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The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

blogs.windows.com

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Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#891

Post by camtarn »

pjc50 wrote: post #782
hypercube33 wrote: post #647

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSL 1 was supposed to be like "Windows on NT" where it emulated the Linux kernal to the NT one. they skipped a ton of features then dumped the whole thing for a containerized virtual machine thing for version 2. Wish the NT one worked out but I get it being complicated.

The essential problem was that critical Windows APIs like CreateProcess and the NTFS file system were far too slow to be used in UNIX-like ways. If you tried to run git or build things in WSL1 - a key use case - it was way slower than doing so on native or VM Linux.

Hm. I used Git on WSL1 for many years, with medium sized repos hosted on a Windows drive, and it worked great. When I moved to WSL2 Git became a whole lot slower - it now takes about 5-8 secs to execute 'git status' where before it was instant.

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#892

Post by hodgesrm »

tuukkao wrote: post #729

WSL 2 is one of the biggest reasons I'm able to be productive as a blind software developer. With it I'm able to enjoy the best desktop screen reader accessibility (Windows and NVDA) as well as the best developer tools (Linux). I hate Microsoft's AI and ads force-feeding as much as anyone else but trust me, you'd do the same if you were in my shoes. Screen reader accessibility on Mac Os is stagnating even faster than…

Thanks for pointing this out. I'm not visually impaired but even so the graphics and presentation features on Windows seem noticeably better than the competition.

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#893

Post by prmoustache »

jjcm wrote: post #151

When WSL came out I was absolutely overjoyed - finally an actual linux shell on windows! I use windows for my gaming pc, and I wanted to have a unified gaming/dev box. It felt like the solution. Over time though more and more small issues with it came up. Packages working not quite right, issues with the barriers between the two, etc. It always felt like there was a little bit more friction with the process. With Val…

Why would anyone run malwares on purpose on the same machine they use to do development/work?

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#894

Post by xeromal »

herbst wrote: post #842
ozgrakkurt wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same experience. Even installing linux is easier for me now. And with new spyware features of windows, there is really no incentive to use it

Could have written the exact same sentence when Vista came out. I still wonder when it's finally enough for the poor souls still stuck in windows

When we die off I guess lol.

I've been using windows since I was 6 or 7. I currently work in a Mac environment and hate it. I worked in a linux one for 5 years. Nothing feels like the first language you learned I guess?

My home computer is windows and it'll be that way until windows stops existing.

Edit: when I say we I mean the people still on windows.

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#896

Post by Kuraj »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #92

I've been using WSL on and off for Linux development for the last few years. When it works, it's great! When it doesn't....oh man it sucks. It has been non-stop networking and VPN problems, XServer issues, window scaling issues, hardware accelerated graphics not working, etc. this whole time. I've spent more time trying to fix WSL issues then actually developing software. It's never gotten better. It's fast. It's pow…

These days I don't even use a WSL distro directly, but I do use it as a backend for my Docker Desktop.

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#897

Post by zchrykng »

voidUpdate wrote: post #811
vvpan wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tried doing 3d modeling in a Windows VM - couldn't get acceleration to pass through.

What 3D modelling were you doing that couldn't be done on linux?

Mostly having software better than FreeCAD, AKA everything that exists on Windows and macOS.

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#898

Post by fsflover »

skobes wrote: post #821
gloosx wrote: post #812

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying it like there is no alternative and you can't just open and edit same excel files in Libre Office Calc, Google Sheets or Numbers without any problem whatsoever.

I'll say it too! There's no serious alternative to Excel for those who rely on its advanced features. You can't just edit Excel files in Libre Office Calc, Google Sheets, or Numbers without any problem whatsoever.

> There's no serious alternative to Excel for those who rely on its advanced features.

Which is 5% of its users probably.

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#899

Post by neogodless »

nickserv wrote: post #244
jjcm wrote: post #151

When WSL came out I was absolutely overjoyed - finally an actual linux shell on windows! I use windows for my gaming pc, and I wanted to have a unified gaming/dev box. It felt like the solution. Over time though more and more small issues with it came up. Packages working not quite right, issues with the barriers between the two, etc. It always felt like there was a little bit more friction with the process. With Val…

Just curious, which games gave you problems?

When I ran a two month experiment, Hogwart's Legacy and Anno 1800.

The former ran slowly at low settings, with the occasional complete single digit slowdown. On the same laptop in Windows 10, it ran medium settings and easily twice the frame rate, no issues.

The latter wouldn't connect to multiplayer, and would occasionally just crash out.

(Comment written from memory, but I enshrined my experiment here: https://retorch.com/blog/linux-mint.htm )

Re: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source

#900

Post by calvinmorrison »

WSL is amazing. Nothing short of it. My laptop SSD controller died on a conference. I bought a 200 dollar netbook running windows, installed WSL, downloaded the MDADM packages, was about to mount the encrypted drive with cryptsetup, mount the ext4 partition, then chroot into it, then my home drive was like working on my old laptop.

I did this in about 20 minutes, with the help of chatgpt.

In the end I was able to keep working through the trip and provide some demos to clients which landed us some big deals.

Go WSL!

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