VB Application in Linux

[DeathSquad]

Dear Friends,

Can anyone please guide me into how to use VB application in Linux 9, i know it has something got to do with Wine, but would need assitance.

If possible contact me on my e-mail address.

Arif

[Faraz.Fazil]

Applications developed in VB are for the windows environment.
Yes You can run windows applications in linux!
You can do so through an application like wine.

Goto www.winehq.com and download it from there.
You have two options.You can download and install sources, or u can download and install binaries.

Installing binaries (.rpm) is easier than installing sources which requires you to issue a series of lengthy make commands .So i recommend u to download and install wine in rpm format for redhat linux from:

http://winehq.com/?page=download

ONce u have downloaded the rpm then install it by:

rpm -Uvh wine-YYYYMMDD-i386.rpm

enter the suitable filname that u have.

Once u download and install wine, you can run any windows application by typing this command in terminal:

wine completepathto.exefile

example:

wine /mnt/FarazWinDrive/ProgramFiles/OutlookExpress/MSOE.exe

[s7r1k3r]

Assalam-O-Alaekum!

Yes wine can be used to run windows executables but as far as I have experienced, it does not run VB executables. As for that matter, any exe file that uses DLLs (other than some standard DLLs) is unable to run because it can't find its DLLs and settings at the appropriate place. For example, the application searches for the DLLs in C:\Windows\System while they are in /mnt/CDrive/windows/System so there are always problems. Also I guess there are registry accessing problems too.

Kashif.

[Faraz.Fazil]

Yup.Wine is able to run some windows applications but not all..due to the reasons already mentioned.It is able to run most windows applications that look for all the program files and libraries in the exe's absolute path.Such programs are also able to locate files stored in dirs like /mnt/win/winprog/winprog.exe and also other applications.

Did u guyz know that crossover has two more products:

1.CrossOver office
2.CrossOver plugin

Here is what these two programs do: (description taken from program website codeweavers.com)
====================================================
CROSSOVER PLUGIN

CrossOver Plugin lets you use many Windows plugins directly from your Linux browser. In particular CrossOver fully supports:
QuickTime
ShockWave Director
Windows Media Player 6.4
Word Viewer
Excel Viewer
PowerPoint Viewer
and more...

CrossOver works on any x86 based Linux distribution and will integrate with most browsers including Netscape 4.x, Netscape 6.x, Konqueror, Mozilla, Galeon and Opera. For detailed system requirements [click here]. CrossOver also integrates with Gnome and KDE to let you transparently open any Word, Excel or PowerPoint file. But even better, you can open these attachment types directly from any mail client.

Because CrossOver uses the native Windows plugins, you get the best compatibility possible. For instance this is the only 'QuickTime on Linux' solution that supports the Sorenson movie format used by most sites.

Finally CrossOver and the related Windows plugins are very easy to install and you do not even need to be root. So give it a try!
===========================================================

CROSSOVER OFFICE

CrossOver Office allows you to install your favorite Windows productivity applications in Linux, without needing a Microsoft Operating System license. CrossOver includes an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing a Windows application simple and fast.

Once installed, your application will integrate directly with your Gnome or KDE environment. Just click and run your application, exactly as you would in Windows, but with the full freedom of Linux.

CrossOver Office is capable of running a range of Windows software, but CodeWeavers will support the following applications:
Microsoft Office XP, 2000 and 97
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Outlook *
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Microsoft Access *
Adobe Photoshop
Microsoft Visio
Lotus Notes
Quicken
* Microsoft Access and Outlook supported in Office 2000 only

See our list of supported applications for more details.

CodeWeavers is continuously expanding the list of applications supported under CrossOver Office.
=================================================

So that plugin problem is solved as well.

Check www.codeweavers.com for more info.

[sakbar]

how about using vmware (www.vmware.com) or win4lin

Surely u can run ur VB applications easily !

--shakeel

[Faraz.Fazil]

Yes that is possible too...but Vmware and win4lin are not true emulators.They are softwares that allow u to install linux on top of windows or vice versa, which of course is not a professional approach and doesnt make sense.If you want to operate windows and linux both, then dual boot is much better and effecient than "installing linux on windows with vmware or win4lin or vice versa"

I Quote the developer of WIn4lin:
=====================
Win4Lin enables Windows 95 or Windows 98 or Microsoft DOS to run on the Linux
operating system. ...
Run your favorite Windows applications on the Linux operating system in the fastest Windows 95/98/ME environment available for Linux. You can now take advantage of running two operating systems simultaneously
=====================

So if u dont want an overkill, crossover office, crossover plugin and good old wine are the best options.

[fawad]

s7r1k3r,
Within wine, apps don't see the unix directory structure. Indeed, you can make them see whatever you want to. You need to configure your wine install in a particular manner. For example, in Redhat 9, wine uses ~/.wine/c as the C: Drive. If your VB app comes with the runtime DLLs (you can build an installer with VB6), there's no reason why the app won't run.

[Faraz.Fazil]

Valid points fawad...
Also i forgot to tell you guyz that Vmware, Win4lin , crossover , none of them are free.But i have all of them in my linux softwares collection.Wine on the other hand is entirely free and has been on the scene siince mid ninties.

[Anjum Butt]

people, people !!
Wine is an excelent attempt to provide Windows ABI ( Application Binary Compatibility ) Layer on top of any x86 Unix.
It should not be called an emulator because Wine doesn't emulate anything.
It simply converts Windows system calls to Unix/X11 calls.

Also, I would like to point out that Wine stands for "Wine Is Not an Emulator",
a recursive accronym and definately NOT "WINdows Emuator".

There are application settings in Wine config file ( ~/.wine/config ) that allows the user to change the behaviour of Wine for a specific executeable.
These settings are like this:

[What_so_ever_path\\What_so_ever.exe]
"what_so_ever.dll" = "[native,builtin]"

try experimenting with the above and you are sure to hit the right combination, and if someone comes up with it, plz post it.


PS. Wine also does it to run MS Internet Explorer and some other stuff.

and

DON'T YOU EVER CALL WINE an Emulator.

[lambda]

Yes that is possible too...but Vmware and win4lin are not true emulators.

that's correct. they're virtualizers, not emulators. most of the code you run inside vmware is executed by your processor; a few cpu instructions are emulated. the rest of the system (disk i/o, graphics, etc) is emulated or you can set up vmware to access your hardware directly.

bochs is a true emulator. however, you do not want to use an emulator. bochs on my 1.4ghz athlon runs at 6mhz. yes, you read that correctly. bochs emulates a 6mhz pentium. vmware, on the other hand, appears to run code at 80-90% of the speed of my cpu.

They are softwares that allow u to install linux on top of windows or vice versa, which of course is not a professional approach and doesnt make sense.

say what? vmware's making money hand over fist with their product. they even have an enterprise edition out. how can you claim that it's not a professional approach?

vmware is excellent for software testing. you can set up a virtual machine that runs, say, a chinese version of win98, and another virtual machine that runs a french version of win2k. you can test your app on these virtual machines. the other option is getting a separate computer and installing a bunch of operatings systems for testing.

a friend's co-worker, in 1998, had seven different versions of nt and windows 95 on his testing machine at work -- all because he needed to qa the company's tools on all those platforms. vmware solves all his installation issues.

If you want to operate windows and linux both, then dual boot is much better and effecient than "installing linux on windows with vmware or win4lin or vice versa"

it all depends on why you want to use vmware. i've mentioned the qa stuff up above. it's also great for security specialists -- you can run apps inside it, and if they trash your system somehow, you just reload from a snapshot. takes a few seconds. compare that with a 30+ minute install for any windows os.

[Faraz.Fazil]

Valid points guyz.
AS i always say, there are different angles to different situations.
I normally prefer a dual boot.
As already said, it all depends on your situation and your requirement.