I dont understand this blasted manuual!
what is the easiest way to install wine?
is there ANY self installers?
Why is it so complicated?
I am an exwindows user and if I find out I cant play my old win32 games I'll scrap linux for good!

1st, the manual referrs to a "tools/wineinstall" WHERE IS IT?!?
2nd, what should these lines in /etc/wine/wine.conf look like if I have the c: as /mnt/archive/:

;; Each section has the following format:
;; [Drive X]
;; "Path"="xxx" (Unix path for drive root)
;; "Type"="xxx" (supported types are 'floppy', 'hd', 'cdrom' and 'network')
;; "Label"="xxx" (drive label, at most 11 characters)
;; "Serial"="xxx" (serial number, 8 characters hexadecimal number)
;; "Filesystem"="xxx" (supported types are 'msdos'/'dos'/'fat', 'win95'/'vfat', 'unix')

The manual doesn't say anything about copying or installing the kernel source code.After you install or copy the kernel source code, open up the console and type su or login as root. Then type:
./configure --enable-opengl <<-- Before applying this option, make sure you have opengl installed
make
make install

In the first step you may need to provide an option that tells configure where the linux kernel is located (usually it is in /usr/src/linux-#######/).

There is documentation on how to setup wine. Half-life Linux How to for example has a good examples on different compile options.

After you have compiled and installed Wine, it has an example config file. Type man wine.conf at the console. It will tell the path to the example file.

If you are using the rpm's that shipped with redhat 8, I would uninstall them first, then install wine from source. To get rid of wine:

rpm -e wine-devel
rpm -e wine

Now follow these instructions:

Install Wine from source

Before you install Wine make sure there is no previous Wine installation on your system.
Many Linux distributions come with a Wine package, but this is usually a very old and sometimes broken version, so it is better to uninstall the old version and install a newer one.


Download:

You can download the latest WINE version here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/ALPHA/wine/development

Installation
Extract the downloaded file: tar zxvf Wine-20030219.tar.gz
This will create a new directory, enter this directory.
Now type ./tools/wineinstall
Wine will now be installed

The configuration of WINE
in order to run Wine needs some files and directories.
First you must create a virtual ('fake') windows drive
The following directories mut exist in your $HOME directory:
.wine
.wine/c_drive
.wine/c_drive/Windows
.wine/c_drive/Windows/Fonts
.wine/c_drive/Windows/Start Menu/Programs
.wine/c_drive/Windows/System
.wine/c_drive/Windows/System32
.wine/c_drive/Windows/Temp
.wine/c_drive/Program Files
.wine/c_drive/Program Files/Common Files

After this copy the following files from wine-20030219/documentation/samples to $HOME/.wine/Windows:
system.ini and win.ini
All applications will be installed on this fake Windows drive.

Wine also needs a configuration file. Copy the file config from wine-20030219/documentation/samples to $HOME/.wine.


The Wine configuration file

The config file is pretty self explanatory, just take a look at it. The only thing you probably have to change is the mountpoint of the cdrom drive.
You can get more information by typing man wine.conf

Wine should work for you now. If you have any other questions, checkout http://frankscorner.org/.

Itried the above and in command line the responce to /tools/wineinstall is "no such file or directory", when I go into the tools directore and type wineinstall, the reply is command not found.
if I simply double click on the file in the GUI, it replys "couldnt find the program wineinstall

now what?

Did you download the source?

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/ALPHA/wine/development

(Wine-20030318.tar.gz)

Now extract the file:

tar zxvf Wine-20030218.tar.gz

cd wine-20030218

now run ./tools/wineinstall (don't forget the "." - /tools/wineinstall won't work)

Follow the install instructions then test an .exe.

Yeah I did get the source, BUT I also forgot the "." but it still did not work, it said something about could not find 20030318 or its dependancy, so I am backing up and will be reinstalling all My OSs tonight... thank god for imageing tools!

the main reason I want wine to work so bad is I am running multi OSs:

windows 98 (gameing)
windows 2k (data recovery software)
Windows XPhome (for the wife)
Windows XPpro (for lan parties)
Novel (for network imaging)

Linux could replace them all IF wine worked. I decided to go to linux because I am so tired of windows propritary issues and I (being Knee deep in Microsoft) am ready for some REAL stability. I just hope this is a user error and not a Linux glitch, if it is, I will forget the A+ certification, and move to MAC!

Not sure why you would have a dependancy issue, try chowning your wine directory:

chown -R youruser.youruser wine-20030218

cd wine-20030218

./tools/wineinstall

Using Wine will take a lot of time and effort. If you are having issues installing from source, you could try the codeweaver rpm:

http://www.codeweavers.com/technology/wine/download.php

I haven't tried it, but this may make your life a little easier.

They have a database for application compatibility with Wine:

http://appdb.codeweavers.com/

Also, in the future, when you get wine installed, you are going to need dll's - this URL will come in handy:

http://www.dll-files.com

Don't give up on linux yet, it just takes time.

If you want to play games, buy WineX, that will set stuff up easily.

Wine is still alpha software. Many apps do not work completely correctly. However, if you still want to use it, eliminate all Wine RPMs from your system. Then checkout wine from cvs:

export CVSROOT=server:cvs@cvs.winehq.com:/home/wine
cvs login
(the password is "cvs")
cvs co wine
cd wine
./tools/wineinstall
(when it asks you if you want to reuse an existing windows install, say no, you want it to build you a fake windows drive)

notepad
(notepad should appear, or rather, our half-assed clone of it

Wine is now installed. Now try installing the programs using "wine setup.exe" or whatever. Most Direct3D games will not work. You have been warned - WineX is more reliable for D3D games.