful Wine application, which translates Windows function calls to Linux ones, thus enabling your Windows programs (be they serious tools or relaxing games) to run on our favourite operating system. That’s the theory, anyway. In practice ,things may need some tweaking. Or they may not work at all; Wine can’t work miracles yet.
Be that as it may, there is a brand new release to try: Wine 9.0. It may be the solution to all your problems. If you’ve never touched Wine before, we’ll show you everything you need to get started. And if you’re a seasoned user, we’re here to show you everything that’s new – including Wayland support and the improved Vulkan renderer. We’ve also got some tips for when things don’t work, so you don’t hit the bottle.
For gamers, we’ll show you how to use Proton – the Wine fork from Valve Software used in its Steam platform and on its Steam Deck. Valve has gone to great lengths to ensure popular titles work with Proton. So, if your favourite game doesn’t work with Wine proper, there’s a good chance Proton can sort it.
A fine bouquet
Readers (and writers) may be no strangers to one form or another of but for this outing, we’re talking about
