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I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

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Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#51
post #8

On Windows, doesn't this technically mean OP is running Linux inside a Linux VM inside Windows? From what I understand Docker is Linux tech and to use it anywhere else a (small) Linux VM is required. If true, I would just dispense with the extra layer and just run a Linux VM. Not to discourage experimentation though!

Sup dawg, I heard you like OSes.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#52
post #50

Can you not use the X11 server packaged with WSL as your display driver, and avoid piping this all into the web browser? Seems very inefficient to have to render everything through the browser

WSL doesn't have an X Server, it has a Wayland compositor. That said, yes, you can use that. You can even run a different compositor nested so you get one single window with a desktop if you want.

Ah wayland. Many things changed since the time I've been using Linux in my professional work. However does Wayland support connectivity? I.e. can you display Wayland session on another computer via TCP/UDP? If not then Wayland won't work with wsl2 which is basically a VM

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#54
post #52
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSL doesn't have an X Server, it has a Wayland compositor. That said, yes, you can use that. You can even run a different compositor nested so you get one single window with a desktop if you want.

Ah wayland. Many things changed since the time I've been using Linux in my professional work. However does Wayland support connectivity? I.e. can you display Wayland session on another computer via TCP/UDP? If not then Wayland won't work with wsl2 which is basically a VM

Not in the same way that X does. However, Microsoft specifically implemented an RDP backend into Weston, which ships with WSL2. So the Linux Windows you see are actually being sent over RDP transparently.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#55
post #50

Can you not use the X11 server packaged with WSL as your display driver, and avoid piping this all into the web browser? Seems very inefficient to have to render everything through the browser

WSL doesn't have an X Server, it has a Wayland compositor. That said, yes, you can use that. You can even run a different compositor nested so you get one single window with a desktop if you want.

> WSL doesn't have an X Server, it has a Wayland compositor

Which has Xwayland support. You can still run X11 apps.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#56
You know, it's funny—I always hear people say they want to keep their Windows-only applications and run Linux alongside it, but I made the switch almost a decade ago and honestly can't say I'm worse off for it. And frankly, there's never been a better time to make that leap; the Linux desktop has finally hit its stride and become genuinely mature, with the polish and features one would expect from a modern operating system.

Apart from a handful of games, I haven't actually needed Windows for anything. So I'm curious—what Windows-only software is keeping you on it, OP?

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#57
post #8

On Windows, doesn't this technically mean OP is running Linux inside a Linux VM inside Windows? From what I understand Docker is Linux tech and to use it anywhere else a (small) Linux VM is required. If true, I would just dispense with the extra layer and just run a Linux VM. Not to discourage experimentation though!

No, WSL2 does not run "inside Windows", but on the "Virtual Machine Platform", a sort of mini hyper-v.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#58
post #56

You know, it's funny—I always hear people say they want to keep their Windows-only applications and run Linux alongside it, but I made the switch almost a decade ago and honestly can't say I'm worse off for it. And frankly, there's never been a better time to make that leap; the Linux desktop has finally hit its stride and become genuinely mature, with the polish and features one would expect from a modern operating…

Not OP, but for me is the music plugin industry that almost never provides a linux VST. Some will work with wine, some won’t.

But for everything else I’m on linux as well.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#60
post #56

You know, it's funny—I always hear people say they want to keep their Windows-only applications and run Linux alongside it, but I made the switch almost a decade ago and honestly can't say I'm worse off for it. And frankly, there's never been a better time to make that leap; the Linux desktop has finally hit its stride and become genuinely mature, with the polish and features one would expect from a modern operating…

I’m not OP but for me I end up having trouble with games and maintaining dual boot for it isn’t worth it. Most recently I was trying to install gamescope on PopOS LTS for retro gaming, but it was too old of a distribution for gamescopes dependencies, so I upgraded to Cosmic and it broke my software KVM. I use PopOS because it has great NVIDIA support and I’ve run into issues before with other distros.

At that point I switched back to windows but I’ll try again after a few months. I always keep trying.

I think if I didn’t play games I’d be fine with Linux. I hate Windows except that everything just works.

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