Running Windows browsers with WINE

[amethyst]

Anyone got this going with good results? This got me thinking with regards to old Puppys running new browsers.

[bigpup]

Never really tried Running Widows based software browsers in Wine.
Always use Linux versions.

I think you will always have issues.

WineHQ has good info on all kinds of Windows based software and how it works in Wine.
Example for Firefox:
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager. ... n&iId=1930

[mikewalsh]

@amethyst :-

About the only Windows browser I can actually remember getting running under WINE was K-Meleon.....and that's based around ancient Firefox/SeaMonkey tech.

I did ONCE manage to get a version of Firefox installed.....but I've never been able to repeat the experience.

Any Chromium-based browser is a complete no-no. Even the installer will crash on these.....because, without exception, they all want to use a "stub" remote downloader for the install.

It's very much a case of "suck-it-and-see", you'll find.

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

@amethyst :-

Well, I'm surprised. I suddenly thought of PortableApps.com

I'm posting this from the Windows 'portable' version of FF91esr. Touch wood, so far it seems quite stable....

This is running under the 64-bit WINE 5.11 AppImage that trister found for us a while back. I don't know how stable it would be under older WINE builds.....or newer ones, come to that. Hmm...

Let's do some experimenting..!

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

Okay. Well, totally as expected, NetFlix insisted I needed to install Silverlight in order to watch anything. Further down the same page, it then adds that Silverlight is no longer supported!

The "requirements" page clearly says that Firefox 88 or newer is required to watch via HTML5. This is FF 91.....and guess what? Yup, further down the page....."your browser is out of date."

Is it any wonder folks get p*issed-off with Windoze?

Interestingly, YouTube runs fine. YouTube runs via HTML5.....but didn't I just get told that the browser was out of date, and needed to be newer to use HTML5? Wish they'd make their minds up!

Trust MyCrudShite to insist on using a DRM system that the rest of the world long since gave the two fingers to.....

Unbelievable. BUT.....touch wood!.....it STILL seems stable. BIG surprise. (I still think it's simpler to use the Linux version, but that's just me.)

Mike.

[amethyst]

Any usefulness would be old puppy (say Precise or Tahr) working with new browser. A new version of Wine will probably also be needed. So maybe a bit of testing in that regard......

[mikewalsh]

Just discovered that Feodor2's "MyPal" fork of Pale Moon seems to run OK, too. This is the latest release - v68.12.3b. Posting from it now.

Only peculiarity is that the page render is a bit slow, and sometimes needs the cursor scanning round the page to make all the elements show.....but that could be a deficiency of WINE. OR the fact that I'm running in Windows 7 emulation mode - my usual mode - where this IS supposedly built specifically for XP?

No telling. No idea!

(EDIT:- Even more surprising, YT runs fine.....with quite low CPU and RAM usage, considering that WINE's running as well....) Conclusion is that WINE is quite happy with 'zilla-based browsers.....but when it comes to Chromium-based varieties, forget it.

Mike.

[amethyst]

@mikewalsh Thanks for testing this. I wonder, you probably have everything at your disposal. Testing old Puppy (like Precise) with newer WINE and new browser OR testing Precise with older WINE (like version 3.3) and new browser. Maybe play around with the different WINE Windows operating system emulation settings too. Thanks in advance.....

[BologneChe]

Just discovered that Feodor2's "MyPal" fork of Pale Moon seems to run OK, too. This is the latest release - v68.12.3b. Posting from it now.

Only peculiarity is that the page render is a bit slow, and sometimes needs the cursor scanning round the page to make all the elements show.....but that could be a deficiency of WINE. OR the fact that I'm running in Windows 7 emulation mode - my usual mode - where this IS supposedly built specifically for XP?

No telling. No idea!

(EDIT:- Even more surprising, YT runs fine.....with quite low CPU and RAM usage, considering that WINE's running as well....) Conclusion is that WINE is quite happy with 'zilla-based browsers.....but when it comes to Chromium-based varieties, forget it.

Mike.

Additional information, I tried the 68.12.5b version with Windows XP Pro under VirtualBox and it works well!
https://github.com/Feodor2/Mypal68/releases