4 Ways To Make Linux Compatible With Even More Software

1 – Use Adobe Air Apps

Adobe Air,  if you’re not aware, is a software platform that runs on Linux, Mac and Windows. There are hundreds of free Linux compatible software applications over at the Adobe Air Marketplace that do everything from giving you newspaper-like access to the New York Times to viewing your Google Analytics Data.

Getting Adobe Air working on Linux is surprisingly easy. You’ll find a Linux-based installer over at get.adobe.com, or you can simply attempt to install any Adobe Air application and Air will install automatically.

Some MakeUseOf posts covering cool Adobe Air apps:
– 3 Really Cool Adobe AIR Apps for Movies and Music
– 8 Adobe AIR Apps that DON’T Suck
– 4 Adobe AIR ToDo List Apps For Managing Your Tasks

2 – Get Java Going

Java is the original cross-platform programming language. To this day many programmers use Java to create programs that work equally well on Linux, Mac and Windows. We’ve covered many Java apps, the most recent being “Pauker – An Easy-To-Use Freeware Java Flash Card Program” which Varun wrote all about.

Java’s probably in the repositories of your Linux distribution already. If you’re on Ubuntu you’ll find that Java is instaled when you install the “ubuntu-restricted-extras” package discussed in Varun’s article “10 Applications You Must Install On Ubuntu Lucid Lynx”

3 – Wine For Windows Apps

There are millions of Windows appications out there, and the Wine project gives Linux access to many of them. Wine attempts to provide a compatibility layer between the Linux operating system and Windows programs. It’s far from perfect, but it’s worth a shot. Check out “Run Windows Applications on Linux (or Mac) with WINE”  to learn all about making use of wine.

Wondering if a certain program is compatible with Wine? Check out the database over at WineHQ.

Wine is availible in the package manager of pretty much every Linux distribution in existence, so check yours.

4 – DOSbox for Old DOS Games

Simon recently pointed out 4 sites where you can download old games for free. If these old games were meant to run in DOS you can run them in Ubuntu; all you need is DOSbox. This DOS emulator can run most any DOS program you can throw at it, but it’s really tailor-made for games.

DOSbox is included in the package manager of most fine Linux distributions, so look for it and set it up. You can learn all about using DOSbox in Shaminder’s article about using DOSbox on Windows XP. Yes, the article is about Windows XP, but the principle is basically the same.

If you’re really geeky you could even setup DOSbox to run Windows 3.1. I did using this guide just for so I could play Chip’s Challenge the way God intended: in Windows 3.1.

source: makeuseof.com