Wine 10 released: Open source Windows compatibility app brings better support for high-res displays, ARM64EC support, and more

by · Liliputing

Wine is a free and open source Windows compatibility layer that makes it possible to run many Windows applications on non-Windows operating systems including Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD.

First released in 1993, Wine has been around almost as long as Linux, and it’s been used as the foundation of Valve’s Proton software (which lets you run most Windows games on the Linux-based Steam Deck) and commercial software like CrossOver. This week the Wine team released version 10.0, which brings a number of new features and improvements.

For one thing, there’s better support for displays with a high pixel density, so you shouldn’t end up with as many applications showing tiny text, menus, and windows when running on high-DPI displays.

Another update is that there’s better support for using Wine on computers with ARM processors thanks to support for ARM64EC architecture which, among other things, adds support for x86 emulation. In other words, if you’re using Wine on a computer with a 64-bit ARM processor you should now be able to run at least some Windows applications that were designed to run on PCs with x86 chips. It may take some work to get this up and running though, so make sure to read the release notes for more details.

There’s also a Wayland graphics driver with OpnGL support that’s enabled by default, an early version of a Bluetooth driver (with “some basic functionality”), support for Dvorak keyboard layouts, and a number of bug fixes and other tweaks that should enhance usability and troubleshooting: for example, display settings will be restored to their default state if a process crashes without restoring them first.