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Convert Linux to Windows

philipbohun.com

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Re: Convert Linux to Windows

#201

Post by DeathArrow »

This is a wonderful idea. I have some doubts, though. It might not provide a seamless experience.

Just transforming Windows syscalls into Linux syscalls is not enough. There should be some form of emulation involved.

Many apps, like games are using hardware, that means some additional layers of emulation.

>Imagine we made a new Linux distro. This distro would provide a desktop environment that looks close enough to Windows that a Windows user could use it without training. You could install and run Windows applications exactly as you do on Windows; no extra work needed.

I a rough user experience, some loss of performance and many bugs.

But I hope I am wrong, because the idea sounds really promising.

Re: Convert Linux to Windows

#202

Post by throwaway48476 »

tombert wrote: post #174
foxes wrote: post #163

20 year old games don’t work on modern windows that well at all, so that’s one counter example, so not sure where the point comes from.

I recently played Sinistar Unleashed on my Linux laptop. I was never able to get this game working on regular Windows hardware, even when I bought the game brand new and tried running it on a contemporary computer, but it runs fine with Wine and Proton. I decidedly could not get it working on a dual boot of Windows 10 (that I installed just to play to it). Granted, even with Wine it wasn’t trivial to get working, but…

Do you use CD drive emulation with wine?

Re: Convert Linux to Windows

#204

Post by arghwhat »

okanat wrote: post #98
arghwhat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that this also underlines that the post's premise of Windows having a simple stable ABI - win32 sure is stable, but that's not what applications are coded against anymore. Sure, you can run a 20 year old app, but that is not the same as a current app still working in 20 years, or even 5.

Win32 is quite extensive for an OS API. It covers the space from low-level stuff like syscalls and page allocation and all the way up to localization, simple media access and GUI. So everything from glibc, libsystemd, libpam to libalsa and egl on Linux side. And it is all stable. Microsoft also provides quite good stability for DirectX and other extension APIs. You can still run old .Net apps without issues as long a…

Sure, win32 contains GUI bits, but modern apps do not use those GUI bits.

OpenGL and Vulkan ABIs are also stable on Linux, provided by mesa. The post is pretty focused on the simplicity of win32 though, which is what I'm refuting as being as relevant today for new apps.

> As long as they didn't pull a Hyrum's Law on you

It is guaranteed that they "pull a Hyrum's Law", the question is just what apparent behavior they relied on.

Re: Convert Linux to Windows

#205

Post by DeathArrow »

coderenegade wrote: post #35

I don't think a new distro is needed. Most commonly used windows apps can be made to work through wine, but the hacks used to make one app work can break others and vice versa. Similarly, everyone needs to play around with settings individually to get things to work. What works on one person's machine might not work on another's, because there's no consistency in, effectively, configuration. The simplest solution, to…

>I don't think a new distro is needed. Most commonly used windows apps can be made to work through wine

I think the idea is to provide a seamless Windows like experience so the user works exact how he expects to work under Windows. Without having to fiddle, modify configurations, wrestle with different settings. Just click and run.

Re: Convert Linux to Windows

#207

Post by throwaway48476 »

caspper69 wrote: post #127

I have points to burn, so I'll post, because I know this will scratch some folks the wrong way- apologies in advance. I use Windows. In fact, I like Windows. I know lots of (ok, more than 5) greybeards who feel exactly the same way. I don't want Linux to be Windows, but I also don't want Linux on my personal desktop either. I have a Mac Mini M1 on my desk, and I use that for the things it's good for, mainly videoconf…

Windows is still enshittified and everyone needs an exit plan.

For family users I recognize macOS. For windows apps I have virtualized win11 IoT with a passed through GPU. My monitor has multiple inputs and I can't even tell it's not native.

Re: Convert Linux to Windows

#209

Post by mid-kid »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #89
OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately Flathub (the biggest Flatpak repository) doesn't allow Windows apps, despite it working on a technical level

https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-app-authors/requirements says, > Windows application submissions that are using Wine or any submissions that aren't native to Linux desktop and is using some emulation or translation layer will only be accepted if they are submitted officially by upstream with the intention of maintaining it in official capacity. Although, I am curious why; they don't seem to have a general problem w…

They're just trying to prioritize linux applications, without preventing developers who want to support linux through wine from doing so.

The key difference is that applications ran under wine will always have some subtle quirks and misbehaviors that break the usability, that can be worked around by the dev when given the chance to.

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