1

Sorry if this is a duplicate, but can you guys please help me out?

I noticed that there are four different "Wine" programs in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

"Microsoft Windows Compatability Layer (meta-package)"

"Q4Wine"

"Wine Windows Program Loader"

"Play On Linux"

I just installed all four.

I read that Play on Linux is the best one. Was it unnecesarry to install all four? Are they going to interfere with each other? Do I need to uninstall some of them, or can I just keep all four, and use the one I like? Any other tips?

Fiksdal
  • 2,121

2 Answers2

2

"Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer (meta-package)"

Is a meta package, it contains all the meta data (info on required libs etc) for installing wine on your distribution.

"Wine Windows Program Loader"

This is wine program itself.

"Q4wine"

Q4Wine will help you manage wine prefixes and installed applications, a front end for wine configuration.

"Play on Linux"

Again this is a front end for wine that focuses more on installing games.

"Was it unnecessary to install all four? Are they going to interfere with each other?"

Well play on linux and Q4wine require wine of course and both are useful in there own way, so no worries there, and the meta package simply points to and installs wine and any other requirements (probably Q4wine too), so no issues there. the frontends aren't required but are great for beginners.

Community
  • 1
Mark Kirby
  • 18,529
  • 19
  • 78
  • 114
  • Alright, great, thanks! I'll just keep them all, then. I noticed that PlayOnLinux starts downloading Wine again when trying to install a .exe file. I suppose it's customizing to make it work or something. – Fiksdal Oct 05 '15 at 04:56
  • 1
    Play on Linux will install multiple versions of wine, if you have ever used a games console emulator, you will know some games work best on some versions of the emulator, same with wine, some versions are developed for specific programs etc. If this helped you please press the accept button on the left so others can easily find it. – Mark Kirby Oct 05 '15 at 07:35
1

This is entirely down to preference, there are also versions of it which are more "User friendly" and offer graphic interfaces to automate everything but cost money to use. Personally I just use Wine provided by

sudo apt-get install wine

never had issues with it, but some people prefer the alternatives.

Lemagex
  • 352
  • 1
  • 4
  • 21