Wine 9.0 is the new major version of the tool that allows you to run Native Windows applications or games on Linux operating systems and in other UNIX-like systems such as Apple MacOS or FreeBSD.

The Wine project celebrated three decades since its launch last year. And if it didn’t exist, it would have to be invented because it is the best of its kind.. How responsible are responsible for remembering “Wine is not an emulator” but a reimplementation of the Win16 and Win32 application programming interface for Unix-based operating systems. However, its goal is the same as that of an emulator: to make it easier to run Windows software (the most widely used) on other operating systems.

Especially in GNU/Linux, where it is a standard part of many of its distributions. And although Linux (or macOS) users mostly rely on the native software of the free system, there are times when it may be necessary to run a Windows application or game that is not natively available on the rest of the systems, platforms, for fun or work.

Wine 9.0 offers important improvements

The new version is relevant and offers two great new features, introducing new WoW64 architecture and experimental controller for Wayland. The release represents a year of effort and over 7,000 individual changes.

The new WoW64 architecture (32-bit Windows on 64-bit Windows) is the pinnacle of Wine 9.0 and represents the completion of a multi-year effort to convert modules to PE format, a type of executable file that includes all the code that is needed in a binary file. In a significant change from the previous version, the new WoW64 mode allows running 32-bit Windows applications on pure 64-bit Unix installations. This will be particularly beneficial for macOS users, where recent versions have dropped support for 32-bit processes.

Another interesting development is the Wayland controller. This addon, while still a work in progress, already includes features such as basic window management, multi-monitor support, high DPI scaling, and Vulkan support. The inclusion of a graphics driver for Wayland (currently experimental) indicates a commitment to keep up with the ever-evolving Linux ecosystem.

The startup also offers improved support for ARM64, which allows existing Windows binaries to run on ARM64 systems. This includes support for ARM64X and ARM64EC modules, extending the range of hardware compatibility. ARM will also be very important in Windows software if Qualcomm and Microsoft can adequately respond to Apple.

Graphics improvements are another key aspect of Wine 9.0 with the reimplementation of the PostScript driver and vulkan driver update. Several optimizations are included for Direct3D, notably v backend by WineD3D and Vulkan. These changes include improvements to multi-threaded command flow that are designed to reduce power consumption.

They were too Improved audio and video capabilities, with the implementation of several DirectMusic modules and improvements to DirectShow, including the implementation of the Windows Media Video (WMV) decoder. Input device support has been improved by implementing DirectInput action maps, which should improve the gaming experience on Linux.

The new Wine release offers other minor desktop integration improvements, support for internationalization with new locales, kernel updates such as ASLR support, networking and Internet improvements, cryptography and security updates, and development tooling updates.

As you could read, many important improvements for this Wine 9.0 which you can download from its website. Of course, completely free and open source. If you want more technical information, our colleagues at verylinux also covered the launch.