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Microsoft's Linux Kernel

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Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#481
post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to laugh when I read about this "Ubuntu install process" - Is there really still people on earth who can screw that up? :-D

Most people don't know what a URL is, and you want them to install an OS ?

No. But I think the people who know how to install a windows can also install ubuntu.

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#483
post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What cracks me up is the irony of seeing ...\etc\hosts on Windows, not the entire decision.

Then I don't understand your comment. What's the irony in there ? Or do you mean humor instead of irony / is it not irony at all ?

The irony is that “etc” makes no sense whatsoever in Windows, and particularly in that place. It probably came about because it was easier to have it there than to patch whatever bit of code they borrowed, and it’s now likely vestigial, but probably there is too much stuff relying on it to change things. The irony is in an OS trying extremely hard to not be a unix, ending up with unixy folder names because laziness.

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclosure: I work at Microsoft but not on Windows (and my work machine is a MacBook Pro FWIW) WSL 2 is a lot like that -- it's a VM in the sense that it uses Hyper-V, but it's super lightweight. And in fact, when WSL 2 is enabled, both Windows AND Linux are running in the same type of VM (separate, obviously), so it's near-native performance in a lot of ways. There are still some I/O issues that the team is actively…

Just out of curiosity: did they let you use the MacBook Pro without problems? Can you guys @ Microsoft decide to use whatever OS is more suitable for what you do?

Microsoft has had Macs in use for a very long time, even pre-dating the famous Gates investment. There are some infamous pics of delivery vans unloading tons of Apple boxes in Redmond. I would expect them to be even more liberal now under Nadella, but to be honest, they probably get great prices on Surfaces, which are very nice machines now.

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#485
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, much like with the web, things have evolved such that it is virtually impossible to create a competitor due to all the accumulated complexity. The driver problem on the PC platform is pretty much insurmountable at this point, so any competitor would have to begin life, and gain massively in popularity somehow, on a much less flexible hardware platform. It's a shame and makes me sad for modern computing.

I have think the same but maybe TODAY is not as hard as before: 1- We have 4/5 mainstream OSes today: Win/OSX/iOS/Android + Linux. In the case of iOS/android: Some users alread switch between the 2. 2- If it have apps is almost all people need. Drivers are not THAT significant IMHO. 3- Chromebook is a thing, despite it sound stupid: A OS that is just a browser. Web is the 6 truly mainstream "OS". 4- What people need…

Considering that the alternative to “OS in a browser” these days seems to be “every app is a (different) browser” (Electron), the Chromebook concept is not that stupid.

It’s sad that commercial realities are pushing people to throw away 30 years of progress on desktop UIs, but here we are.

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#486

Well that is pretty nice. WSL gets that much more exactly like Linux. What I really appreciate about WSL is that you get the accessibility of a bunch of OSS projects and a machine which has legit drivers for all of its component bits. What this means to me is that searching for a "linux laptop" won't be a chore, if it runs the latest Windows it will run Linux. And I can do development on the Linux side while communic…

There are a few annoyances with WSL2. For me the most important are: 1. You can't connect to a port listening on WSL localhost like in WSL1, you have to figure out the WSL IP address and use that. 2. From WSL you can't connect to a Windows TCP port on localhost, you must figure out the Windows IP (cat /etc/resolv.conf) and use that. 3. The WSL remote interpreter on PyCharm is not working anymore. The suggested workar…

> the WSL IP changes every time you restart it

That'd suck! is there no way to nail it down?

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#487
post #365
post #362

As a dev and Linux/OSX user I'm still struggling to see who exactly this is for. All of the tools I want to use are very well supported on OSX and I don't have much use for Microsoft software like Office these days with Google Sheets et cetera. Is this being geared more towards corporate customers who have chosen to standardise all of their IT on Microsoft products, but who need easier access to dev tools/environment…

This is great for any developer who prefers the Windows desktop experience to linux/macOS. I'm primarily on a mac myself, but I've used the original WSL and it works quite well.

I'm not sure what Windows offer better in terms of third party tooling which is what matters more than OS itself.

I understand some need Windows only app to work but otherwise what does Windows offer better for third party apps that Mac doesn't for developers that WSL targets? I just can't think of one but I can think quite several the other way around.

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#488
post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, many people I know would get stuck on the very first step: formatting and creating the bootable USB drive.

Aren't there apps to do that for you nowadays? :-D

Yeah, you need to google for a tutorial, install something like Rufus or unetbootin. Have the whole mental model about what iso files are what is a boot disk, how to fix the boot order in bios if needed, etc... Very far from trivial for most people.

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#489
post #220
post #138

Question for those with more technological knowledge than I have: will this allow AF_PACKET support on windows so I can run monitor mode stuff? CUDA acceleration? If I could avoid spending time getting nvidia drivers working on my laptop, that would be a massive help. And yeah, I know, I'm supposed to buy AMD stuff so I can use open source etc. But all the best hardware is nvidia, and so top hardware ships with nvidi…

These are two of their highest requested features at the moment [1] [2], and if I recall correctly they specifically remarked on passing through hardware as one of their main priorities going forward with WSL2. Unfortunately it requires some vendor support so it's not an easy task to solve right away, but I would stay optimistic. [1] https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-con... [2] https://wpdev.us…

I am indeed very optimistic. As much as I love linux, not having to get optimus GPUs set up on it would be a massive relief. I've voted on both before; here's to hoping!

Re: Microsoft's Linux Kernel

#490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep seeing this angst over whether Linux will ever be ready on the desktop. Well, I've been using it exclusively for something like 15 years.

I too have been using it as my primary OS even when gaming for years now too. No issues. In fact I would recommend it for anyone who only uses their computer for general, basic use.

When people on hacker news say "no problems" what I have found is they generally mean "no problems I don't consider trivial or easy to handle."

We are far, far past the point where the general population is going to spend effort to learn about something as simple as using apt-update or even a GUI application update manager, ever. Phone operating systems give the user everything they care about (mostly content consumption, a little creation) without having to read or learn anything. If you ask that of people (to read and learn about an operating system) it's a non-starter for >80% of users.

For general, basic use I would recommend a chromebook or ipad. That's what most people are looking for - something that lets them do the handful of things they want to do with as little overhead as possible.

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