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Want to run a Windows program on a Linux computer? Add Wine emulator to Ubuntu and you can install and run some Windows programs.
Add-architectureOpen a terminal and enter the following commands. We need to add access to installation packages for older i386 software. Watch the update and you will see new repositories being checked.
sudo apt --add-architectue i386
sudo apt updateThis is a big metapackage downloading several softwares.
sudo apt install q4wineWe will be warned that we will use about a GigaByte of storage on our computer. It may take a while to download and install.
Wine32 is listed as a Recommended package and we will install that next.
Install wine32We've already installed enough of the Wine emulator to run 64bit Windows programs. We're now adding packages for 32bit Windows. This will also consume about a GigaByte on our drive.
sudo apt install wine32There are also Suggested packages you can try later but they are not needed and may interfere with our setup.
We could install the same packages with Synaptic package manager.
At this point we have created a Windows emulation environment. A program that imitates Windows by using values called APIs application program interfaces. Our Applications menu will now list Q4Wine and give us this panel to configure.
Because a Windows program finds all the values it needs and an environment that understands its language it may run the same as it would on a genuine Windows PC. We can configure Wine which version of Windows it is to emulate:
Accept the defaults. We will create a hidden directory .wine and generate a prefix of setup parameters for the emulator.
Linux now has a hidden directory in /home/user/.wine. To see it you need to tick the box show hidden files and folders. This was created during the first run of the program.
Inside your .wine directory the Windows applications and files will reside.
Troubleshooting may require you to delete the folder and create a new one with the first-run configuration.
Right clickDownload a windows .exe or .msI installer. Right click directly on the icon for the program. The menu comes from the Linux OS and defaults to the Wine emulator.
I am using two old programs from XP. They install the Keil5 IDE design studio and work quite well on Linux. Please comment on what Windows programs you tried and how well they work on your choice of Linux.
The current release of the Keil studio requires too much resources for my computer to support. Perhaps you can find the old installers.
Open With WineExpect the same as installing on Windows. Accept agreements. We are accepting a free version of the programs with limitations.
Wine Opens the Windows installer. Accept defaults and click OK.
What follows is the normal screens for a Windows install. It will locate itself in the emulated C: drive. This version of the compiler will install successfully. You should close warning messages.
We want the example projects to test our installation.
This is the Keil V5 studio program installation. When completed it will add working Keil shortcuts to the Linux menu and desktop.
Old Keil uVision IDE studio will compile working .hex files from the examples.
Check the output directory in the .wine hidden folder.
This is a file we can upload to an 8051 chip and run.
TroubleshootingSometimes things go wrong. WineHQ provides troubleshooting info on working with prefixes. Prefixes are the setup configurations generated on your first run of the program. Delete your .wine folder and you go through the first run, again.
You may have to re-install your Windows programs a second time.
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