When you think of major terminal editors, Mobatek's Xterm is probably somewhere on your list. However,

despite its popularity, Xterm has never been officially released for Linux


Now I will show you how to install mobaXterm on a debian based Linux operating system.


Installing MobaXterm on Linux

There are two potential workarounds for installing MobaXterm on Linux: using WINE (the compatibility layer, not the drink) or using WINE and PlayOnLinux, which provides a graphical user interface (UI) for WINE.
As an added bonus, you can use WINE and PlayOnLinux to install many other Windows applications beside MobaXterm.

How to Install WINE

WINE is one of the most well-known Linux packages and is found in most Software Center/Package managers. In Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-based distro), you can install WINE with the following command:

sudo apt install wine64

One thing to note is that the WINE version in Ubuntu is pretty outdated. If you want to get the latest stable version of WINE, do the following:

  1. Add the WINE key.
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo apt-key add winehq.key
  1. Add the repository.
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ impish main'

The above command is for Ubuntu 21.10 (impish). If you are using version other than Ubuntu 21.10, change the name accordingly (like “bionic,” “xenial,” etc.)

  1. Update the system:
sudo apt update
  1. Lastly, install the stable version of WINE.
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable

WINE will now be installed. For more information, refer to our guide on installing WINE on Linux.

Installing MobaXterm using WINE

Before downloading MobaXterm, we need to create a download and build directory.

  1. Open a Terminal window and run the following commands: 
mkdir -p ~/build/mobaxterm
cd ~/build/mobaxterm
  1. Download MobaXterm using a wget command: 
wget furkankapan.com/uploads/MobaXterm_Personal_23.4.exe
  1. Once the download is complete, launch MobaXterm Portable using the following:
wine SafariSetup.exe
  1. At this point you may be prompted to download some additional software, such as Mono or Gecko. If prompted, click “Install” and wait for these packages to download.
  1. Once you have all the necessary supporting software, the MobaXterm should launch automatically.