The Wine team has announced the release of Wine 10.0, with several important improvements to enable Windows applications to run seamlessly on Linux systems. The latest version comes with over 6,000 changes across the board.

Wine 10.0 is a major milestone for ARM support

Wine 10.0 aims to improve the functionality and broadening compatibility of Windows apps, particularly for users on ARM-based devices. One area improves the running of aplications on ARM machines.

One of the most notable features of Wine 10.0 is the support for Arm64EC, which stands for Arm Emulation Compatible, an application binary interface (ABI) for Arm devices. The new version of Wine allows users to run x86 apps on ARM devices natively; yes this supports 64-bit x86 emulation.

The update also introduces better support for the Wayland graphics driver, replacing the traditional X Window System (X11) with OpenGL compatibility. Users can choose between the default X11 or the Wayland driver as required. Furthermore, the update also brings significant improvements to graphics driver support, particularly enhancements for high-DPI displays, and non-DPI aware windows. Users may want to check out the Joystick Control Panel applet called joy.cpl to manage some advanced settings.

Wine 10.0 allows for automatic scaling of application windows that may not have inherent support for higher resolutions, offering a better user experience on modern hardware. Additionally, Direct3D support has been upgraded for legacy applications, improving overall compatibility with older games and software. Wine 10.0 brings a Bluetooth driver, albeit with some basic functionality.

This shift is expected to enhance performance for a variety of Windows applications running on Linux. Wine has gained significant popularity over the years among gamers who use it to play games on their Linux systems. e.g. Valve/Steam's Proton uses Wine as a compatibility layer which is also available on Steam Deck. Wine is also used for Crossover on Linux/macOS.