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I just tried to run a run-only program "PortableApps. I have a usb thumb drive with around 60 portable apps (run without installing) installed that use the PortableApps launcher. The launcher creates a gui that give a menu to click and launch any portable application. I tried running it on my Wine program under Zorin (Ubuntu) Linux to no avail, even after using playonlinux and wine tricks.

Today I used the Run-Only option on CrossOver Linux, created a new bottle "PortableApps" , used a Windows Vista bottle type (it was halfway between XP and Windows 7) , inserted the thumb drive and navigated to the portableapps.com folder and the portableappsplatform.exe file, clicked run and voila, the Gui came right up. I even opened up the programs and they ran. About half of the portableapps have Linux versions, but a number of others don't, including some windows useful utilities.

So my initial foray into CrossOver was very successful and let me do something I couldn't do otherwise. I thought it might be worth mentioning since I have seen posts by others about how to run portableapps on Linux.

No need for a reply since this isn't a question.

all the best
joel

Just one info, the "bottle version" really just changes what it reports itself as. Kind of like the user-agent string of a browser.

So choosing one version of Windows over another does nothing but satisfy software which insist on a specific Windows version. Under the hood, all the bottles have the same stuff.

J-P Simard wrote:

Just one info, the "bottle version" really just changes what it
reports itself as. Kind of like the user-agent string of a browser.

So choosing one version of Windows over another does nothing but
satisfy software which insist on a specific Windows version. Under
the hood, all the bottles have the same stuff.

I don't think that is entirely true. If you try to install some 'Runtime Support Components' they will say they are incompatible with certain versions of Window bottles. For example, if I recall correctly Windows OLE componenets are incompatible with Windows 7 bottle. So there must be something different underneath.

Well, if you can find one file of any significance that changes in the bottle because you changed the bottle version, I would be interested in knowing. I'm pretty sure you won't find one. Further, you can change the bottle version after creating it, and again, nothing will change save the Win version.

As for OLE components, they were never meant to run past win95 by MS, so this is exactly the kind of software I spoke of, which insists on a specific Win version.

Besides, if memory serves me, I basically had the very fact confirmed to me by the devs. I didn't pull this out of my @$$ you know. 😉

You seem to have better knowledge of this than I do. I was just stating my experience. It very well could be those items are incompatible simply because the bottle is telling them to be. I had always thought the different Win versions had different core software but I could be wrong.

No worries! I could be wrong too, but in this instance, I highly doubt it.

I'm sure it's more complicated than I put it, but not by that much. Anyway, I'll grant you that a software refusing to run outright because of the bottle version certainly lends the appearance of a more serious significance to the bottle version.

And lastly, it's not like this ability to change the version isn't useful, as it is, so it has some significance.

There are some (mostly minor) runtime differences based on the Windows version that's set, mostly between the 9x and the NT based versions. However, in most cases where changing the Windows version makes a difference it's just because the application makes assumptions about functionality being present or not based on the reported version.

J-P Simard wrote:

Just one info, the "bottle version" really just changes what it
reports itself as. Kind of like the user-agent string of a browser.

So choosing one version of Windows over another does nothing but
satisfy software which insist on a specific Windows version. Under
the hood, all the bottles have the same stuff.

My XCOM Enemy Unknown install would beg to differ. Does it run when the bottle version is set to XP? Yup, but the performance sucks, Use Vista or Windows 7 and magic happens. The game's requirements state that one should have at least Vista.

Silviu Cojocaru wrote:

My XCOM Enemy Unknown install would beg to differ. Does it run when
the bottle version is set to XP? Yup, but the performance sucks,
Use Vista or Windows 7 and magic happens.

Read the above post.

If the software expects something to be there in one version, and not in the other, than yes performance just might be different. That's why your game does better, as it probably goes for more functions in win7 bottle because it expects those APIs to be there. You do not make those APIs disappear because you change the bottle to XP, you just make the game believe they aren't there. The files in the bottle remain mostly the same.

Do not confuse the corrollation as being a significant change, because it isn't. I have never said the windows version used doesn't have an effect, because it does. In the end, most bottles are essentially the very same files, no matter the version.