Hey

I am going to see if I can extricate my last two dependencies on Windows by experimenting with WINE.

My plan is - this coming Xmas - to install Debian 3.1 onto a clean HDD, giving it a full drive, and then installing WINE so that I can use the only 2 programs that justify my keeping a Windows 98 box around. One is an accounting program (Quickbooks) and the other is an old fav DOS game. However, it would be nice to play a few of the games I've collected over the years, from Age of Empires to CSI.

The question: in preparing for this outcome, do I install Debian alone or must I also keep/prepare a small Windows partition in which to install the Windows programs just listed?

Secondly, is the Debian package of WINE any better/worse than any other distros or even FreeBSD's? I like the brief encounters I've had with Debian, so was just thinking of that as my second distro.

Cheers for any thoughts.

No, you don't need to have Windows on your HD to install programs. And the Wine package is not dependent of the distribution, they all use the same package, but have packaged it to their own binary packs and might have different versions, depending how often they update the packages.

For the DOS game, if it's a DOS game and not a Windows game, you might need to have a DOS emulator rather than Wine.

And, if Wine won't run the programs (I suggest you try it out before wiping Windows out), you could install VMware on your Debian and run Windows through it, if the programs are very important.

no, you don't need a small windows partition. wine is pretty crappy on any distro, so pick the one you're comfortable with.

you may want to check the app database to see if you programs will even run. most versions of quickbooks won't.