You may have gathered from the title, that we're Linux virgins.
My son & I are trying to run my his PC on Ubuntu & love the idea of being Microsoft-free - we've downloaded WINE, but don't know how to "run" it and we can't install World of Warcraft as we don't know how to run an exe file, to launch the installer from disc.
Is it all in a terminal window, using scripts? I read the general "before posting read this..." & it all looks a bit complicated.
Generally speaking (forgetting Warcraft) what's the trick to opening a download & running it? We can't even find a file we downloaded last night, as we're so used to Windows navigation, we don't know where to look.
Thanks for any help!
Tim (41) & Conor (12).

How did you install Wine? You should have used the Adept package manager, did you perhaps download the source code from the Wine site instead?

This page shows how to add the Wine repository to your system's package manager, so that you can download and keep up-to-date with Wine releases automatically.

Once it is installed, it is just a matter of clicking on the .exe in the file manager, the system should automatically handle .exe association with Wine. In the terminal, it is just a matter of prefixing the file with "wine", as in:

On a side note, getting WoW to work under Wine is not always easy, and there plenty of reported problems. Generally speaking it works (I have done it in the past) but I found Cedega seems to work much better. I am sure a Google for "Wine + World of Warcraft" will give you a few thousand guides to follow in the event you have some specific issue.

Thanks - we downloaded WINE in a terminal window, pasting the scripts from that help-page you refer to. So far so good!
Can't find WINE in File Manager though - where is file manager?
We'll try running the command line in terminal next, so thanks for that.
Generally speaking, if there's a CD in the tray, ie: WoW installation disc, you'd usually just double-click on the exe file & away it goes... I'd like to ask WINE to run WoW, but can't yet, as it's not even installed!
Are you saying that "wine ./WoW.exe" will find the inst. file on the disc?
Sorry to be such a nincompoop - great word that!
Tim.

Using Ubuntu, open synaptic package manager, and install wine. Depending on what GUI you have, you won't even see it in your menus. Then, either open your exe files, or right click the exe file, go to "open with", type in "wine", and exit "open with". Then, you should be able to just open the exe file by clicking on it.

Tim..

I'm sure that 100s of people have installed and run WoW under wine in Ubuntu. i'd suggest googling "Ubuntu World of Warcraft Wiki howto" and i'm sure that you'll find something. Infact here is one for you https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft

If you don't mind paying a bit of cash and if gaming is something you're wanting to do in linux, have a look at Cedega http://www.transgaming.com/

Be warned..... Linux is not Windows. Lots of games won't work, due to lack of driver support (it is getting better though). If you really want Games, keep a separate partition with windows on it, or buy your son an XBox

I had a similar problem when I first got into Linux. After checking out a dozen or more distros I settled om Xandros. It allows you to run most of your old windows programs, see all of your Windows files, built in Firewall and Virus filters. When I want to run one of my old Windows programs I open Xandros file manager and run the program. Xandros has a built in program called codeweaver crossover which handles the transfer. Installing .deb or .rpm packages is a one click function as Xandros does all the conversion work. You still can do it the hard way via package managers but it is not necessary. Xandros allowed me to get into Linux with not only a operating Linus OS but with all my old programs. Now I spend my time learning Linux not trying to make it work.

Frank

That's all you should be needing. It includes the how-to-install-wine-properly steps.

I usually start windows programs from the command line, just so I can see basic output if something goes wrong. Also, if it crashes, I can just kill it from there. I have made icons for some games, but for some reason they sometimes refuse to work... But it will start if I start it from the command line.

The syntax is simply "wine program.exe" - In the program direcotry. Wine creates a fake c-drive on ~/.wine/drive_c The program files are in... ~/.wine/drive_c/'Program Files'/

Maybe you should look here:

http://www.getdeb.net

You can download a .deb file for wine to your home directory and install it like this:
sudo dpkg -i package.deb

doubleclicking will do nicely also. :P

Wonderful stuff, people - thank you all.
We can give it a real crack of the whip now.
On gaming, we already have a 360 & PS2, so we don't go short on that score, it's just since he saw the South Park Warcraft episode, he bought himself the game...
Thanks everyone!

He bought the game after seeing that....Thought that would put anybody off it!!

Okay chaps, thanks for all your help - we were able to install WINE properly (thanks to advice on synaptic package manager) & then run the exe from the disc image file, only to be told that his PC doesn't have enough RAM!
Well, at least we've learned some things along the way - and his Ubuntu PC does a perfect job for his homework (word processing, etc) web & MSN, so he's functioning okay.
As for bloody Warcraft... it means I'll have to install it on my PC for him - boo, etc.
Thanks again everyone.

How much ram does it have?

RAM is dirt cheap. If you have less than 512 It's definitely worth upgrading. Even just for School work. If you buy one, take the one that's in there with you. There are a dozen different types of ram out there. I lost track somewhere around DDR2.

If you do want to get some new RAM as Oskar suggests, have a look at this website. http://www.offtek.co.uk/ The RAM isn't of the most amazing quality (i.e. it's not Corsair or other brand), but it's cheap and they match your notebook up with the correct RAM, and you get next day delivery. Worth a look. You can get a massive 2GB for £70, which is dirt cheap!!