Notices

So based on my understanding, we need to get a collection of ARM-compatible Windows applications which will run on the N900 Wine software. I cannot simply take solitare (sol.exe) and try to run it on the N900 Wine version?

You could certainly try, but you have no chance of success with Wine only.

I may have to give this version of Wine ago? I found an PD copy old copy of SuperCAD around 1995 a while ago which might be cool to try

Why not OpenOffice that runs native? (well, under a chroot, but no need to emulate a processor)

so is this a dead end? or is possible to actually get some basic windows programs to run with working keyboard?

Basically, a dead end. To understand why, you need to look at how Wine and Windows work.

Microsoft Windows runs on computers with an Intel processor (8086, 80286, 80386, 80486, and the rest of it, generally known as "i86" even though now they're officially called "Pentium", "Celeron" etc.). They also run on AMD chips because AMD chips were built to run just like Intel chips.

Compare this to Linux, which runs on a much wider variety of processors including i86, the Motorola 68000/ 68020/ 68030 that used to power the Macs until they transitioned to Intel chips.

If you try to run Windows programs on a Motorola (or other non-Intel-type) processor, it fails completely since it's a completely different chip with different instruction sets.

If you try to run Windows programs on an Intel processor, but not using MS Windows, it would fail only because there is no MS WIndows running, but the chip is correct and you just have to supply the correct support software to talk to the program you're running. That's what Wine does.

Here's another analogy: running Windows programs on Linux on an Intel machine is like trying to perform a stage play, the actors/actresses cannot get to the stage because the doors to the theatre are locked.

Running Windows programs on a non-Intel machine like an ARM processor is like trying to perform a stage play when you're not in a theatre, and you're not even in a city --in fact, you're not even on land but knee deep in the middle of a river.

So, yeah, dead end.

As others suggested, you could try Windows CE, but not sure if Wine supports WinCE or what. But all this stuff about "well, just make it run on very small, short, simple programs" --naah, ain't gonna fly very far there.

I've no idea as to what is preventing the keyboard from working, but I expect that problem is fixable.

There are a few possible paths for Wine ARM from here:

• In addition to the "make Photoshop run on my Linux box" Wine product upon which everyone tends to focus, the Wine folks also produce winelib. Winelib takes all Wine's Windows-apps-on-Linux tricks and rolls them into something Windows application developers can use to compile their applications for Linux. Linux-running end users then don't need Wine to run the app as it is all baked in. This is the current focus of Wine ARM development.
• As has been suggested in this thread, Wine ARM could be developed to support the running of WindowsCE applications. I believe the Wine ARM devs have discussed this possibility, but no one is pursuing it.
• Wine ARM could be tied together with an x86 emulator to run Windows x86 applications on Linux ARM, just as people in this thread want. I believe Wine PowerPC developers are/were working on something along these lines. I don't think anyone is for Wine ARM, and it does not sound like quick, easy work.

Not really a dead end, combined with a emulator it could be possible to run some apps. It's not like it hasn't been done before. Just google for WABI.

Blast from the past there.

If you're into Win 3.1 Appz on Solaris...

It seems if the default install still puts about 9 MB of data on the root partition of the N900, doing a listing of /root shows a .wine directory with the following (space used on the left)... can we safely move this to the opt partition and still have Wine work?

0 ./dosdevices
0 ./drive_c/windows/inf
0 ./drive_c/windows/help
0 ./drive_c/windows/temp
80.0k ./drive_c/windows/command
4.0k ./drive_c/windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v1.1.4322
4.0k ./drive_c/windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727
8.0k ./drive_c/windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework
8.0k ./drive_c/windows/Microsoft.NET
0 ./drive_c/windows/system32/mui
4.0k ./drive_c/windows/system32/wbem
0 ./drive_c/windows/system32/spool/drivers/color
0 ./drive_c/windows/system32/spool/drivers
0 ./drive_c/windows/system32/spool/printers
0 ./drive_c/windows/system32/spool
4.0k ./drive_c/windows/system32/drivers
9.1M ./drive_c/windows/system32
4.0k ./drive_c/windows/system
9.7M ./drive_c/windows
0 ./drive_c/users/root/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files
0 ./drive_c/users/root/Local Settings/History
0 ./drive_c/users/root/Local Settings
0 ./drive_c/users/root/Cookies
0 ./drive_c/users/root/Desktop
0 ./drive_c/users/root
0 ./drive_c/users
28.0k ./drive_c/Program Files/Internet Explorer
28.0k ./drive_c/Program Files
9.8M ./drive_c
9.8M .