11 ms·

WSL2 in Windows means you can just run a Debian underneath and launch a non-snap Firefox from there and have it appears in Windows. Now you get the benefit of

by buro9 3y ago

WSL2 in Windows means you can just run a Debian underneath and launch a non-snap Firefox from there and have it appears in Windows. Now you get the benefit of Windows power management (and that beautiful laptop battery life) but a web browser Microsoft isn't going to mess with. This sounds hilarious were it not the way I actually work. PS: I'll also mention that VSCode from Windows to WSL2 + Debian is a mind-blowingly wonderful thing, I don't know how it works but it's near magical as a dev environment when you need a full Linux but like having battery life.

papruapap 3y ago
What about playing media? Even when running natively, Firefox has the worst gpu acceleration support in my experience.
- nicce 3y ago
  When was the last time you used it? GPU acceleration works perfectly for me in Mac or Linux.
OJFord 3y ago
How are you supposed to discover and use WSL? I got fed up with trying to run Fusion360 on Linux, no longer had a Mac, and reignited my long disused Windows installation recently. Updated and restarted. Looked around for WSL, nothing. Searched online, loads of blog spam of mixed helpfulness, no way of telling (for me, new to it) if they were v1 or v2, no basic information like they're talking about Ubuntu but is that a requirement? What changes if I want x? Looked in the app store, ..stuff yes, including 'Arch WSL' for example, but is this right? It seems to work, but really, I'm supposed to install something third-party? I assumed it was just something that was there built-in by default, but apparently not? Probably is if I first go start run regedit and set Computer Computer Windows HKLM Software Windows Windows Linux Software WSL enable to '2', right? Easy.
- noSyncCloud 3y ago
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- Our_Benefactors 3y ago
  Open a terminal and type “wsl”, it will tell you what to do from there. It’s also easily available in the MS App Store without an account.
- dekhn 3y ago
  Literally the first page Google shows for [ install wsl on windows ] is the canonical documentation which is trivial to follow. Don't touch the registry.
- xen2xen1 3y ago
  Everything is easier on Windows 11. If you have 10 it's all harder and less built in, and some features don't work at all
  - OJFord 3y ago
    It is 10 yes. I glossed over a few steps as 'updated and restarted' - I actually spent an entire day trying to enable secure boot and (as required in order to) upgrade to 11 and then recovering from fearing I'd bricked it. (GPU doesn't support it, I now think (beforehand had no idea that even might be an issue). Motherboard then wouldn't revert to integrated graphics even with the card removed.) I really can't fathom how any technically-minded professional gets anything done with Windows - nevermind SEs - it just feels constantly in the way. And I'm not a die-hard Linux (nor Apple) fanatic, I grew up with Windows, it got me into 'computers'. It just seems like an uncontrollable (as in literally, operator not in control) mess compared even to macOS to me now. (I also really wanted to like it coming back to it - I thought with WSL surely that was going to take the Unixy strength of macOS and far supersede it as a when-I-can't-use-Linux device. But so far, egh, nevermind that I think the hardware's great, I think I'd pay the Apple tax just for the OS.) Maybe I'll try again to upgrade if the integrated graphics support it.
0xffff2 3y ago
What is the benefit of doing this over simply installing Firefox on Windows? After you download the Firefox installer, you're done with Windows "messing" with you.
- tut-urut-utut 3y ago
  The Windows Firefox will be removed by an enterprise security suite forced upon you from your IT security. Or bogged down by antivirus. Luckily for us, 99,99% of those corporate security and IT drones have no idea what you can do with wsl.
  - 0xffff2 3y ago
    Wow, and I thought my agency IT was hostile...
  - wholinator2 3y ago
    What security person in their right mind would remove firefox as a security threat? In my opinion you can make firefox drastically more secure with adblock and tracking blocker addons and better default settings. You'd have to be totally unconcerned with actual security to force everyone into edge. Or maybe there are some draconian incentives at big-corp's that I haven't seen yet.
    - vladvasiliu 3y ago
      They wouldn't remove it "as a security threat" as such. They'd remove it because it's not part of the vetted applications list.
  - raxxorraxor 3y ago
    There is a portable version of Firefox that so far seems to run everywhere. The benefits you get with a portable browser are quite amazing. Of course, that limits system integration, but you can still register it as a default browser.
- buro9 3y ago
  I leave few things on Windows as Microsoft have opinions, and then OSQuery gives IT admins opinions. I prefer as few outside opinions on what I run as possible, so I only leave Chrome and VSCode in Windows and everything else is in Linux. I had run Linux for years, but whilst I still have Linux on desktop machines I leave Windows on my laptop as it truly gives me 8-9h battery life and Linux only gives me a matter of a few hours tops.
trelane 3y ago
Or you could run Linux on Linux hardware and get the full hardware support and sweet battery life without the Microsoft spyware.
- dmitrygr 3y ago
  > sweet battery life Linux has never been this, and likely never will be. On any hardware supported fully by both, Windows will always have better battery life. Back when I was a thinkpad user, i'd literally live in a vmware workstation linux VM on windows, and THIS had better battery life than linux natively on the same thinkpad.
  - bombela 3y ago
    I came to assume the battery only exists to act as an uninterruptible power supply as I travel to the next power outlet ;) It feels like over the past 10y Linux only went from 2h to 3h of battery life. While MacBook went from 3h to 13h.
    - captn3m0 3y ago
      You’re comparing an OS with a specific device. In the union case (Asahi Linux on MacBook), the battery life is much higher than 3h. Not yet 13, but soon should be close.
      - bombela 3y ago
        Let's hope it will be close. MacBook has twice the battery capacity as a run of the mill thinkpad. So 6h of battery would be the default I expect. More than that, and I will be impressed. Note that I have been using Linux for 20y. And I fully accept the short battery life in exchange of the tooling and freedom I get with Linux.
    - monsieurgaufre 3y ago
      This is what i experienced as well. 3h on light battery use. After having read every how-tos and used tlp, auto-cpufreq, powertop, ... I hate to say it, but, for me, it is the price to pay to not have to deal with Windows anymore. I'm on Ubuntu right now, but have tried with other distros in the past. YMMV.
V1ndaar 3y ago
> Windows power management (and that beautiful laptop battery life) Is that sarcasm? I never had good battery life on a laptop running Windows. Linux has always been superior to me in that regard (maybe if nvidia optimus is at play?).
- plonk 3y ago
  > maybe if nvidia optimus is at play? In this case Windows is the only sane choice (at least based on my experience from 2 years ago). After a lot of reading random docs, I got to a point where I could stop the GPU from eating the battery doing nothing, but I could only disable/enable it by logging out then in. It was either no GPU at all or a GPU drawing maximum power, no in-between. Maybe Nvidia's latest code releases will help with that?
  - NGRhodes 3y ago
    I've only had an Nvidia GPU laptop for 2 years so no experience of using older series of drivers, but Nvidia's 5xx series of drivers work great on my T460s running the latest Mint, drivers installed using the Ubuntu driver tool. Secure boot works out of the box, prime render offload works without a hitch (and no need to log in/out to switch GPUs), battery life is ballpark similar to Windows.
    - plonk 3y ago
      My experience was on a Dell XPS 15 from ~2018, up to Ubuntu 20.04. Maybe they got better just when I switched to macOS. :)
MSFT_Edging 3y ago
I really don't get this battery life complaint. What kind of system are you running? On my thinkpad, arch install squeezes 9 hours after 7 years of use. On a dell XPS I'd get about 13 hours with the gpu disabled and display set to 1440p instead of 4k. Sure you might say "but I need my GPU and 4k 15'' display" to which I reply eh maybe but I don't.
- oefnak 3y ago
  Incredible. Can you post your configuration? On my XPS15 that's about 4 or 5 years old, I can get max 2.5 hours with the GPU disabled and 1920×1080 resolution.
  - MSFT_Edging 3y ago
    I didn't do anything special.Years ago the xps15 had some issues installing linux, there was a git repo with a special post install script to get the drivers sorted. Dell fan control can be weird but this was many years ago at this point. I have a normal ubuntu install, I use the i3wm to reduce general load. Resolution set to 1440p with xrandr, no scale adjustments. GPU disabled, totally on intel graphics. My xps is about 4.5 years old right now, I have replaced the battery when it started to swell slightly, the replacement was salvaged from another and even worse, so after a year I put the original battery back in. I honestly think the biggest thing is a tiling wm. Any time I go from full gnome to i3wm, my battery life gets an instant 3 hour bonus. Big ole note, because of the age and battery degradation, i can squeeze about 6-7 hours out of with if I limit myself to a single firefox window and text editors. When it was brand new, 13 hours of normal use was totally doable.
- heleninboodler 3y ago
  My ThinkPad running linux gets absolutely fantastic battery life with the exception that when I close it and put it in my backpack, I have about a 25% chance of discovering later that, while closed, it turned the screen on and and ran the fans at full speed to kill the battery because it was, I don't know... bored of being in a bag?
  - 3y ago

by buro9 3y ago

papruapap 3y ago

What about playing media? Even when running natively, Firefox has the worst gpu acceleration support in my experience.

nicce 3y ago
When was the last time you used it? GPU acceleration works perfectly for me in Mac or Linux.

OJFord 3y ago

How are you supposed to discover and use WSL? I got fed up with trying to run Fusion360 on Linux, no longer had a Mac, and reignited my long disused Windows installation recently. Updated and restarted. Looked around for WSL, nothing. Searched online, loads of blog spam of mixed helpfulness, no way of telling (for me, new to it) if they were v1 or v2, no basic information like they're talking about Ubuntu but is that a requirement? What changes if I want x? Looked in the app store, ..stuff yes, including 'Arch WSL' for example, but is this right? It seems to work, but really, I'm supposed to install something third-party? I assumed it was just something that was there built-in by default, but apparently not? Probably is if I first go start run regedit and set Computer Computer Windows HKLM Software Windows Windows Linux Software WSL enable to '2', right? Easy.

noSyncCloud 3y ago
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
Our_Benefactors 3y ago
Open a terminal and type “wsl”, it will tell you what to do from there. It’s also easily available in the MS App Store without an account.
dekhn 3y ago
Literally the first page Google shows for [ install wsl on windows ] is the canonical documentation which is trivial to follow. Don't touch the registry.
xen2xen1 3y ago
Everything is easier on Windows 11. If you have 10 it's all harder and less built in, and some features don't work at all
- OJFord 3y ago
  It is 10 yes. I glossed over a few steps as 'updated and restarted' - I actually spent an entire day trying to enable secure boot and (as required in order to) upgrade to 11 and then recovering from fearing I'd bricked it. (GPU doesn't support it, I now think (beforehand had no idea that even might be an issue). Motherboard then wouldn't revert to integrated graphics even with the card removed.) I really can't fathom how any technically-minded professional gets anything done with Windows - nevermind SEs - it just feels constantly in the way. And I'm not a die-hard Linux (nor Apple) fanatic, I grew up with Windows, it got me into 'computers'. It just seems like an uncontrollable (as in literally, operator not in control) mess compared even to macOS to me now. (I also really wanted to like it coming back to it - I thought with WSL surely that was going to take the Unixy strength of macOS and far supersede it as a when-I-can't-use-Linux device. But so far, egh, nevermind that I think the hardware's great, I think I'd pay the Apple tax just for the OS.) Maybe I'll try again to upgrade if the integrated graphics support it.

0xffff2 3y ago

What is the benefit of doing this over simply installing Firefox on Windows? After you download the Firefox installer, you're done with Windows "messing" with you.

tut-urut-utut 3y ago
The Windows Firefox will be removed by an enterprise security suite forced upon you from your IT security. Or bogged down by antivirus. Luckily for us, 99,99% of those corporate security and IT drones have no idea what you can do with wsl.
- 0xffff2 3y ago
  Wow, and I thought my agency IT was hostile...
- wholinator2 3y ago
  What security person in their right mind would remove firefox as a security threat? In my opinion you can make firefox drastically more secure with adblock and tracking blocker addons and better default settings. You'd have to be totally unconcerned with actual security to force everyone into edge. Or maybe there are some draconian incentives at big-corp's that I haven't seen yet.
  - vladvasiliu 3y ago
    They wouldn't remove it "as a security threat" as such. They'd remove it because it's not part of the vetted applications list.
- raxxorraxor 3y ago
  There is a portable version of Firefox that so far seems to run everywhere. The benefits you get with a portable browser are quite amazing. Of course, that limits system integration, but you can still register it as a default browser.
buro9 3y ago
I leave few things on Windows as Microsoft have opinions, and then OSQuery gives IT admins opinions. I prefer as few outside opinions on what I run as possible, so I only leave Chrome and VSCode in Windows and everything else is in Linux. I had run Linux for years, but whilst I still have Linux on desktop machines I leave Windows on my laptop as it truly gives me 8-9h battery life and Linux only gives me a matter of a few hours tops.

trelane 3y ago

Or you could run Linux on Linux hardware and get the full hardware support and sweet battery life without the Microsoft spyware.

dmitrygr 3y ago
> sweet battery life Linux has never been this, and likely never will be. On any hardware supported fully by both, Windows will always have better battery life. Back when I was a thinkpad user, i'd literally live in a vmware workstation linux VM on windows, and THIS had better battery life than linux natively on the same thinkpad.
- bombela 3y ago
  I came to assume the battery only exists to act as an uninterruptible power supply as I travel to the next power outlet ;) It feels like over the past 10y Linux only went from 2h to 3h of battery life. While MacBook went from 3h to 13h.
  - captn3m0 3y ago
    You’re comparing an OS with a specific device. In the union case (Asahi Linux on MacBook), the battery life is much higher than 3h. Not yet 13, but soon should be close.
    - bombela 3y ago
      Let's hope it will be close. MacBook has twice the battery capacity as a run of the mill thinkpad. So 6h of battery would be the default I expect. More than that, and I will be impressed. Note that I have been using Linux for 20y. And I fully accept the short battery life in exchange of the tooling and freedom I get with Linux.
  - monsieurgaufre 3y ago
    This is what i experienced as well. 3h on light battery use. After having read every how-tos and used tlp, auto-cpufreq, powertop, ... I hate to say it, but, for me, it is the price to pay to not have to deal with Windows anymore. I'm on Ubuntu right now, but have tried with other distros in the past. YMMV.

V1ndaar 3y ago

> Windows power management (and that beautiful laptop battery life) Is that sarcasm? I never had good battery life on a laptop running Windows. Linux has always been superior to me in that regard (maybe if nvidia optimus is at play?).

plonk 3y ago
> maybe if nvidia optimus is at play? In this case Windows is the only sane choice (at least based on my experience from 2 years ago). After a lot of reading random docs, I got to a point where I could stop the GPU from eating the battery doing nothing, but I could only disable/enable it by logging out then in. It was either no GPU at all or a GPU drawing maximum power, no in-between. Maybe Nvidia's latest code releases will help with that?
- NGRhodes 3y ago
  I've only had an Nvidia GPU laptop for 2 years so no experience of using older series of drivers, but Nvidia's 5xx series of drivers work great on my T460s running the latest Mint, drivers installed using the Ubuntu driver tool. Secure boot works out of the box, prime render offload works without a hitch (and no need to log in/out to switch GPUs), battery life is ballpark similar to Windows.
  - plonk 3y ago
    My experience was on a Dell XPS 15 from ~2018, up to Ubuntu 20.04. Maybe they got better just when I switched to macOS. :)

MSFT_Edging 3y ago

I really don't get this battery life complaint. What kind of system are you running? On my thinkpad, arch install squeezes 9 hours after 7 years of use. On a dell XPS I'd get about 13 hours with the gpu disabled and display set to 1440p instead of 4k. Sure you might say "but I need my GPU and 4k 15'' display" to which I reply eh maybe but I don't.

oefnak 3y ago
Incredible. Can you post your configuration? On my XPS15 that's about 4 or 5 years old, I can get max 2.5 hours with the GPU disabled and 1920×1080 resolution.
- MSFT_Edging 3y ago
  I didn't do anything special.Years ago the xps15 had some issues installing linux, there was a git repo with a special post install script to get the drivers sorted. Dell fan control can be weird but this was many years ago at this point. I have a normal ubuntu install, I use the i3wm to reduce general load. Resolution set to 1440p with xrandr, no scale adjustments. GPU disabled, totally on intel graphics. My xps is about 4.5 years old right now, I have replaced the battery when it started to swell slightly, the replacement was salvaged from another and even worse, so after a year I put the original battery back in. I honestly think the biggest thing is a tiling wm. Any time I go from full gnome to i3wm, my battery life gets an instant 3 hour bonus. Big ole note, because of the age and battery degradation, i can squeeze about 6-7 hours out of with if I limit myself to a single firefox window and text editors. When it was brand new, 13 hours of normal use was totally doable.
heleninboodler 3y ago
My ThinkPad running linux gets absolutely fantastic battery life with the exception that when I close it and put it in my backpack, I have about a 25% chance of discovering later that, while closed, it turned the screen on and and ran the fans at full speed to kill the battery because it was, I don't know... bored of being in a bag?
- 3y ago