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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:

 

4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.


Getting and Installing Linux – Part 5

6:01 am

Running Windows programs on Linux:

An overview of WINE and Virtual Machine

by James Stephens

In addition to all the software available for Linux, Linux also possesses the ability to run Windows software using either WINE or in a virtual machine. This can be valuable in many ways, from running legacy software to running Windows and Linux on the same machine at the same time.

WINE is the open source implementation of CrossOver, which Apple users may already be familiar. It is essentially a translator: WINE sits between a Windows application and the Linux system, presenting what appears to be a Windows system to an application and generating Linux instructions for processing. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s pretty good. It’s fast and efficient, requiring little more resources then the application itself, making it suitable for older machines. When properly configured, Windows applications install as if in Windows and run on Linux like any other application. The backward compatibility of WINE is actually better then that of Windows itself. So if you have beloved but outdated software you can run it again with WINE. In my case that is a Windows 3.1 controlled audio mixing console. A lot of people like to play the old Windows 95 games. For more information including a list of compatible Windows software and performance assessments go to www.winehq.org

National Geographics Topo!, running on Linux using WINE
National Geographics Topo!, a Windows program, running seamlessly on Linux using WINE.

Virtual machine is another means of running Windows software on a Linux system. Using VirtualBox a virtual machine is created which runs within the existing operating system on which a guest operating system or systems may be installed, just as if it were a real world machine. The virtual machine borrows hardware resources for its guest from its host operating system: processor, memory, and so forth. Unlike WINE, the guest operating system runs directly on the computer hardware along with its host. This borrowing increases hardware requirements somewhat, though limits may be set. In my experience you need 4Gb of RAM to comfortably run Windows in a virtual machine on desktop Linux. I would recommend using the non-free version of VirtualBox together with guest additions available for download or through your distribution’s software manager. Note that the term non-free refers to licensing restrictions and not cost.

VirtualBox running on Bob Zimmerman's Linux KDE system
VirtualBox, running on Bob Zimmerman’s Linux KDE system.

Keeping the hardware limitations in mind all kinds of things are possible. You may run multiple Linux distributions on the same hardware without fear of conflicts or bloat. I often audition new Linux distributions this way. You may run Windows and its software on Linux together, sharing the desktop and clipboard to take advantage of the best of both. And that’s just cool! This just to name but a few possibilities. For more information including tested operating systems go to www.virtualbox.org.

Next: Working with Virtual Machine

The previous posts in this series, Getting and Installing Linux::

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

3 comments

3 comments

  • Nick P
    July 24, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    Thanks for the tutorials James. I’ve learned from every one of them.

    Nick

  • Mitch S.
    July 25, 2016 at 5:23 pm

    I didn’t have success with WINE the few times i tried but they were on rather obscure programs.
    You got me willing to try some more.
    Thanks for the info/tips.

  • Robert Zimmerman
    July 25, 2016 at 7:26 pm

    Mitch,

    I use wine and have mixed results. The popular the Windows program, the more likely things will work without problem. For example, today I installed Word 2003 using Wine on my KDE machine and it worked like a charm. (The distro’s Word replacement, LibreOffice, which is another version of OpenOffice, is very buggy. I had finally had enough.)

    Bob

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