Windows Monday: Wine vs. Windows

Many people out there might not have heard of the wine software project before now.

So let's start with what wine actually stands for:

W~wine
I~is
N~not
an
E~emulator

Wine is free software that allows you to run Windows software on a Linux Operating system.
Wine is free software in every sense of the word.  The Wine project wrote it's code from the ground up. And that means that Microsoft has no claims to the code. Which  also means that it is perfectly legal to run your windows software on a Linux Operating system. Provided you will still need a valid license if you want to run something like Photoshop or MS  Office.

Wine is not technically an emulator for the windows operating system, but it is a series of API (application programming interface) calls so that wine can access your base hardware in the same way that windows does. There is no CPU emulation with Wine, like traditional emulators.

Wine myths:

1~wine is slow, because it is an emulator.
2~Wine is bad for Linux
3~You need windows anyways.
4~Wine won't work with my game/software because of copy protection.
5~Wine hurts native Linux apps.

* for the complete list of debunked Wine myths please check out: Debunking Wine Myths from the official Wine web-site.

There is a big stigma surrounding Linux, that Linux is not a good platform for PC gaming. I pose the opposite stance. That if you are not installing Linux on your machine, first of all you are missing out on a ton of really great Free/Independent games. But the chances of your Windows game working on Wine is very probable. Also popular closed source software like adobe or Microsoft software usually run very well on wine.

Here is a list of compatible Wine software:

Wine application dataBase growing every day.

I want to make sure and mention that Wine funds it's development mainly through community donation, and the code-weavers project.

Donate financially to the Wine software project. 

code weavers When you purchase code-weavers What you are purchasing is support for Wine, from the developers of Wine. Available for Linux/Mac. Proceeds directly affecting Wine Dev.

If you are a programmer  who believes in open-software, and would like to get involved please visit:

WineHQ development FAQ

I hope that I have  made you want to take wine for a spin. If you are running Linux I would suggest to install Linux from your distro's repositories && software manager. Although that method makes it very easy, it is usually slightly behind the curve. Mainly because distro's test their software for bugs before letting people download/install it. You could download it directly from WineHQ. Athough that install is slightly more difficult.

Google Thanksgiving day Google+ commercial: 1:20

This is just a mini-post to make up for not posting yesterday. I thought I would link to the video commercial Google did for Thanksgiving day. I didn't see the add until a day after. I saw the video on the site of another Blogger coming down on the video.

I am always super excited when an open-source project gets a run in traditional marketing venues.

Wanda the gnome Linux fish of wisdom

Today I want to talk about a nice little gnome panel applet called Wanda the fish. I was inspired by a post OMGubuntu did on a Thanksgiving day post. So I am thankful for OMGubuntu, and many other great Linux/open-source Blogs out there today.

I have noticed the Wanda the fish applet in the list of applets that you could install on a Ubuntu/Linux panels. Although the wisdom giving functionality was never built into Ubuntu out of the box. As a side-note Linux mint has always had built in mint-styled Wanda wisdom. Here is a screen shot for Wanda on Mint 11.

With Ubuntu 11.10 being based on gnome 3, I was disappointed in Losing Wanda the fish functionality. Mainly because the geek humor, that really sets Linux apart.

USER TIP:

 $ sudo apt-get install fortune-mod

will install wanda's wisdom on Ubuntu. 

If you are still  using a gnome classic Ubuntu, like I am with my classic Ubuntu MM 11.10 you can also free Wanda the fish from her pedestal in your gnome panel.  Once Wanda is released from the bar, she will randomly swim across your screen. If you click her  while she is swimming across the screen she will quickly bolt off of the  screen.  This functionality is not built into the new gnome shell extension yet. Also to put her back in her fish-bowl, and make her stop swimming randomly across the screen; you will need to re-start your panel. You can do this by either simply logging out && back in again, re-boot the computer. If your impatient, and not afraid of typing commands killall gnome-panel to restart your window manager, to stop Wanda.  So if you are scared of the terminal, then just re-boot your box.

does this terminal really scare you?

I would encourage you that if you are an Ubuntu user that you may want to test the new menu applet "Wanda the fish".  I will say that I have not been able to find out how to get it working from my Ubuntu 11.10 net-book. I am definitely going to install this on my desktop as well. It did take me a few minutes to figure out that I needed to:

Here I am chasing Wanda away from my media player banshee, while listening to my favourite Linux/mint pod cast minCast.

Alt. + F2 = indicator-fish

If you are like me and would like to get Wanda working on your Ubuntu desktop:

$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:dylanmccall/indicator-fish

<PW/enter> <y/enter>

 then...

$ sudo apt-get update

<enter> 

then...

$sudo apt-get install indicator-fish

<enter> 

 Also check out this great OMBubuntu article for further information.

OMGubuntu: catch of the Day: Wanda the fish indicactor