OpenGL® for WinE® allows Linux users to run Windows® programs with graphics features, but complications may arise. Highly optimized programs may not work due to proprietary or buggy implementations. Emulating software from another OS is complex, and DirectX® calls redirected to OpenGL® can degrade performance. The emulation system works well for most programs, but low-level access and performance-enhancing tricks could render a program unusable outside its native environment.
The Open Graphics Library (OpenGL®) for Linux Windows® Emulator (WinE®) is a way to run programs in the Linux operating system that were originally designed to run natively in Microsoft® Windows®. OpenGL® for WinE® attempts to provide all of the graphics features, including direct hardware support, provided in Windows® in a way that is mostly transparent to the user. Technically, a user should be able to download WinE® and automatically have OpenGL® support, but that might not always be the case and some complications could arise. These problems with OpenGL® for WinE® are further exacerbated by the fact that some high-end graphics programs written for Windows® actually rely on cheats and optimizations based on proprietary or buggy implementations of standards that are not replicated or recognized in WinE® . For most programs, the OpenGL® libraries for WinE® work fine, but programs that are highly optimized and use stringent metrics may malfunction or simply not work under the framework.
The task that OpenGL® for WinE® tries to solve is to run a program with a different operating system the same way it would in a native Windows® environment. This task is difficult in part because areas of the Windows® operating system are hidden and proprietary, and in part because of the security restrictions that Linux systems impose on the programs it runs. For these reasons, the OpenGL® implementation in WinE® has some areas where emulation is not implemented in exactly the same way as it is in Windows®.
Aside from the complexity of emulating software from another operating system, OpenGL® for WinE® is used predominantly, as is OpenGL®, by the video game and three-dimensional (3D) graphics industry. These programs are written with utmost care to extract every last bit of processing and optimization power from your computer system and compiler. The results are programs that may have problems even running natively in a real Windows® environment. This is made more complex by the fact that Windows® provides its own native graphics libraries known as DirectX® which are supported by most graphics cards. Emulating DirectX® calls by redirecting them to OpenGL® calls can create extra steps that can degrade a program’s performance.
The OpenGL® for WinE® emulation system is very effective for a high percentage of programs. It can run a large number of Windows® applications without problems. For new software, especially software that uses very low-level access and performance-enhancing tricks, problems encountered using an emulator could render a program unusable outside its native environment.
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