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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Wine 1.2 Release plans

Wine 1.2 release plans were sent to the wine-devel mailing list from Alexandre Julliard the Wine project leader. Here is the release plans and Alexandres email to wine-devel.

Folks,

The 64-bit support is now more or less complete, and we have most of the fancy new icons, so it's time to think about the next stable release.

Unless some major problems come up, 1.1.44 will be the last of the 1.1.x series. The next release will be 1.2-rc1, which will mark the beginning of the code freeze. This should result in a 1.2 final sometime in June.

As usual the code freeze will become more and more drastic as we get closer to release, so if you have major changes to make, now is pretty much the last minute.

I'd encourage everyone to look through the list of nominated 1.2 bugs, and also to check the regression reports for anything that might be in your area. We should strive to have as few regressions from 1.0 as possible, so regressions fixes will have priority during code freeze. And of course changes that don't impact the code, like translations or test fixes, can go in until quite late.

--
Alexandre Julliard


Thursday, May 6, 2010

Bordeaux 2.0.4 for Mac Released

The Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 2.0.4 for Mac today. Bordeaux 2.0.4 for Mac is a final build and is considered stable. With this final release we can only support Snow Leopard 10.6.x and higher systems. We have changed the progress dialog to a CocoaDialog, (AppleScript Dialog is in the works) Wine bundle updated to 1.1.41, updated to the most current winetricks release, More fixes to the Bordeaux UI, there has also been many small bug fixes in this release.

The Bordeaux UI changes come from our working agreement with StormOS.

With version 2.0.4 and onward we bundle our own Wine build and many tools and libraries that Wine depends upon. With this release we bundle Wine 1.1.41, Cabextract, Mozilla Gecko, Unzip, Wget and other support libraries and tools.

The cost of Bordeaux 2.0.4 for Mac is $20.00.(On 05/17/2010 the price will be increased to $25.00) Anyone who has purchased Bordeaux in the past six months is entitled to a free upgrade. Bordeaux comes with six months of upgrades and support and of course a 30-day money back guarantee.

Please read our Mac readme file before you use Bordeaux.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
  • Intel Apple Mac (Mac Pro, Mac Mini, iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air)
  • Mac OS X Snow Leopard OS-X 10.6 or later is required to install this package.
  • Gtk-Framework-2.14 2.14 Download
2.0.4 application support :
  • Microsoft Office 2007 Applications (Word, Excel, Powerpnt)
  • Microsoft Office 2003 Applications (Word, Excel, Powerpnt)
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Applications (Word, Excel, Powerpnt)
  • Microsoft Visio 2003
  • Microsoft Project 2003
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
  • IrfanView 4.25
2.0.4 New Features :
  • Updated to Wine version 1.1.41
  • Better support for IE 7
  • Even more fixes to .app Bundle support
  • Fixes to Icon support
  • libpng and libjpg fixes
  • Fixed allot of bugs in the Bordeaux UI
  • Synced to newest winetricks release
  • Many other small bug fixes
Some recent Screenshots :

Bordeaux User Interface on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Bordeax Starting the Internet Explorer 7 Install.

Internet Explorer 7 running on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Microsoft Office 2003 Install.

Microsoft Office 2003 Install has Completed.

Microsoft Word 2003 on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Microsoft Excel 2003 on OS-X Snow Leopard.

About Bordeaux:

The Bordeaux Technology Group is a software services and development company specializing in Windows compatibility software. Users of Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris and Mac systems from time to time find themselves in the need to run specialized Windows software. The Bordeaux suite enables access to these programs and data in a seamless and low cost manner without requiring licensing of Microsoft Technology. The Bordeaux Group also provides migration services and support for alternative operating systems specializing in Windows compatibility.

There is a multitude of software developed only for the Windows operating system and even when software vendors port their applications to another platform, generally it lacks features that the Windows version contains. The only solution these developers face is to have access to both systems for testing which leads to increased infrastructure demands, and wasted project resources. If you are vendor interested in supporting your application on Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris or Mac OS X or a software user that needs to run a Windows application on Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris or Mac OS X we can help.
We use PayPal as our preferred payment provider, with PayPal you do not need an account to make a transaction simply select to pay via credit card, its very simple and fast.




Putty for Mac
Putty for Mac
$15.00

https://winereviews.onfastspring.com/putty-for-mac


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Bordeaux 2.0.4 for FreeBSD and PC-BSD Released

The Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 2.0.4 for FreeBSD and PC-BSD today. Bordeaux 2.0.4 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of small bugs. With this release we have changed the Bordeux UI from a GTKDialog to a GTKWindow, the "OK" button has also been re-named to "Install". We have upgraded our Wine bundle from 1.1.36 to 1.1.41, updated to the latest winetricks release, added support for the new Steam UI, and changed the progress bar back to Zenity.
The Bordeaux UI changes come from our working agreement with StormOS.

With version 2.0.0 and onward we bundle our own Wine build and many tools and libraries that Wine depends upon. With this release we bundle Wine 1.1.41, Cabextract, Mozilla Gecko, Unzip, Wget and other support libraries and tools.

The cost of Bordeaux 2.0.4 is $20.00. Anyone who has purchased Bordeaux in the past six months is entitled to a free upgrade. Bordeaux comes with six months of upgrades and support and of course a 30-day money back guarantee.

Supported Applications/Games:

  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • Microsoft Office 2003
  • Microsoft Office 2000
  • Microsoft Office 97
  • Microsoft Office Visio 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project 2003
  • Adobe Photoshop 6
  • Adobe Image Ready 3
  • Adobe Photoshop 7
  • Adobe Image Ready 7
  • Adobe Photoshop CS
  • Adobe Photoshop CS2
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
  • Steam and Steam based Games
  • Apple QuickTime 6.5.2 Player
  • IrfaView 4.25 (Image files only)
  • Winetricks support

About Bordeaux:

The Bordeaux Technology Group is a software services and development company specializing in Windows compatibility software. Users of Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris and Mac systems from time to time find themselves in the need to run specialized Windows software. The Bordeaux suite enables access to these programs and data in a seamless and low cost manner without requiring licensing of Microsoft Technology. The Bordeaux Group also provides migration services and support for alternative operating systems specializing in Windows compatibility.

There is a multitude of software developed only for the Windows operating system and even when software vendors port their applications to another platform, generally it lacks features that the Windows version contains. The only solution these developers face is to have access to both systems for testing which leads to increased infrastructure demands, and wasted project resources. If you are vendor interested in supporting your application on Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris or Mac OS X or a software user that needs to run a Windows application on Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris or Mac OS X we can help.

Version 2.0.4 New Features:

  • Bundle Wine 1.1.41
  • Support the new Steam UI
  • Many small fixes to the UI
  • Support for PC-BSD 7 and 8
  • The Bordeux UI is now a GTKWindow
  • Progress Bar now uses Zenity
  • Updated to the latest Winetricks
Update 05/05/2010 :
I have been asked to add some screenshots of Bordeaux 2.04 on PC-BSD. Bordeaux runs the same on FreeBSD 8 as it does on PC-BSD.
 


Putty for Mac
Putty for Mac
$15.00

https://winereviews.onfastspring.com/putty-for-mac


Some WINE with your Starcraft 2?

It finally happened. I have a Starcraft2 closed beta key! What feels like decades ago now I had applied for a Starcraft2 beta key on Battle.net and had all but given up hope after many months of waiting when a friend was kind enough to give me one of his invite passes. I entered the key into my account and was thoroughly excited when I saw the beta appear in my downloads. I was clicking through the website as quick as I could so I could get the game downloading, when reality came crashing down on top of me as I hit the downloads page and was asked to choose between a Windows and an OSX client.

What is a Linux user to do? With the recent release of Ubuntu 10.04 I had removed Windows 7 from my hardrive as it had not been booted into in over a month and was simply taking up storage space. My first thought was to simply reinstall Windows 7, giving it just enough space to boot and install Starcraft. Then I thought about the fact that I almost never reboot my system and that having to restart just to play Starcraft would be a real kill joy (and a time waster).

I run all of my source engine games on Linux via CXGames however upon looking at their entry for Starcraft II I had little faith that it would work under Crossover. Not quite ready to give up hope yet I headed over to the WINE AppDB entry for SC2, lo-and-behold it had a gold rating! Browsing through the page you will find a wonderful HOWTO for recompiling WINE from git with a custom patch for SC2. Always one to jump in with both feet first I promptly uninstalled my current WINE version from my system and began downloading/compiling a patch version of 1.1.43 Twenty minutes later (I have a fairly good processor) I had the patched version of WINE built and installed. I then proceeded to download the beta client and get it installing under WINE
 
(I also followed the directions here that contains some extra tweaks for running the beta under WINE, it also installs SC2 to it's own WINE prefix).

Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Codeweavers CrossOver Mac Run Windows apps minus Windows

By Cliff Joseph

Like many Mac users, I use Apples Boot Camp to switch between the Mac OS and Windows as required. However, I also usevirtualization tools - Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion - which have the added convenience of allowing you to run Mac and Windows programs side-by-side.

Codeweavers CrossOver

Codeweavers CrossOver: run PC games on a Mac
The only drawback with virtualization technology is that it cant provide the same performance as running Windows software natively, as Boot Camp does. This is especially important when it comes to demanding programs such as 3D games. And, of course, the dual-boot and virtualisation approaches both require you to install a full copy of Windows.

Codeweavers CrossOver now provides a third alternative for running Windows software on a Mac – and one that doesnt require a copy of Windows. CrossOver is actually a paid-for version of the open-source Wine project, which provides technical support and a new graphical interface in return for the £26 licence fee.

There are two versions of CrossOver available. CrossOver Mac is designed for running general productivity apps such as Microsoft Office, while CrossOver Games focuses on running entertainment software.
Codeweavers CrossOver
There are separate versions of general apps (left) and games
I asked Codeweavers for more detailed information about the differences between the two versions, and its illuminating response was: “CrossOver Mac runs Windows applications while CrossOver Games runs Windows games."

Regardless of finer technical details, the two versions work in a very similar fashion. To install the program you simply download the CrossOver disk image file from the Codeweavers web site, open it, and then drag and drop the CrossOver application onto your hard disk.
Codeweavers CrossOver
Prime CrossOver with the name of the app you want to install
When you launch CrossOver it presents you with a simple Welcome screen that prompts you to insert the installer disk for the Windows program that you want to install. Its also possible to install software that youve downloaded from the Internet as long as youve got the full installer required for that piece of software.

Rather than simply copying the program files onto your Macs hard disk, CrossOver creates a "bottle" – a file that Codeweavers describes as a "virtual Windows environment" – and then installs the program into it. The bottle contains elements – such as a virtual Windows registry – that, in effect, fool the program into thinking that its running on Windows.

This approach can be very effective – but only if CrossOver is compatible with the specific Windows programs that you want to use. Codeweavers maintains a compatibility database that rates hundreds of Windows apps according to a rather convoluted system of "medals". For instance, my copy of Microsoft Publisher 2003 gets a gold medal rating, which means that it should run well enough for everyday use.
Codeweavers CrossOver
Check for app compatibility first
However, Word 2003 and Excel 2003 only get a silver medal - more or less OK, but there may be occasional bugs - while the more recent Microsoft Office 2007 just gets a bronze. The database also lists a large number of programs as "untested" or "known not to work".
I tested the Office 2003 and Office 2007 suites, and those programs did run well – more smoothly, in fact, than using either Parallels or Fusion. CrossOver even makes Windows programs look a bit more Mac-like by adding a new title bar complete with the Macs candy-coloured control buttons.

Codeweavers CrossOver

Windows apps get it little of the OS X look & feel
However, the situation wasn’t quite so rosy when I tried CrossOver Games. I normally test PCs by checking their performance with Far Cry 2, but that falls into the doesnt work category. My current favourite game is Dragon Age: Origins - it gets a silver medal for compatibility, but I repeatedly got an error message when attempting to install it from disk. I found a fellow sufferer on the Codeweaver support forums who had encountered the same error message, but theres no word of a solution yet.
Another old favourite is Guild Wars, which also gets a silver rating. This installed easily and was quite playable on a MacBook, although the frame rate under CrossOver was only about half of what we got when running the same game under Boot Camp.