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Loss32: An idea for a Linux designed around Win32 apps (www.theregister.com)
submitted 7 months ago by cm0002@literature.cafe to c/linux@programming.dev
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What if, rather than make a Linux distro that can run Windows apps, you built the whole distro around Windows binaries instead?

Loss32 is the most gleefully deranged idea for how to put together a Linux OS that we think we have ever read about in three and a half decades… but it's not impossible. Not only could it be done, there could be real advantages to doing it this way.

The idea comes from a blogger and developer known as Hikari no Yume ("Dream of Light" in Japanese) who made it public at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress in Germany at the end of December.

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[-] SolarBoy@slrpnk.net 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I've basically done this for games and other programs using this desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Run with Bottles
Comment=Run directly with bottles
Icon=com.usebottles.bottles
Exec=bottles-cli run --bottle Gaming --executable %f
Terminal=false
NoDisplay=true
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;GNOME;GTK;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=bottles
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/bottles;application/x-ms-dos-executable;application/x-msi;application/x-ms-shortcut;application/x-wine-extension-msp;
Keywords=wine;windows;
X-GNOME-UsesNotifications=true

Save as runwithbottles.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications And remember to change --bottle Gaming to whatever bottle you want to use.

Now you can run any .exe by double clicking on it. If you associate it with 'Run with Bottles' This needs bottles to be installed, but allows you to run executables with Proton or Proton-GE too.

this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
103 points (97.2% liked)

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