this is obsolete doc -- see http://doc.nethence.com/ instead

Turning Slackware into a Windows clone... 

 

Introduction 

The 32-bit version of Slackware Linux is prefered otherwise you might get some errors while trying to execute programs with Wine. Proceed with a normal Desktop-oriented installation (A AP D L N X XAP sets). I usually proceed with the disc1 CDROM and install the missing D X XAP sets with slackpkg. Then fix the keyboard layout (with nowerdays graphic cards and KMS there is no need to configure X thoroughly anymore) and add a user for it. 

 

Versions used in this guide: 

- Slackware Linux 14.1 32-bit, 

- Slackbuild Wine 1.6.1, 

- Qvwm 1.1.12. 

 

Deploy slackbuilds, winetricks and a few wrappers 

Install those packages or build them yourself using [Slackbuilds] (http://slackbuilds.org/): 

- cabextract/ (needed for winetricks) 

- fontforge/ 

- webcore-fonts/ 

- wine/ 

Binaries here: http://lab.nethence.com/elge/slackbuilds/ 

 

Eventually install the [MFC42 library] (http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks) which is needed to run the original version of wordpad, 

wget http://winetricks.org/winetricks
chmod +x winetricks
winetricks mfc42

 

Create a few wrapper scripts to launch the Windows applications, 

cd ~/
mkdir -p bin/
cd bin/
cat > filezilla.wine <<EOF9
exec wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/FileZilla/FileZilla.exe"
EOF9
cat > firefox.wine <<EOF9
exec wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox/firefox.exe"
EOF9
cat > putty.wine <<EOF9
exec wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/putty.exe"
EOF9
cat > thunderbird.wine <<EOF9
exec wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Mozilla Thunderbird/thunderbird.exe"
EOF9
cat > winamp.wine <<EOF9
exec wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Winamp/winamp.exe"
EOF9
cat > xnview.wine <<EOF9
exec wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/XnView/xnview.exe"
EOF9

 

Install Qvwm from Ahinea.com 

Fetch, compile and install the [Ahinea.com version of Qvwm] (http://ahinea.com/projects/qvwm/), 

tar xzf qvwm-1.1.12-10-IKu.tar.gz
cd qvwm-1.1.12-10-IKu/
./configure
make
make install

 

Copy the configuration file according to your language and edit it, 

cp /usr/local/share/qvwm/french.qvwmrc ~/
cp /usr/local/share/qvwm/default.qvwmrc ~/
cp default.qvwmrc .qvwmrc
vi .qvwmrc

not this sure is needed but I think it fixed a window focus issue I was having, 

-FocusOnMap             = False         ; activate a mapped window
+FocusOnMap             = 1             ; activate a mapped window

now disable virtual desktops and pager, 

==> remove Virtual screens
==> remove Pager

fix the theme path or remove it entirely, 

-include                        /etc/X11/qvwm/debian.qvwm-theme
+include                       /usr/local/share/qvwm/default.qvwm-theme

and add a few shortcuts to the StartMenu, 

"\&Mozilla Firefox" "firefox.xpm" "$HOME/bin/firefox.wine"
"\&Mozilla Thunderbird" "thunderbird.xpm" "$HOME/bin/thunderbird.wine"
"\&FileZilla Client" "filezilla.xpm" "$HOME/bin/filezilla.wine"
"\&XnView" "xnview.xpm" "$HOME/bin/xnview.wine"
"\&Winamp" "winamp.xpm" "$HOME/bin/winamp.wine"
"\&PuTTY" "putty.xpm" "$HOME/bin/putty.wine"
"\&Terminal" "xterm16.xpm" "rxvt"

you should also remove the "xbiff" and "xeyes" Indicators. I will just keep "xload" in the system tray, 

 [Indicators]
-"xbiff"                "xbiff"
-"XEyes"                "xeyes"
 "xload"                "xload -nolabel -update 5 -bg gray"

you can also change the taskbar position just like with MS Windows, 

-TaskbarPosition                = Bottom        ; initial position
+TaskbarPosition                = Right         ; initial position

eventually enable ALSA, 

EnableAlsa            = True

eventually fix the Clock Message, 

ClockMessageFormat      = "%A %e %B %Y"         ; Lundi 22 Juin 1998

 

References 

The original Qvwm Home Page: http://www.qvwm.org/index-en.html 

The Ahinea fork: http://ahinea.com/projects/qvwm/