What is WINE?
Essentially, WINE (at http://www.winehq.com) is an implementation of the Windows API on top of various flavors of Linux including Red Hat 7.2. Unlike products like VMWare (at http://www.vmware.com) or Win4Lin (at http://www.netraverse.com), WINE is not an emulator. Nor does not it require a shred of Microsoft Windows. Unlike VMWare and Win4Lin that require you to purchase a Windows license in addition to the emulator, WINE doesn't require any binaries or software from Microsoft. The project has a long history since its initial development in 1993. As the leading corporate backer of the WINE project, CodeWeavers, Inc has contributed resources to drive development towards the goal of WINE 1.0.

CodeWeavers provides a preview version of WINE that demonstrates some of the advancements being made with the project. The most current release, Codeweavers WINE Preview 4, will be the package used to configure and get the Lotus Notes client running under Linux. Preview 4 includes a WINE configuration wizard, WINE launcher, and integration with the KDE and GNOME desktops.

Configuration
We'll begin with the installation of WINE.

First, download the release of Codeweaver's WINE Preview 4 RPM (at http://ftp.codeweavers.com/pub/wine/old/20010626/) and save it to a temporary directory. Note: Codeweaver released preview 5 of WINE during December 2001, however; I was unable to get through the Notes configuration wizard due to a bug within that particular release.

Second, verify that the file size matches the bytes specified on the download page. If it doesn't, re-download the RPM.

Third, depending how you installed Red Hat 7.2, the standard WINE package might have been installed during installation. If you do find that you have a previous version of WINE installed, you'll need to remove the older version before continuing with the installation. To uninstall the previous version, run the following command:

Fourth, login into the workstation as "root" and launch a console. Change directory to the temporary directory and run the following command:

Configure WINE
To configure WINE from the KDE or GNOME desktop environment, logout from the workstation as "root", login as a user, launch a console, and run the command:

After executing winesetup, you'll be presented with the WINE Configuration Wizard, pictured in Figure A.

FIGURE A


Create the new file using the WINE Configuration Wizard. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The first task for a new user is to select the location of the WINE configuration file. By default, the option is to create the new file within your home directory.

The second task is to select the location of the Windows files. Typically, this field is: "/home/<username>/.wine/fake_windows".

Finally, you'll be presented with a few options to control the look and feel, as shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B


You can control the look and feel. Roll over picture for a larger image.