WinBoat: Run Windows apps on Linux with seamless integration

44•nogajun•4h ago

Comments

orionblastar•2h ago

Does it also run Visual Studio 2022?

Tajnymag•2h ago

It should as it isn't running Windows app through wine but via a dedicated VM (managed by a docker container). Anything that can be ran in a qemu vm, should work fine.

p0w3n3d•54m ago

I wonder what is the license of the windows in the dedicated vm?

judge123•1h ago

I've been down this road so many times with Wine configs and broken prefixes that I have trust issues, lol.

chao-•1h ago

Same here. I used to have great success with PlayOnLinux, then it seems worked on it ceased 3-4 years ago? It was very duplicative, making a fresh Wine environment for each application, but for that cost it seemed to be less prone to issues than other approaches in the 2010-2020 era.

deathlock•1h ago

Lately I've been using umu-launcher [1] which is a wrapper and compatibility tool for the proton used by steam and I'm quite satisfied about it. It's shipped with configurations for 3000+ games, might be worth a try if you're having trouble with the configs.

Take it with a grain of salt, I don't have much experience in running windows application on Linux, I just had some problems with wine and I discovered umu to be pretty straightforward and easy to use.

[1] https://github.com/Open-Wine-Components/umu-launcher

GTP•1h ago

This doesn't seem to be using Wine though, as it requires Docker it's likely something lower level than a compatibility layer that translates syscalls.

SirGiggles•55m ago

This looks more like a wrapper over Qemu/KVM

LinAGKar•1h ago

How does this differ from WinApps?

russnes•1h ago

I've found that running non steam apps on steam with the proton experimental compatibility usually just works, it has become my go to solution

bt1a•1h ago

Do you use an application launcher / configuration manager like Lutris to do this? Or do you mean directly through steam? There's a steam game that I play often that tends to work the most frequently with proton hotfix for reasons unknown to me.

russnes•1h ago

No just directly in Steam. You can just add a non steam game to your library and select the .exe file you want, and steam will create a c drive environment for each non steam game you add.

In some cases you might have to change which exe file it runs, if you initially run a setup.exe which creates the real exe file you'd want to launch inside the c drive environment folder

gulikoza•58m ago

How is there an entire page without a single line describing how it works?

burgerone•23m ago

One comment and the prerequisites hint at this tool spinning up a docker container which runs a windows VM and pulls the windows out using some remote desktop tool

BrenBarn•54m ago

Something seems a bit off about the combination of hype and disclaimers here. First it's "seamless integration". Then it warns me that I should "expect to occasionally run into hiccups and bugs" and "should be comfortable with some level of troubleshooting". But then it's back to saying I can "enjoy the full range of Windows applications" "without any hassle". These just don't seem compatible to me. If it's seamless and hassle-free, that would mean there aren't hiccups and bugs. If there are hiccups and bugs, it's not seamless and hassle-free.

It may be a good project, but I always get kind of annoyed when projects try to overhype how "easy" and "smooth" the experience will be. I guess in one sense this is better than that because it does have disclaimers, but that just makes it harder to know what the truth actually is about its abilities.

prmoustache•44m ago

I don't think one should ever expect a "true seamless integration" from this kind of project.

akimbostrawman•41m ago

I read it as being seamless and hassle free until it isn't because there can still be issues. Like a car until it breaks down.

outadoc•40m ago

Sounds to me like this is similar to Coherence mode in Parallels. I'm sure it won't work 100% of the time, but could be good for basic use cases.

Turskarama•33m ago

Literally at the top of the docs it says it's in Beta. I don't think you have to think too hard to figure out that seamless integration is the goal but they aren't there yet.

SillyUsername•43m ago

It's running RDP to a Winboat docker image hosting the app and rendering the container on the desktop. This includes audio forwarding.

meteyor•20m ago

Anyone tried Adobe products like this? I'm curious to try.

stragies•7m ago

Does this use MS-RemoteApp RDP extension (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocol...) under the hood?

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