great news :-)
now how about mainlining the kernel patches?
so we get a chance of a more current and Linux distro provided wsl kernel :-)? https://github.com/issues/created?issue=microsoft%7CWSL%7C11...
The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
561–570 of 1001 posts
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#562I would do it the other way round: use Windows in a virtual machine from Linux. If you are in Windows and have the urge to use Linux, do the proper switch once and for all. You will never look back. I haven't in almost 15 years. Given what Windows has become and already discussed here on HN I would even hesitate to run it in a virtual machine. Edit: more than 15 years.
It's funny, more than any productivity app (though I do have a few of those), the Directory Opus [1] Explorer replacement is one of the things that I've yet to find a viable replacement for on both Linux and macOS. Unparalleled customisability, scriptable actions, outstanding performance (thumbnailing 10,000 images in a folder never causes slowdown), incredible search and "huh, why doesn't anyone else do this" features everywhere. I use my file explorer a lot so the friction is felt daily.
I'm using Forklift [2] on my mac at work, but it's a pale imitation of what a file explorer can truly be. I did some searching for Linux but it's all pretty pedestrian.
[1]: https://www.gpsoft.com.au/ [2]: https://binarynights.com/
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#563Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who deals with this? All this is fine out of the box on a modern Linux distro.
Nothing works out of the box with Linux. They may "seem" to work out of the box but you realize how many little tweaks go into making a laptop/consumer device work fully when you work as an embedded dev. It is quite difficult to get to the same power consumption levels and same exact hardware / software driver capabilities under Linux. There are simply no APIs for many things. So the entire driver has to live in user…
This is why you buy computers designed for Linux, with Linux preinstalled, and with support that you can call to get help if there is an issue.
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#564Every time I praise WSL on hn I pay the karma tax but I will die on this hill. WSL is more powerful than Linux because of how easy it is to run multiple OS on the same computer simultaneously. It's as powerful as Linux with some janky custom local docker wrappers for device support, local storage mapping, and network mapping. Except it's not janky at all. It's an absolute delight to use, out of the box, on a desktop…
You can do the same on Linux.
Distrobox exists.
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#565Earlier quoted context omitted.
My development is mainly Windows and I prefer Linux host with Windows VM guests. The experience is more stable and I can revert to a snapshot when Windows or Microsoft product update brakes something or new test configuration does. It also allows to backup and retain multiple QA environments that are rarely used, like a client's Oracle DB. It is nice being able to save the VM state at the end of the week and shut it…
> Windows has known issues of waking a sleeping laptop. Doesn't Linux as well?
You can force it to behave on Linux ;)
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#566Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never see anything Microsoft does in the direction of open source as “they have seen the light”. It’s a trap. Claiming open source friendliness is the bait, Windows is the trap itself.
Yep, see VS Code etc. This whole thread is basically frogs praising the cozy warming water in the pot.
What specifically about VS Code?
I personally don’t use it, pretty much just cause I’m comfortable with my current development environment, and nothing has spurred me to migrate in a while. I’ve been vaguely suspicious to see Microsoft rapidly gain such a huge market share with VS Code, but I don’t know any specific criticisms about it.
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#567Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I would do it the other way round: use Windows in a virtual machine from Linux. Every Windows thread on HN is a reminder of the stark divide between people who need to use Windows for productivity apps and those who don’t. The apps I need a Windows machine for are not the kind that virtualize nicely. Anything GPU related means Windows has to become the base OS for me. If you’re running an occasional light tool you…
Windows in a vm with a passed through GPU is really nice. Although still pretty niche these days it's easier than it used to be. It also works with a single GPU, e.g. on a laptop. I personally have a desktop PC with an AMD GPU and then another Nvidia GPU that I pass through to windows hosts. I have a hook that changes the display output and switches the inputs using evdev.
It's really nice if you have two seperate GPUs in your computer?
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#568Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, see VS Code etc. This whole thread is basically frogs praising the cozy warming water in the pot.
What specifically about VS Code? I personally don’t use it, pretty much just cause I’m comfortable with my current development environment, and nothing has spurred me to migrate in a while. I’ve been vaguely suspicious to see Microsoft rapidly gain such a huge market share with VS Code, but I don’t know any specific criticisms about it.
VS code is designed to fracture. https://ghuntley.com/fracture/
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#569Every time I praise WSL on hn I pay the karma tax but I will die on this hill. WSL is more powerful than Linux because of how easy it is to run multiple OS on the same computer simultaneously. It's as powerful as Linux with some janky custom local docker wrappers for device support, local storage mapping, and network mapping. Except it's not janky at all. It's an absolute delight to use, out of the box, on a desktop…
Windows treats you like a baby. You cannot learn the internals of it and it forces decisions on you. With Windows, the computer that you paid for is not yours.
Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
#570Earlier quoted context omitted.
You get all of Windows telemetry, vulnerabilities and backdoors, the always fun game of spot the new Advertising opportunity, AI “copilot” spyware I mean feature, updates that reset your machine at will, a terrible UAC model that encourages “just click OK already!”, and dependence on a company that has gone out of their way to prove how much of an unstoppable behemoth they are; and best of all you get to pay for the…
You can setup local and limited user accounts under Windows. Many applications including every development tool out there doesn't need any admin permissions. Spyware and adware is a government policy / regulation problem. Thanks to GDPR and DMA, using Windows in EU is significantly better experience (try setting a Windows desktop with an EU image). You can remove almost all of the apps including Edge and Copilot. The…
The current process to install windows11 with a local account… is to, press SHIFT + F10 at a screen in the middle of install after the first reboot, enter into the command prompt: ODBE/BYPASSNRO, and disconnect from any internet options, and/or ipconfig disable your networking…
But guess what? Fuck You because that is the old way of doing it now, and now the new command is start ms-chx:localonly
This is a company that fucking hates you.