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I have thought that everyone was using WSL2 for this kind of thing and calling it a day. What are the reasons for even trying to build a native Windows version?
by LispSporks22 3y ago
I have thought that everyone was using WSL2 for this kind of thing and calling it a day. What are the reasons for even trying to build a native Windows version?
- RockRobotRock 3y agomsft and nvidia tackling CUDA drivers on WSL2 is a godsend. Especially when you can use Docker Desktop on it. Definitely making the best of a less than ideal situation.
- PLenz 3y agoWay more researchers use windows then you might think. Plus students.
- spookie 3y agoMaybe I'm biased, being in EU and all. But I've seen more Linux than Windows in those environments.
- aulin 3y agoSame, it's either linux or macos in compute intensive research for what I've seen in Europe. I've seen groups working with Windows based data analysis tools but those groups and the ones that need python rarely intersect. WSL2 is a godsend for people forced on Windows by blind IT policies, but fortunately IT doesn't have that kind of control in academia.
- pjmlp 3y agoI can assert that a large majority of people at CERN leave GNU/Linux for servers and use Windows/macOS on their desktops. It was like that 20 years ago, and it looks quite the same when I visit it for Alumni events.
- izacus 3y agoWhat you've "seen" has nothing to do with what's actually popular. Why does the concept of observer bias have to be explained on this site?
- spookie 3y agoMy response was based on my own experience. Hence the remark. What I've observed was also dictated by my own choices.
- hurryer 3y agoThat's like asking way don't mac developers work in a linux vm instead of wanting a native build. Because working in a VM is inconvenient and has poor integration.
- satvikpendem 3y agoWSL2 is not really a VM though, in the traditional sense, as it has full hardware access, including the GPU. Technically, when you enable WSL2, the Windows build itself is running through the Hyper-V hypervisor, as is the Linux distribution. In fact, a few years ago, I used Proxmox to basically do the same thing, in order to test cross-desktop apps I was developing for Windows, Linux, and macOS (as a Hackintosh).
- fbdab103 3y agoAs someone stuck on a Windows corporate laptop, I can say that WSL2 is definitely not on the approved software list. Unless it installed by default and comes with a big solid green check mark for compliance/virus scanner/whatever security doo-dad of the day, it is a non-starter for many of us. Sure, with enough begging and pleading, anything is possible, but that usually requires Conversations.
- satvikpendem 3y agoSure, corporate laptops are always a different story. Ideally it's nice to have cross compilation but that might not always be possible. I use a lot of Rust and I really like their OS compatibility out of the box.
- xnyan 3y ago>WSL2 is not really a VM though, in the traditional sense, as it has full hardware access It is exactly a VM, and the WSL2 guest does not have full hardware access. The hypervisor can paravirtualize compatible GPUs, but for other hardware (such as USB) this is not possible. Hardware passthrough is also not possible in WSL2.
- nijave 3y agoI'm guessing big corporations where it's near impossible to get a non-Windows machine are a big part of the audience.