4 ms·

Wow, can you let me know which Surface book and Linux distro? I like the look of the new Windows laptops too but figured they would never run Linux :)

ChuckMcM 10y ago
The unexpected thing is that it isn't a "distro" it is part of Windows 10. Microsoft created a kernel shim, which is part of the standard release now, that creates a Linux ABI into the NT kernel. As a result, Linux userland code just assumes its running on Ubuntu and as far as I have been able to ascertain it just works. All my bash scripts, all my perl code, all my python code, just runs. That said, I've not used tools that open windows so I've been all command line.
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 10y ago
  Gotcha, but you haven't tried a GUI or anything?
  - ChuckMcM 10y ago
    Nope, there is no xserver so really nothing to talk to locally. For grins, and because you asked, I did an install of gimp and verified I couldn't figure out how to get it to run :-)
    - majewsky 10y ago
      > Nope, there is no xserver so really nothing to talk to locally. I think the relevant Google keyword for this is "vcxsrv", an X server running under Windows. I saw something about people using it in WSL to launch regular Unix applications talking to X, but don't remember where.
      - ChuckMcM 10y ago
        I actually have a license to xwin32, I wonder if I can get it running under windows 10 ...
- eridius 10y ago
  I have it running on my Windows machine, and I've definitely hit some big limitations. I don't remember offhand what they were, but there was some software that completely failed to run. I do remember that tmux is completely unable to figure out what the current working directory is, which means when I restore my tmux session after restarting, all of the panes are reset back to the home folder. Additionally, the terminal that comes with it is pretty crappy, but my internet searches don't turn up any way to get a better terminal that works with it. I also can't figure out where the Linux Subsystem filesystem is stored on my drive.
  - hashhar 10y ago
    Yeah, terminal is a pain. You can try something like [Cmder](http://cmder.net/ http://cmder.net/), [Babun](https://babun.github.io/ https://babun.github.io/). If you are willing to build it yourself, [HyperTerm](https://hyper.is/#installation https://hyper.is/#installation) is good. For running GUI apps from within the subsystem, take a look at: [1]: https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/WinCoder/XMING--Bash-on-Ubuntu-on-Windows--X11-Window-System-Running-from-Windows10-Subsystem-for-Linux https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/WinCoder/XMING--Bash-on-Ubun... [2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/4ye1gq/xfce_using_the_windows_linux_subsystem_xpost/ https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/4ye1gq/xfce_using... [3]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4ycxaz/the_new_linux_subsystem_is_pretty_good/d6mvkpm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4ycxaz/the_new_l...
    - eridius 10y ago
      Thanks! I'll go check those out sometime today, hopefully one of them does what I need.

ChuckMcM 10y ago

The unexpected thing is that it isn't a "distro" it is part of Windows 10. Microsoft created a kernel shim, which is part of the standard release now, that creates a Linux ABI into the NT kernel. As a result, Linux userland code just assumes its running on Ubuntu and as far as I have been able to ascertain it just works. All my bash scripts, all my perl code, all my python code, just runs. That said, I've not used tools that open windows so I've been all command line.

eeeeeeeeeeeee 10y ago
Gotcha, but you haven't tried a GUI or anything?
- ChuckMcM 10y ago
  Nope, there is no xserver so really nothing to talk to locally. For grins, and because you asked, I did an install of gimp and verified I couldn't figure out how to get it to run :-)
  - majewsky 10y ago
    > Nope, there is no xserver so really nothing to talk to locally. I think the relevant Google keyword for this is "vcxsrv", an X server running under Windows. I saw something about people using it in WSL to launch regular Unix applications talking to X, but don't remember where.
    - ChuckMcM 10y ago
      I actually have a license to xwin32, I wonder if I can get it running under windows 10 ...
eridius 10y ago
I have it running on my Windows machine, and I've definitely hit some big limitations. I don't remember offhand what they were, but there was some software that completely failed to run. I do remember that tmux is completely unable to figure out what the current working directory is, which means when I restore my tmux session after restarting, all of the panes are reset back to the home folder. Additionally, the terminal that comes with it is pretty crappy, but my internet searches don't turn up any way to get a better terminal that works with it. I also can't figure out where the Linux Subsystem filesystem is stored on my drive.
- hashhar 10y ago
  Yeah, terminal is a pain. You can try something like [Cmder](http://cmder.net/ http://cmder.net/), [Babun](https://babun.github.io/ https://babun.github.io/). If you are willing to build it yourself, [HyperTerm](https://hyper.is/#installation https://hyper.is/#installation) is good. For running GUI apps from within the subsystem, take a look at: [1]: https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/WinCoder/XMING--Bash-on-Ubuntu-on-Windows--X11-Window-System-Running-from-Windows10-Subsystem-for-Linux https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/WinCoder/XMING--Bash-on-Ubun... [2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/4ye1gq/xfce_using_the_windows_linux_subsystem_xpost/ https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/4ye1gq/xfce_using... [3]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4ycxaz/the_new_linux_subsystem_is_pretty_good/d6mvkpm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4ycxaz/the_new_l...
  - eridius 10y ago
    Thanks! I'll go check those out sometime today, hopefully one of them does what I need.