On this CPU, uses a flat memory model with 32-bit offsets (hence the 32-bit name). Processor is in protected mode.Īvailable (with NT) on several CPUs, including IA-32. Only available on IA-32 architectures, code and data are in segmented forms, with 16-bit offsets (hence the 16-bit name). Code and data are in segmented forms, with 16-bit offsets. Will call the 32/64-bit Windows API, and possibly also the Unix APIs. No Windows API but the DOS API (like Int 21h traps). One MB of memory, where each application is loaded and unloaded.Īll 16-bit applications share a single address space, protected mode.Įach application has it's own address space. Only one application at a time (except for TSR) Let's quickly review the main differences for the supported executables: Wine provides the tools to create such executables. These are applications, written using the Windows API, but compiled as a Unix executable. PE stands for Portable Executable, in a sense where the format of the executable (as a file) is independent of the CPU (even if the content of the file - the code - is CPU dependent). These are programs were introduced in Windows 95 (and became the native formats for all later Windows versions), even if 16-bit applications were still supported.

They were the native processes run by Windows 2.x and 3.x. Windows NE executable, also called 16-bit.Those are even older programs, using the DOS format (either. It supports different types of executables: Wine main task is to run Windows executables under non Windows operating systems. Note: The “Emulator” perspective should not be thought of as if Wine is a typical inefficient emulation layer that means Wine can't be anything but slow - the faithfulness to the badly designed Windows API may of course impose a minor overhead in some cases, but this is both balanced out by the higher efficiency of the Unix platforms Wine runs on, and that other possible abstraction libraries (like Motif, GTK+, CORBA, etc) has a runtime overhead typically comparable to Wine's. exe files), Wine does look like Windows, and emulates its behaviour and quirks rather closely.

The second meaning, obviously, is that to Windows binaries (. The first meaning says that Wine is not a virtual machine, it does not emulate a CPU, and you are not supposed to install Windows nor any Windows device drivers on top of it rather, Wine is an implementation of the Windows API, and can be used as a library to port Windows applications to Unix. In a way, both meanings are correct, only seen from different perspectives. Sometimes it is also known to be used for “Windows Emulator”. Wine is often used as a recursive acronym, standing for “Wine Is Not an Emulator”. 3.4.3 Deciding Between Native and Built-In DLLs.3.3 Wine builtin DLLs: about Relays, Thunks, and DLL descriptors.

Wine emulator review