Re: Running Windows based application in NetBSD

[Matthew Mondor <mm_lists%pulsar-zone.net@localhost>]

On Mon, 7 Nov 2011 21:57:14 -0500
"DeKoning, Jake" <jjdekoning%sympatico.ca@localhost> wrote:

> Is it possible to run a Windows based application in NetBSD?  In Windows,
> besides the application directory, there are dll files, etc in the Windows
> directory.  I likely can change where those files go in NetBSD.  However,
> can NetBSD run a Windows executable?  Will NetBSD recognize a dll file?  In
> NetBSD, what file system would I need to create?  And questions could go on
> and on.

My experience is null using Windows applications on unix, although I've
occasionally helped some people with their Wine setup on their Linux
systems (including getting rid of malware recently!).

However, I remember about the PEACE project which used the NetBSD
kernel PECOFF compat support.  Unfortunately, the PECOFF compat support
was dropped as the PEACE experiment itself was stale for a while.  I
have no idea at which point the project was, never having tried it.

I think that Wine requires no particular kernel support to read Windows
executables, however.  It also seems available for NetBSD via pkgsrc,
but I never tried it either.

BTW, this list probably has few readers, and tech-userlevel%netbsd.org@localhost
or pkgsrc-users%netbsd.org@localhost (even current-users%netbsd.org@localhost 
if you're
running -current) would probably be better places for Wine+NetBSD
discussion and improvements.  As for a PEACE-like resurection project, I
think that tech-kern%netbsd.org@localhost would be a good list to discuss it
(sorry if you already know these).

It's always nice to know about other Canadian NetBSD users, the
community is small and hypeless/invisible.  On this list what I usually
see is a few posts per year to let others know when they have to get
rid of increasingly hard to find hardware (VAX, Sparc, etc).
-- 
Matt