0

Does Ubuntu run just about any program I can run on windows?

I'm not a coder, can I still effectively use Ubuntu?

Byte Commander
  • 107,489
Todd Thomas
  • 1

1 Answers1

2

Ubuntu is a Debian based Linux operating system.

That means you can install Debian software packages which will run natively on it and of course you can also run all kinds of scripts. However, the Windows binary executable format (PE) is incompatible with the one Linux systems support (ELF).

Ubuntu has a huge software repository where you can find tons of free applications written for Ubuntu, including many apps you know from Windows like Firefox, Thunderbird, VLC, GIMP, etc. Check out your Software Center application to browse the repositories.

If you need to run Windows applications, because it is a special software which did not get ported to Linux and does not have a Linux alternative, you have three options:

  • Install Ubuntu in dual-boot with Windows, that way you have two OS installed on your computer and can chose which one to load on every boot.

  • Virtualize one system, you can either run an Ubuntu VM on Windows or a Windows VM on Ubuntu. That way the guest OS runs inside a virtualization application on the host system. It will be slow though, but you can quickly switch and run stuff in parallel.

  • Use the compatibility layer Wine to run Windows executables directly on Linux. It is not a virtual machine but translates the system calls the Windows executables want to make to match the Linux interface. This is slower than a native application, but usually faster than a full VM. However, not all applications are compatible with Wine, some work better and some don't work at all. There's a list of tested applications which you can check before trying a piece of software in Wine.

Byte Commander
  • 107,489