4 ms·

You jest, but I agree. I might accept a GNU/Windows machine as a working computer, but I would be a lot more weary of accepting just a Windows machine.

stingraycharles 11y ago
Would this be possible? How far could anyone (outside of Microsoft) strip down Windows to leave behind just a kernel with a functioning GNU environment (let's say, a shell and file access) ?
- lmm 11y ago
  I ran bb4win as my window manager for a while. You can get a full suite of userspace applications e.g. KDE for windows. If you're too much of a purist to use cygwin you can (or could until recently) build everything against SUA and then you just need to run a windows X server, but at that point you're still running explorer as the graphical shell/window manager.
- 794CD01 11y ago
  Since 2008R2, Windows has had a Server Core version that is trying to move closer and closer to that goal.
  - McGlockenshire 11y ago
    MS is also adding an SSH server to Windows. If they also add Linux userland support to Windows Server, in the near future you will be able to SSH in and get bash prompt on your Windows infrastructure... natively. I'm kind of liking the future.
- bradyd 11y ago
  The install environment for Windows, Windows PE[0], is an extremely stripped down version of Windows. It's based on the same code base as the main Windows, but basically only comes with the command prompt and task manager. It's available free as part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Preinstallation_Environment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Preinstallation_Enviro...
- mappu 11y ago
  There's at least one free (gratis) version of Windows available (Hyper-V Server) that's missing the Explorer shell and some other parts. I have successfully installed KDE on this (via Cygwin plus a mesa/llvmpipe build of opengl32.dll). It seemed to work OK.

stingraycharles 11y ago

Would this be possible? How far could anyone (outside of Microsoft) strip down Windows to leave behind just a kernel with a functioning GNU environment (let's say, a shell and file access) ?

lmm 11y ago
I ran bb4win as my window manager for a while. You can get a full suite of userspace applications e.g. KDE for windows. If you're too much of a purist to use cygwin you can (or could until recently) build everything against SUA and then you just need to run a windows X server, but at that point you're still running explorer as the graphical shell/window manager.
794CD01 11y ago
Since 2008R2, Windows has had a Server Core version that is trying to move closer and closer to that goal.
- McGlockenshire 11y ago
  MS is also adding an SSH server to Windows. If they also add Linux userland support to Windows Server, in the near future you will be able to SSH in and get bash prompt on your Windows infrastructure... natively. I'm kind of liking the future.
bradyd 11y ago
The install environment for Windows, Windows PE[0], is an extremely stripped down version of Windows. It's based on the same code base as the main Windows, but basically only comes with the command prompt and task manager. It's available free as part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Preinstallation_Environment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Preinstallation_Enviro...
mappu 11y ago
There's at least one free (gratis) version of Windows available (Hyper-V Server) that's missing the Explorer shell and some other parts. I have successfully installed KDE on this (via Cygwin plus a mesa/llvmpipe build of opengl32.dll). It seemed to work OK.