Scott Hanselman

Space Cadet Pinball for Windows 95 recompiled for Linux running on Windows 11 as a Linux app under WSLg

October 19, 2021 Comment on this post [16] Posted in Linux | Win11
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Award for longest blog post title ever? Andrey Muzychenko has a great github repository where they decompiled the 25 year old Space Cadet Pinball application from Windows 95/XP and then recompiled it for Linux (and really any platform now that it's portable code!).

NOTE: Because this is a decompilation/recompilation, it doesn't include the original data files. You'll need those from a Windows XP disk or ISO that you'll need to find yourself.

I recently did a YouTube where I showed that Windows 11 runs Graphical Linux Apps out of the box with WSLg.

Here, they've taken a Windows 95 32-bit app and decompiled it from the original EXE, done some nice cleanup, and now it can be recompiled to other targets like Linux.

So, could I go Windows 95 -> Linux -> Windows 11 -> WSL -> WSLg and run this new native Linux executable again on Windows?

If you don't think this is cool, that's a bummer. It's an example of how powerful (and fun) virtualization has become on modern systems!

Pinball under Linux under Windows 11

I just launched WSL (Ubuntu) and installed a few things to compile the code:

sudo apt-get install libsdl2-image-dev
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-mixer-dev
sudo apt install gcc clang build-essential cmake

Then I cloned the repo under WSL and built. It builds into bin and creates a Linux executable.

NOTE: Place compiled executable into a folder containing original game resources (not included).

I am a digital hoarder so I have digital copies of basically everything I've worked on for the last 30 years. I happened to have a Windows XP virtual disk drive from a VM from years ago that was saved on my Synology.

Virtual hard drive from Windows XP

I was able to open it and get all the original resources and wav files.

Pinball resources

Then I copy all the original resources minus the .exe and then run the newly built Linux version...and it magically pops out and runs on Windows...as a graphical Linux app.

3D Pinball for Windows

Amazing! Have fun!


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About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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October 19, 2021 5:37
That might possibly be your best entry title ever!
October 19, 2021 16:29
That's just... Phenomenal.

Incidentally, I was just talking to a coworker about WSLg about a week ago, and was looking for a good resource to point them to. Your recent video is perfect!

It's pretty crazy what we can do these days. Yesterday, I ran Ansible on Windows... Subsystem for Linux.
October 19, 2021 16:52
Wow, you finally came up with a compelling Linux UI application to run in WSLg and it was a re-compiled Windows application. :-)
October 20, 2021 15:48
Heya! I'm at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 3gs!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts!
Keep up the excellent work!
October 21, 2021 12:37
Actually forgot how time I spent on this game in the ole days, good one. Triggered a thought wonder how easy it would be to start build games on wsl, using gotdot or something similiar
October 21, 2021 17:09
Now you should compile it for windows and run it using WINE inside WSL in windows 11
October 22, 2021 4:46
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Any suggestions or hints? Thank you!
October 22, 2021 9:57
Hey! I'm at work browsing your blog from my new iphone!
Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all
your posts! Carry on the fantastic work!
October 23, 2021 0:36
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October 23, 2021 20:47
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October 24, 2021 11:16
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October 24, 2021 11:24
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October 24, 2021 12:44
Interesting topics. good job
October 24, 2021 14:13
Power of Virtualisation . Awesome
October 24, 2021 14:16
Informative post .
October 26, 2021 11:42
nostalgia game

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.