Qt is an abstraction layer. It has platform specific implementations that map Qt commands to the underlying native operation. It depends upon which win32 api call you want to port. Some are so windows specific that they are unlikely to work anywhere else.

Unlike the Win32 API, there is no "Linux API" for doing GUI applications. The closest you can get is the X protocol itself, which is a pretty low level way of doing GUI (it's much more detailed and archaic than Win32 GDI, for example).

Aug 11, 2019 · Win32 is a windows specific API. It has no equivalent in other operating systems. Well, it does have something equivalent, but the APIs are completely different.

It implements an API. An emulator emulates at the hardware level instructions and hardware devices. WINE does nothing like that. It's a re-implementation of Windows APIs. You're being so pedantic about what is or isn't an emulator, that you have forgotten what emulation is... https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emulation.

Jan 7, 2005 · In Linux, X11 is essentially the system used for display windows that contain standard widgets/controls. A large part of the Win32 API is for creating windows that contain standard widget/controls...

The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is the foundational application programming interface (API) that allows a computer program to access the features of the Microsoft Windows operating system in which the program is running. Programs can access API functionality via shared-library technologies or via system-file access. [disputed – discuss]

Oct 3, 2023 · There is just one official C API for Windows: the Win32 API, these days also called "Windows API". Now this a vast API, which has logical subdivisions like GDI, Shell, Media Foundation, Kernel, etc. Most of the older Win32 API is plain C, whereas newer stuff is C++ written in COM – but COM has pure C bindings, so no worries for you.

Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly, eliminating the performance and memory penalties of other methods and allowing you to cleanly integrate Windows applications into your desktop.

May 26, 2005 · There are 2 main such gui APIs for linux: GTK and QT. For a multiplatform program you could use an API that will go above GTK (and then above Win32 when compiling for windows). Some options are: wxWidgets for c++ and Lazarus LCL for pascal. I hear X11 is a real pain to program for.

Aug 22, 2020 · Linux is a Monolithic kernel, and while it has the ability to load modules the "ideal" way of installing a driver is completely recompiling the kernel. On the other hand, Windows NT is a Hybrid kernel, so it has a set of drivers that are compiled in but can also have external drivers.