WSL is the only way I can get by. Basically imitate my entire Linux configuration in there; dotfiles and all
Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
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Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#22Ask your IT about the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which gives you a familiar environment on a windows machine.
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#23I use Git bash for Windows. It brings a lot of the linux shell tools/scripting experience to Windows. There is a portable "thumbdrive edition."[1] Look for the portable versions of other apps. PowerShell[2] is the built-in scripting language for Windows (better than BATCH scripts). I pop into gVim for quick text manipulation tasks. https://sumatrapdfreader.org is the best PDF reader. I recommend a launcher like https…
Do Not Use Git Bash. install proper MSys2 or suffer later. git bash is distribution of msys2, so to say, with very nad choices so to save money on not hosting a full package repo mirror. just go with msys2 install and don't suffer when you need something as basic as make. but overall, sorry for you having to work on windows.
Why use msys2 over WSL?
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#24Counter-suggestion: Dive totally into the Windows world. My background was star-nix, and when i found myself having to use Windows, I always did something like Cygwin, gvim, etc. Which worked fine. But it necessarily limited my expertise in Windows. Being an expert in Windows, while working in a Windows environment, should make you a more valuable player. When someone asks you how you do something, you don't want the…
This. With the addition of diving into Powershell. It is quite different than *NIX shells. It is the fabric of Windows in the enterprise and cloud.
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#25AltDrag - drag and resize windows via hotkey like it's common on Linux
WinCompose - compose key, if you need it. Behaves identically.
Everything - the only usable file search on windows
Process Hacker / Process Explorer - task managers that actually lets you do stuff
Check out the Sysinternals Tools, it brings lots of missing fundamental features to windows.
I heard that knowing Powershell can unlock some kind of superpower, might be worth a look too.
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do Not Use Git Bash. install proper MSys2 or suffer later. git bash is distribution of msys2, so to say, with very nad choices so to save money on not hosting a full package repo mirror. just go with msys2 install and don't suffer when you need something as basic as make. but overall, sorry for you having to work on windows.
Why use msys2 over WSL?
- WSL is virtual machine that runs in a virtual filesystem.
- msys2 is a port of linux tools that run directly in Windows.
- So WSL performance may be lower, especially with file operations.
- Also the integration may not be as intuitive (you have to think about which filesystem the files exist; you can't just open up any file from a Windows app.)
- Also Git bash for windows is faster than msys2 (or at least used to be): https://stackoverflow.com/a/47078501/117030
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I find Git bash for Windows sufficient for most of my daily dev tasks. If something like make failed to work for some reason, then I might reach for WSL. (So far, I haven't needed to.)
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#27> What I wanted to ask you is tools for making my experience less terrible.
Notepad helps. Practicing a life of renunciation helps: everything is pain in Windows.
Avoid if at all possible.
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#28Make sure to go full portable on windows. Portable software on windows means software that doesn't need to be installed (or is installed only once and never again), software that doesn't depend on any other software in windows (except for runtime libraries), and finally, software that is capable of discovering it's own path at runtime and capable of storing its state data somewhere on that same path. This ensures that your portable software root folder can work on any windows straight away. This way you make sure windows will never loose stuff that's important to you. This way you can change computers at will, you can keep working at multiple computers at a time (just by plugging your USB drive or copying your folder). Simply put, by going all portable you make sure windows is just an easily replaceable underlying engine for your software stack. Given windows' and x86's commitment to supporting legacy software, I have my portable drive in use for about 20 years now, happily expanding my software library and surviving at least 10 generations of hardware and windows upgrades without a hitch.
Here is my recipe: Get yourself a fast SSD or USB drive dedicated to your own windows portable library. Format it as one partition. Make the partition occupy drive letter A:. Having a predetermined drive letter that doesn't change helps with software that's not 100% portable but still stores absolute paths instead of relative ones. Now create a single folder on that drive, like, for example "MyPC" or whatever. Inside that folder create 3 subfolders: Programs, Documents, Install. Always put all your portable programs in the "A:\MyPC\Programs\" folder. Always put all your documents in the "A:\MyPC\Documents\" folder. Put driver files and runtime libraries in the "A:\MyPC\Install\" folder. For all three, feel free to create subfolders as needed, either per topic, per group, or however your brain envisions data trees.
You can find plenty of portable windows software in the links provided below.
Few of my favorites for specific tasks:
- my personal auto-run and launch hooks: https://www.dcmembers.com/skwire/download/splat/
- my personal system tray app/doc shortcuts: http://jacquelin.potier.free.fr/QuickWayToFolders/
- my personal desktop icons: https://www.cylog.org/utilities/toolbox.jsp
- system monitoring utilities: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/pro...
https://github.com/LibreHardwareMonitor/LibreHardwareMonitor
- how to keep secret data on a portable drive: https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html
Find more portable apps in these libraries:
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#29For a rich text editor, go with Notepad++ or VSCode
Regarding the rest though, I would say forget windows and shell scripting, and focus instead on learning your tools.
You said Excel was a big part of your job .. I would start by improving skills here. There are a lot of good formulas and tools that it’s important to be aware of to make your job easier.
If you understand pivot tables and vlookup well enough, then I would suggest learning PowerBI
You can even use the excel sheets as your data sources.
Figure this out and you will blow their minds.
Re: Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why use msys2 over WSL?
- WSL is virtual machine that runs in a virtual filesystem. - msys2 is a port of linux tools that run directly in Windows. - So WSL performance may be lower, especially with file operations. - Also the integration may not be as intuitive (you have to think about which filesystem the files exist; you can't just open up any file from a Windows app.) - Also Git bash for windows is faster than msys2 (or at least used to…
Sorry, I just saw your reply. Seems reasonable. I like the flexibility of knowing that every Linux tool available for mainstream distros is available in WSL, and I don't have to think about compatibility (I run into issues now and again, but most software works just fine). But I guess it makes sense that if you're only using a few tools, and they're all in msys2, then that might be a smoother solution.