documentation/introduction.sgml

   1   <chapter id="introduction">
   2     <title>Introduction</title>
   3
   4     <sect1 id="overview">
   5       <title>Overview / About</title>
   6
   7       <sect2>
   8         <title>Purpose of this document and intended audience</title>
   9         <para>
  10           This document, called the Wine User Guide, is both an easy
  11           installation guide and an extensive reference guide.  This guide
  12           is for both the new Wine user and the experienced Wine user,
  13           offering full step-by-step installation and configuration
  14           instructions, as well as featuring extensive reference material
  15           by documenting all configuration features and support areas.
  16         </para>
  17       </sect2>
  18
  19       <sect2>
  20         <title>Further questions and comments</title>
  21         <para>
  22           If, after examining this guide, the FAQ, and other relevant
  23           documentation there is still something you cannot figure out,
  24           we would love to hear from you.  The <ulink
  25           url="http://www.winehq.org/site/forums">mailing lists</ulink>
  26           section contains several mailing lists and an IRC channel, all
  27           of which are great places to seek help and offer suggestions.
  28           If you are particularly savvy, and believe that something can be
  29           explained better, you can file a <ulink
  30           url="http://bugs.winehq.org/">bug report</ulink> or <ulink
  31           url="http://www.winehq.org/site/sending_patches">post a
  32           patch</ulink> on Wine's documentation itself.
  33         </para>
  34       </sect2>
  35
  36       <sect2>
  37         <title>Content overview / Steps to take</title>
  38         <para>
  39           In order to be able to use Wine, you must first have a working
  40           installation.  This guide will help you to move your system
  41           from an empty, Wineless void to one boasting a fresh, up to
  42           date Wine install.  The first step, <link
  43           linkend="getting-wine">Getting Wine</link>, illustrates the
  44           various methods of getting Wine's files onto your computer.
  45           The second step, <link linkend="installing">Installing
  46           Wine</link>, details the various install processes available to
  47           you.  The third step, <link linkend="config-wine-main">Configuring
  48           Wine</link>, shows how to customize a Wine installation depending
  49           on your individual needs.  The final step, <link
  50           linkend="running">Running Wine</link>, covers the specific
  51           steps you can take to get a particular application to run
  52           better under Wine, and provides useful links in case you need
  53           further help.
  54         </para>
  55       </sect2>
  56
  57     </sect1>
  58
  59     <sect1 id="what-is-wine">
  60       <title>What is Wine?</title>
  61
  62       <sect2>
  63         <title>Windows and Linux</title>
  64         <para>
  65           Different software programs are designed for different
  66           operating systems, and most won't work on systems that they
  67           weren't designed for.  Windows programs, for example, won't run
  68           in Linux because they contain instructions that the system can't
  69           understand until they're translated by the Windows environment.
  70           Linux programs, likewise, won't run under the Windows operating
  71           system because Windows is unable to interpret all of their
  72           instructions.
  73         </para>
  74         <para>
  75           This situation presents a fundamental problem for anyone who
  76           wants to run software for both Windows and Linux.  A common
  77           solution to this problem is to install both operating systems on
  78           the same computer, known as "dual booting."  When a Windows
  79           program is needed, the user boots the machine into Windows to
  80           run it; when a Linux program is then needed, the user then
  81           reboots the machine into Linux.  This option presents great
  82           difficulty: not only must the user endure the frustration of
  83           frequent rebooting, but programs for both platforms can't be
  84           run simultaneously.  Having Windows on a system also creates
  85           an added burden: the software is expensive, requires a separate
  86           disk partition, and is unable to read most filesystem formats,
  87           making the sharing of data between operating systems difficult.
  88         </para>
  89       </sect2>
  90
  91       <sect2>
  92         <title>What is Wine, and how can it help me?</title>
  93         <para>
  94           Wine makes it possible to run Windows programs alongside any
  95           Unix-like operating system, particularly Linux.  At its heart,
  96           Wine is an implementation of the Windows Application
  97           Programing Interface (API) library, acting as a bridge between
  98           the Windows program and Linux.  Think of Wine as a compatibility
  99           layer, when a Windows program tries to perform a function that
 100           Linux doesn't normally understand, Wine will translate that
 101           program's instruction into one supported by the system.  For
 102           example, if a program asks the system to create a Windows
 103           pushbutton or text-edit field, Wine will convert that
 104           instruction into its Linux equivalent in the form of a command
 105           to the window manager using the standard X11 protocol.
 106         </para>
 107         <para>
 108           If you have access to the Windows program's source code, Wine
 109           can also be used to recompile a program into a format that Linux
 110           can understand more easily.  Wine is still needed to launch the
 111           program in its recompiled form, however there are many advantages
 112           to compiling a Windows program natively within Linux.  For more
 113           information, see the Winelib User Guide.
 114         </para>
 115       </sect2>
 116
 117       <sect2 id="wine-features">
 118         <title>Wine features</title>
 119
 120         <para>
 121           Throughout the course of its development, Wine has continually
 122           grown in the features it carries and the programs it can run.
 123           A partial list of these features follows:
 124         </para>
 125         <para>
 126           <itemizedlist>
 127             <listitem>
 128               <para>
 129                 Support for running Win32 (Win 95/98, NT/2000/XP), Win16
 130                 (Win 3.1) and DOS programs
 131               </para>
 132             </listitem>
 133             <listitem>
 134               <para>
 135                 Optional use of external vendor DLL files (such as those
 136                 included with Windows)
 137               </para>
 138             </listitem>
 139             <listitem>
 140               <para>
 141                 X11-based graphics display, allowing remote display to any
 142                 X terminal, as well as a text mode console
 143               </para>
 144             </listitem>
 145             <listitem>
 146               <para>
 147                 Desktop-in-a-box or mixable windows
 148               </para>
 149             </listitem>
 150             <listitem>
 151               <para>
 152                 DirectX support for games
 153               </para>
 154             </listitem>
 155             <listitem>
 156               <para>
 157                 Good support for various sound drivers including OSS and ALSA
 158               </para>
 159             </listitem>
 160             <listitem>
 161               <para>
 162                 Support for alternative input devices
 163               </para>
 164             </listitem>
 165             <listitem>
 166               <para>
 167                 Printing: PostScript interface driver (psdrv) to standard
 168                 Unix PostScript print services
 169               </para>
 170             </listitem>
 171             <listitem>
 172               <para>
 173                 Modem, serial device support
 174               </para>
 175             </listitem>
 176             <listitem>
 177               <para>
 178                 Winsock TCP/IP networking support
 179               </para>
 180             </listitem>
 181             <listitem>
 182               <para>
 183                 ASPI interface (SCSI) support for scanners, CD writers,
 184                 and other devices
 185               </para>
 186             </listitem>
 187             <listitem>
 188               <para>
 189                 Advanced unicode and foreign language support
 190               </para>
 191             </listitem>
 192             <listitem>
 193               <para>
 194                 Full-featured Wine debugger and configurable trace
 195                 logging messages for easier troubleshooting
 196               </para>
 197             </listitem>
 198           </itemizedlist>
 199         </para>
 200       </sect2>
 201     </sect1>
 202
 203     <sect1 id="wine-versions">
 204       <title>Versions of Wine</title>
 205         <sect2>
 206           <title>Wine from Wine HQ</title>
 207
 208           <para>
 209              Wine is an open source project, and there are accordingly
 210              many different versions of Wine for you to choose from.  The
 211              standard version of Wine comes in intermittant releases
 212              (roughly once a month), and can be downloaded over the
 213              internet in both prepackaged binary form and ready to compile
 214              source code form.  Alternatively, you can install a development
 215              version of Wine by using the latest available source code on
 216              the CVS server.  See the next chapter, <link
 217              linkend="getting-wine">Getting Wine</link>, for further details.
 218           </para>
 219         </sect2>
 220         <sect2>
 221           <title>Other Versions of Wine</title>
 222           <para>
 223             There are a number of programs that are derived from the
 224             standard Wine codebase in some way or another.  Some of these
 225             are commercial products from companies that actively contribute
 226             to the Wine project.
 227           </para>
 228           <para>
 229             These products try to stand out or distinguish themselves
 230             from the standard version of Wine by offering greater
 231             compatibility, easier configuration, and commercial support.
 232             If you require such things, it is a good idea to consider
 233             purchasing these products.
 234           </para>
 235       <table><title>Various Wine offerings</title>
 236         <tgroup cols=3 align="left">
 237           <thead>
 238             <row>
 239               <entry>Product</entry>
 240               <entry>Description</entry>
 241               <entry>Distribution Form</entry>
 242             </row>
 243           </thead>
 244           <tbody>
 245             <row>
 246               <entry>
 247                 <ulink
 248                 url="http://www.codeweavers.com/products/office">CodeWeavers CrossOver Office</ulink>
 249               </entry>
 250               <entry>
 251                 CrossOver Office allows you to install your favorite
 252                 Windows productivity applications in Linux, without
 253                 needing a Microsoft Operating System license. CrossOver
 254                 includes an easy to use, single click interface, which
 255                 makes installing a Windows application simple and fast.
 256               </entry>
 257               <entry>
 258                 Commercial; 30-day fully-functional demo available.
 259               </entry>
 260             </row>
 261             <row>
 262               <entry>
 263                 <ulink
 264                 url="http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxofficeserver">CodeWeavers CrossOver Office Server Edition</ulink>
 265               </entry>
 266               <entry>
 267                 CrossOver Office Server Edition allows you to run your
 268                 favorite Windows productivity applications in a
 269                 distributed thin-client environment under Linux, without
 270                 needing Microsoft Operating System licenses for each
 271                 client machine. CrossOver Office Server Edition allows you
 272                 to satisfy the needs of literally hundreds of concurrent
 273                 users, all from a single server.
 274               </entry>
 275             </row>
 276           </tbody>
 277         </tgroup>
 278       </table>
 279      </sect2>
 280     </sect1>
 281
 282     <sect1 id="alternatives">
 283       <title>Alternatives to Wine you might want to consider</title>
 284       <para>
 285           There are many ways to run software other than through Wine.  If
 286           you are considering using Wine to run an application you might
 287           want to think about the viability of these approaches if you
 288           encounter difficulty.
 289       </para>
 290
 291       <sect2>
 292         <title>Native Applications</title>
 293         <para>
 294           Instead of running a particular Windows application with Wine,
 295           one frequently viable alternative is to simply run a different
 296           application.  Many Windows applications, particularly more
 297           commonly used ones such as media players, instant messengers,
 298           and filesharing programs have very good open source equivalents.
 299           Furthermore, a sizable number of Windows programs have been
 300           ported to Linux directly, eliminating the need for Wine (or
 301           Windows) entirely.
 302         </para>
 303       </sect2>
 304       <sect2>
 305         <title>Another Operating System</title>
 306         <para>
 307           Probably the most obvious method of getting a Windows
 308           application to run is to simply run it on Windows.  However,
 309           security, license cost, backward-compatibility, and machine
 310           efficiency issues can make this a difficult proposition, which
 311           is why Wine is so useful in the first place.
 312         </para>
 313         <para>
 314           Another alternative is to use <ulink
 315           url="http://www.reactos.com">ReactOS</ulink>, which is a fully
 316           open source alternative to Windows.  ReactOS shares code
 317           heavily with the Wine project, but rather than running Windows
 318           applications on top of Linux they are instead run on top of the
 319           ReactOS kernel.  ReactOS also offers compatibility with Windows
 320           driver files, allowing the use of hardware without functional
 321           Linux drivers.
 322         </para>
 323       </sect2>
 324       <sect2>
 325         <title>Virtual Machines</title>
 326         <para>
 327           Rather than installing an entirely new operating system on your
 328           machine, you can instead run a virtual machine at the software
 329           level and install a different operating system on it.  Thus, you
 330           could run a Linux system and at the same time run Windows along
 331           with your application in a virtual machine simultaneously on the
 332           same hardware.  Virtual machines allow you to install and run
 333           not only different versions of Windows on the same hardware, but
 334           also other operating systems, including ReactOS.
 335         </para>
 336         <para>
 337           There are several different virtual machine offerings out there,
 338           and some are also able to emulate x86 hardware on different
 339           platforms.  The open source <ulink
 340           url="http://bochs.sourceforge.net/">Bochs</ulink> and <ulink
 341           url="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</ulink> can run
 342           both Windows and ReactOS virtually.  Other, commercial virtual
 343           machine offerings include <ulink
 344           url="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</ulink> and Microsoft's
 345           <ulink url="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/">VirtualPC</ulink>.
 346         </para>
 347         <para>
 348           There are significant drawbacks to using virtual machines,
 349           however.  Unlike Wine, such programs <emphasis>are</emphasis>
 350           emulators, so there is an inevitable speed decrease which can
 351           be quite substantial.  Furthermore, running an application
 352           inside a virtual machine prevents fully integrating the
 353           application within the current environment.  You won't, for
 354           example, be able to have windows system tray icons or program
 355           shortcuts sitting alongside your desktop Linux ones, since
 356           instead the Windows applications must reside completely within
 357           the virtual machine.
 358         </para>
 359       </sect2>
 360     </sect1>
 361   </chapter>
 362
 363 <!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
 364 Local variables:
 365 mode: sgml
 366 sgml-parent-document:("wine-user.sgml" "set" "book" "chapter" "")
 367 End:
 368 -->