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Running Portable Apps on Linux

Submitted by LFT on 2006, June 17 - 10:00pm. | |

Many people have heard of Portable Apps and are probably wondering if they will run on Linux. Portable Apps (as distributed by PortableApps.com) are not made to run on Linux, but I have been able to get them to work on Linux under WINE.

To get them to work you need to have WINE installed, a program that lets you run many Windows programs under Linux. I have a page on how to install WINE on Ubuntu Linux.

Here is a screenshot of a couple of the Windows versions of Portable Apps running on Ubuntu Linux from a USB thumb drive:

Portable Apps Suite running on Ubuntu Linux with WINE

I was able to get all of the Portable Apps Suite to run on Ubuntu Linux with WINE, except for Portable Gaim and Portable AbiWord. The only real function I can see for this is to be able to run your regular copy of Portable Firefox, with all of its saved settings, on a Linux computer.

Linux has all of these programs already, so if you are just looking to use functional programs, a live CD like the Ubuntu live CD will have equivalents to all of those programs. With a live CD and a USB thumb drive you can have access to thousands of programs and you will be able to save all of your settings back to the USB thumb drive. Certain Linux distros like PCLinuxOS, Slax, Knoppix, and Puppy Linux have built-in features to save your settings to a USB thumb drive.

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Oh....... well.........

Submitted by jasonmeansfriend on 2007, November 27 - 2:03pm.

sad is the day when linux, of all os's, needs to use non-native methods to use an open-source app

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Portable is the keyword here

Submitted by nyarnon on 2008, January 22 - 12:36pm.

I understand that many *nix users hate the idea of running a windows app. but.....
These aps are open source and available natively too
The portability is the key here, it is great to be able to use one and the same
app on different a different os.
Get over it and see it as an achievement of Linux rather than a victory for windows.
Linux makes it possible. I'm happy with this arrangment as I work on both OSes
and I am now able to do so without copying datafiles etc. Again thanks to Linux.
Portability is still something Windows doesn't understand or even wants to understand.

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Portable Apps on Linux

Submitted by brambling21 on 2008, March 21 - 7:02pm.

I've managed to get Portable Apps running on both Ubuntu and Xubuntu, obviously you'll need Wine to run in the background, but it works. Some Apps don't work some do. Its basically the luck of the draw.

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