I am trying to make the switch to Linux and all my needs are being met except for one Microsoft program called ICE for panorama stitching. I am not looking for alternative Linux programs. I am wondering about the best way to install and use wine on linux mint. Would one of these flatpak options suit my needs. I am a linux beginner so flatpaks are the easiest solution possibly.
Thanks for your help.
With other apps, Iāve had some success with Bottles. My son uses Lutris.
I donāt recall well - you may wish to set up file sharing with your standard Linux directory. Wine buries the simulated C: drive fairly deep in a Linux directory.
I havenāt used Bottles in a while, but last time i did it worked for me.
ICE was quite nice, but since MS stopped developing ICE, I switched. MS doesnāt even offer downloads anymore.
If it doesnāt work with Wine, a VM is always an alternative.
Alternative panorama tools are XPano[1] and Hugin[2], but you didnāt want to know that. 
[1] GitHub - krupkat/xpano: Automated photo stiching tool. Lets you import a directory of images and then export the autodetected panoramas.
[2] https://hugin.sourceforge.io/
As far as I know, ICE will not run on wine as it is a āWindows Appā and these will not run in an emulated environment
Is there a reason why you donāt want to use another program? There is more than just hugin, if thatās not your taste.
+1 for bottles, just works
I know you said you didnāt want other recommendationsā¦ BUT: my repeated Wine experience is that fiddling with wine hurts just as much if not more as looking for a Linux native alternativeā¦
WineHQs results dont look to promising either.
Besides that: Iād go with bottles.
I did go with a VM for one Windows app (my father had put 100ās of hours into a genealogy app).
For Windows I used Virtual Machine Manager using KVM as the hypervisor. Iām sure you can find tutorials online.
I set up the file system with a shared folder so that I could keep primary files in a standard Linux directory.
I didnāt need a full copy of W11 with all of the bloatware, so I found an iso called ātiny11.ā It uses fewer resources than the full version.
MS would not let me use the license that was used previously on the machine. I found a workaround but Iām reluctant to share details here. I did sign in with my MS credentials.
Screen resolution is less than full HD for me. But I donāt know what I am doing, so letās say thatās likely a user issue.
Setting all of this up took me several hours. Again, likely a user issue. But w11 has been stable.
Good luck with your migration to Linux!
Thanks Tobias and Uli for your replys. I have tried these programs, but for 99% of my work ICE is the best. The ease of use is one reason, but the deal breaker is that ICE often produces a superior result in my hands because of the choice of various projections and other adjustments available. It is ironic that the one program that handcuffs me to Windows is a program they abandoned in 2015.
Dr Google reckons people do get ICE to work on Linux. I just wanted to get advice before trying to blunder off on my own and stuffing it up. If I can get ICE running I am free of the handcuffs that bind me. I will try bottles and see how I go.
I installed bottles and it appeared to successful install ICE but the program fails to open or show up in library of Bottles. I am not sure if anyone can help with this. An online search hasnāt resolved the issue for me yet.
You may have some missing dependencies. Unfortunately these things are not always automatically loaded.
You may need:
.NET (48 I think)
Visual C++ Redistributable
some fonts (corefonts I think - MS stuff)
gdiplus
If you donāt have those loaded, Iād start over with a new Bottle and add these, then the app installer.
Itās challenges like this that push some people to using VMās.
I get where you are coming from. When I discovered ICE back then I was amazed by how easily it got the job done.
Sadly still havenāt been able to get it to work so the Windowās handcuffs still remain for me. I will continue trying but I am not optimistic at this stage.
Sorry, Terry,
Then maybe a VM will be best for you. See comments above.
Cheers
An Alternative for Linux is AutoPano Giga.
It is not foss but it is free to use.
@Bert thanks for the suggestion. I have tried it and it is a good option but strangely enough not as good as 2015 abandoned Microsoft software ICE. AutoPano I used recently on an image that it twisted and distorted the result while ICE just worked. But AutoPano will probably do an excellent job with most images.
One day my Windows computers will spit the dummy and not run ICE. I just find it strange that such an old program is so good and the only reason I feel compelled to stick with Windows.
As noted a vm should work fineā¦you can use the Microsoft tool to generate an iso for mounting and then pick a vm platform or try what others advise from the linux world and you will be able to run ice and likely maybe there are one or two other carry overs that you forgot about that you might needā¦ give it a try I think it should be fineā¦if I have some time I will try itā¦
Sadly the test computer I am using only has 6GB of RAM and my understanding is that a VM machine needs more RAM.
I run Tiny11 in a VM using 4 GB. Some people report using less.
How much RAM is available after a fresh boot of the OS?
Also, since the app is old you might be able to run it on W7. Just a thought.
