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Depends on your use case/tools/habits. WSL gives you the advantage of being able to access the same files with native Windows tools and from the GNU[1] command

Depends on your use case/tools/habits. WSL gives you the advantage of being able to access the same files with native Windows tools and from the GNU[1] command line. If you plan on using the X GUI tools, it will be much less useful to you. [1] I can't bring myself to use the term 'Linux' here, because, ironically, Linux is the primary missing part in this Ubuntu distribution. It should really be called WSG or WSU.

swiley 10y ago
All of my friends on windows say X is just as easy to set up as on cygwin
- kirillkh 10y ago
  I never said X GUI apps could not be used, just that the more Windows tools you use, the more you gain more from WSL.
danieldk 10y ago
If you plan on using the Linux GUI tools, it will be much less useful to you. If you install an X server, such as VcXsrv and set the DISPLAY variable (typically export DISPLAY=:0 will suffice), you can just run X11 apps. For instance, here's a screenshot of a Prolog/Tk application running on WSL: https://danieldk.eu/Posts/2017-01-10-Alpino-Windows/alpino-windows.png https://danieldk.eu/Posts/2017-01-10-Alpino-Windows/alpino-w... I have installed Windows on a workstation just to try WSL out and it's quite impressive. Many regular applications just work. I could build Ubuntu packages and upload them to my PPA (I just had to use fakeroot-tcp to replace fakeroot). Of course, there are also things that don't work for obvious reasons. E.g. because they require facilities deep in the kernel (performance counters/perf) or because they require kernel modules and hardware access (running CUDA programs).
- 20161112 10y ago
  So if I want to use my GPU for machine learning applications, I would have to run my programs under Windows rather than from inside the WSL?
  - danieldk 10y ago
    Indeed. There is a 'uservoice' about this issue: https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-console-bash-on-ubuntu-on-windo/suggestions/16108045-opencl-cuda-gpu-support https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-con...
pjc50 10y ago
> access the same files with native Windows tools Er, about that: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-not-change-linux-files-using-windows-apps-and-tools/ https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-n... DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, create and/or modify Linux files using Windows apps, tools, scripts, consoles, etc. Edit: downvoting accurate information that was previously posted on HN? Really?
- detaro 10y ago
  You can access your entire Windows filesystem freely from Linux, so that's not really an issue. Just keep your data in /mnt, or link it from there to other places.

swiley 10y ago

All of my friends on windows say X is just as easy to set up as on cygwin

kirillkh 10y ago
I never said X GUI apps could not be used, just that the more Windows tools you use, the more you gain more from WSL.

danieldk 10y ago

If you plan on using the Linux GUI tools, it will be much less useful to you. If you install an X server, such as VcXsrv and set the DISPLAY variable (typically export DISPLAY=:0 will suffice), you can just run X11 apps. For instance, here's a screenshot of a Prolog/Tk application running on WSL: https://danieldk.eu/Posts/2017-01-10-Alpino-Windows/alpino-windows.png https://danieldk.eu/Posts/2017-01-10-Alpino-Windows/alpino-w... I have installed Windows on a workstation just to try WSL out and it's quite impressive. Many regular applications just work. I could build Ubuntu packages and upload them to my PPA (I just had to use fakeroot-tcp to replace fakeroot). Of course, there are also things that don't work for obvious reasons. E.g. because they require facilities deep in the kernel (performance counters/perf) or because they require kernel modules and hardware access (running CUDA programs).

20161112 10y ago
So if I want to use my GPU for machine learning applications, I would have to run my programs under Windows rather than from inside the WSL?
- danieldk 10y ago
  Indeed. There is a 'uservoice' about this issue: https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-console-bash-on-ubuntu-on-windo/suggestions/16108045-opencl-cuda-gpu-support https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-con...

pjc50 10y ago

> access the same files with native Windows tools Er, about that: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-not-change-linux-files-using-windows-apps-and-tools/ https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-n... DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, create and/or modify Linux files using Windows apps, tools, scripts, consoles, etc. Edit: downvoting accurate information that was previously posted on HN? Really?

detaro 10y ago
You can access your entire Windows filesystem freely from Linux, so that's not really an issue. Just keep your data in /mnt, or link it from there to other places.