SoftwareFromOtherOperatingSystems

{i} This page is part of the UserDocumentation series of index pages. Please read the WikiGuide prior to making changes.

Contents

  1. Software For Other Operating Systems
    1. Playing Windows Games
    2. Running Well Known Windows Desktop Apps
    3. Running any Windows desktop or server app
    4. Available Methods to Run Software from Other Operating Systems

Software For Other Operating Systems

SeamlessVirtualizationResized.png

You can run applications created for other Operating Systems inside Ubuntu using two different approaches:

In general, desktop and server apps work better with virtualization, multimedia apps like games work better with Wine or Cedega.

Playing Windows Games

To play Windows games, including Half Life 2, Battlefield 1942 and most popular first person shooters, you probably want Cedega. If Cedega can't play a Windows game, then it's unlikely that game can run under Linux. Wine also plays a more limited list of well known games, including World of Warcraft.

Running Well Known Windows Desktop Apps

If you only need to run a well known Windows app - for example Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, and World of Warcraft - check if it's supported by Wine. If not, see below.

Running any Windows desktop or server app

screenshot+windows+xp+in+qemu.png Windows XP run using QEmu on Feisty 7.04

If you'd like to run any Windows desktop or server app - or perhaps a more specific app that Wine doesn't run - with the exception of games, there's a few different methods:

Seamless Virtualization shows how to make applications from virtualized Windows OS appear directly on the Linux desktop.

Available Methods to Run Software from Other Operating Systems

Runs

Tool

Required Ubuntu Release

Requires Hardware Virtualization

Open Source

Any x86 OS, including Windows

Kernel Virtualization

7.04 beta

Yes

Yes

Any OS, including Windows

QEmu

7.04 (earlier Ubuntu lack the acceleration driver needed to run most OSs at full speed)

No

Yes

Any x86 OS, including Windows

VMware Player, Workstation, or Server

6.06 and newer

No

No

Any x86 OS, including Windows

Xen

6.06 and newer

Yes, unless running Linux

Yes

Specific Windows Programs

Wine

6.06 and newer

No

Yes

Windows games

Cedega

6.06 and newer

No

Mixed proprietary and OSS,must be purchased for full functionality

Mac OS X (PPC) only

Mac on Linux

6.06 and newer

No

Yes

Linux

OpenVZ

6.06 and newer

No

Yes


CategoryDocumentation

last edited 2007-02-18 12:14:51 by MikeMaccana