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Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

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Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#31

Post by reilly3000 »

I wonder what Linux exclusive software they are hoping to support. Everything I use in my Ubuntu daily driver has a Windows build or corollary app. I get how ‘you never have to leave Windows’ is a nice thing for their business, but I don’t see this being a reason I would stop dual-booting. The only reason I run windows in the first place is for a few apps, mostly games. Otherwise I really enjoy the bloat-free, ad-free, telemetry-free, snappy, tractable, and undistracted experience that is Linux desktop computing.

It would be nice if they did something actually useful, like add native ext4 support.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#32

Post by edgyquant »

spijdar wrote: post #14
rubyn00bie wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that pretty much what Wine does? Having been using Linux as my daily workstation for a year now, I've been blown away how easy it is (and generally transparent) to install and use Windows applications on Linux.

Actually, not quite. Wine is closer to what WSL1 was. The closest equivalent to "Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI" on WSL2 for Linux would just be ... running Windows in a VM, with FreeRDP doing per-app tunneling to the Linux host. I think there's even some software for automating this somewhere out there.

>Wine is closer to what WSL1 was

Not quite. Wine just translates windows syscalls to linux ones but WSL actually reimplemented the linux api inside the NT kernel (which was designed with the ability to use multiple OS apis.)

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#33

Post by seanw444 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #19
lowtto wrote: post #11

WSL2 is essentially just.. Windows + Linux. I tried it and it is awesome. Cannot wait to see further progress that comes out of this. I really cannot leave Windows to be honest. The network effect is too strong. Coupled with recent Microsoft effort such as Visual Code, its looking like they are doing nothing but going towards the better direction than the old days. Who would have thought. Would you believe it if anyo…

Dual boot? This does look slick, I was an avid WSL user until I started dual booting. Now I almost never need to boot to Windows. I get that if you often need to switch it can be a pain in the ass but at least Linux respects my privacy and freedom.

Same situation here. Dual-booting Linux and Windows 10, and I figured I'd boot into Windows often enough for it to get obnoxious. But I only ever get on there to play a few demanding games (which I already don't play often anymore), or make music with an A+ DAW for making music that doesn't run super effectively on Wine. Linux handles everything else I do like a champ.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#34

Post by peakaboo »

lowtto wrote: post #11

WSL2 is essentially just.. Windows + Linux. I tried it and it is awesome. Cannot wait to see further progress that comes out of this. I really cannot leave Windows to be honest. The network effect is too strong. Coupled with recent Microsoft effort such as Visual Code, its looking like they are doing nothing but going towards the better direction than the old days. Who would have thought. Would you believe it if anyo…

It's about the culture. Windows doesn't respect your privacy and you are treated like a child, because most people who run Windows wants Microsoft to make all decisions for them, just like a parent.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#35

Post by ComputerGuru »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #19
lowtto wrote: post #11

WSL2 is essentially just.. Windows + Linux. I tried it and it is awesome. Cannot wait to see further progress that comes out of this. I really cannot leave Windows to be honest. The network effect is too strong. Coupled with recent Microsoft effort such as Visual Code, its looking like they are doing nothing but going towards the better direction than the old days. Who would have thought. Would you believe it if anyo…

Dual boot? This does look slick, I was an avid WSL user until I started dual booting. Now I almost never need to boot to Windows. I get that if you often need to switch it can be a pain in the ass but at least Linux respects my privacy and freedom.

As the author of EasyBCD, I can tell you that interest in dual-booting has collapsed to near zero over the past decade.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#36

Post by wizwit999 »

josteink wrote: post #26
lowtto wrote: post #11

WSL2 is essentially just.. Windows + Linux. I tried it and it is awesome. Cannot wait to see further progress that comes out of this. I really cannot leave Windows to be honest. The network effect is too strong. Coupled with recent Microsoft effort such as Visual Code, its looking like they are doing nothing but going towards the better direction than the old days. Who would have thought. Would you believe it if anyo…

> Coupled with recent Microsoft effort such as Visual Code Which is officially supported on Linux. There might be reasons to run Windows, but this is not one :)

I think hes referring to how you can run the VSCode GUI in Windows but develop on WSL because they built an integration. It's pretty neat. And most people are using Windows for other reasons (drivers, gaming ,etc), this just makes development not a pain anymore.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#37

Post by JorgeGT »

mathnode wrote: post #6

For those that don't know, this will only be available in Windows 11, see https://github.com/microsoft/wslg/issues/347#issuecomment-87...

I see that those of us with a 7th gen Intel core CPU that "need not to worry because W10 will be supported for years" will immediately start missing functionality.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#38

Post by wyldfire »

lowtto wrote: post #11

WSL2 is essentially just.. Windows + Linux. I tried it and it is awesome. Cannot wait to see further progress that comes out of this. I really cannot leave Windows to be honest. The network effect is too strong. Coupled with recent Microsoft effort such as Visual Code, its looking like they are doing nothing but going towards the better direction than the old days. Who would have thought. Would you believe it if anyo…

> I really cannot leave Windows to be honest. The network effect is too strong.

I suspect whatever's keeping you on Windows isn't really the network effect. It's usually: comfort level/personal preference, or a set of software that vendor(s) can't/won't port to another non-Windows platform.

The fact that so many applications have been rewritten as browser-accessible services has liberated me. I haven't owned a system with a Microsoft OS since ~2004 or so.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#39

Post by ComputerGuru »

nwatson wrote: post #25
mathnode wrote: post #6

For those that don't know, this will only be available in Windows 11, see https://github.com/microsoft/wslg/issues/347#issuecomment-87...

Yeah bummer. My old Windows machine won't be upgradable to Windows 11 ... interestingly I was able to install the Windows 11 preview and even get the WSL2 update with the integrated X11/GUI and it worked great. However I was notified I couldn't upgrade to official build and the only recourse was to re-install Windows 10. I'll need to revert to one of the available X11 servers but I wiped out the old configuration and…

I have a solution for the disk/partition type/layout incompatible with upgrading to newer Windows 11 builds (but not the TPM workaround) but I haven’t gotten around to packaging it and publishing it for download on our site.

Re: Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI

#40

Post by tck42 »

seanw444 wrote: post #33
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dual boot? This does look slick, I was an avid WSL user until I started dual booting. Now I almost never need to boot to Windows. I get that if you often need to switch it can be a pain in the ass but at least Linux respects my privacy and freedom.

Same situation here. Dual-booting Linux and Windows 10, and I figured I'd boot into Windows often enough for it to get obnoxious. But I only ever get on there to play a few demanding games (which I already don't play often anymore), or make music with an A+ DAW for making music that doesn't run super effectively on Wine. Linux handles everything else I do like a champ.

A friend of mine has been complaining that a DAW is the only thing keeping him stuck in Windows at this point as well. In his case, he specifically said that VST's were the problem. Was your experience the same?
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