CrossOver, the Wine-based frontend for running Windows games and software on Linux and macOS, is now available for Linux ARM64 devices — albeit as a preview.
The company behind the compatibility tool, CodeWeavers — one of the biggest contributors to the development of Wine — say the performance of x86-based games running on Linux ARM64 devices is already looking “so impressive”.
CrossOver’s ARM support has been in the works for a while. The 2023 release of Wine 8.0 delivered the foundations, while the 2024 release of [Wine 9.0](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/wine-9-0-released-with-new-wow64-mode-experime…
CrossOver, the Wine-based frontend for running Windows games and software on Linux and macOS, is now available for Linux ARM64 devices — albeit as a preview.
The company behind the compatibility tool, CodeWeavers — one of the biggest contributors to the development of Wine — say the performance of x86-based games running on Linux ARM64 devices is already looking “so impressive”.
CrossOver’s ARM support has been in the works for a while. The 2023 release of Wine 8.0 delivered the foundations, while the 2024 release of Wine 9.0 added support for running native Windows ARM binaries and emulating1 i386 (32-bit) code.
Early next year sees the release of Wine 10, which fleshes things out further with support for emulating x86-64 (64-bit) code (and other technical essentials, but for the layman that’s the big one).
CodeWeavers say it was keen to see “what our code was capable of” so set about testing games on a System76 Thelio Astra. This is powered by an Ampere Altra Max M128039 (128 core @ 3.0 Ghz) with a NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti GPU (16 GB).
Early testing on a high-end System76 Thelio Astra shows some solid results:
| Game | Average FPS |
|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 120 |
| Hades II | 60 |
| Path of Exile 2 | 60 |
| Ghost of Tsushima | 50 |
However, do keep in mind that these results ought to be impressive on a monster rig like the one CodeWeavers has used for testing and developing.
By which I mean: don’t expect to be able to run Cyberpunk 2077 @ 120fps on that old Raspberry Pi 4 stashed away in your odds n’ sods drawer.
Benefits go beyond gaming
Gaming is, of course, only one half the equation.
For CodeWeavers the lure here is in enabling CrossOver to provide “a viable solution for migrating enterprise Windows workloads to Linux for improved security and reduced bloat”. Home users may not be buying pricey Ampere-based workstations, but enterprises are.
Yes, yes; some may boo and hiss at anyone for not using native Linux solutions and relying on Windows binaries, but in reality, people and companies often have need to (cost, familiarity, integration, etc) and migrating architecture as well as OS complicates this further.
The net benefit in tackling those things is that it helps other things improve — things which even the most hoity-toity Linux user might deem acceptable to run in a compatibility layer (like games).
With more capable ARM-based laptops and desktops emerging thanks to Windows’ CoPilot+ push, there’s chance for Linux to improve its compatibility on such hardware (hence the effort going in to Ubuntu’s generic ARM installer).
A performant Wine-based compatibility and emulation layer on top of a well-made Linux base would, without wishing to overcook my meal metaphor, be the perfect pairing.
If you’ve got a decent ARM-based rig, or even a weedy one you wish to stress-test, and you’re already a paying customer of CrossOver you can sign up to test the CrossOver Preview release with Linux ARM64 support baked in.
- Does this mean that Wine IS now an emulator? ;) ↩︎