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Show HN: Winpodx – run Windows apps on Linux as native windows
- d3Xt3r 5mo agoWinApps doesn't use a Docker backend btw, you can use any Windows machine running anywhere - cloud, physical, container etc. All you need is the IP address of the box once it's set up. This looks great though. +1 choosing Qt instead of Electron. -1 for Python though. Otherwise, your approach ticks most of my boxes. One feature I'd like to see though is reverse file associations - basically associate Linux filetypes inside the Windows VM so that any file you open in a Windows app would open the file in Linux, assuming Linux has a file association for it. Say I've installed Directory Opus in the VM and I want to use it as my primary file manager in Linux, and say I double-click on a .xml file, I would like to open it in the Linux app associated with that filetype (which would be Kate in my case).
- kernalix7 5mo agoRight, I had WinApps pinned to dockur in that comparison and missed the IP-based flexibility part. That's an actual difference, will fix the README. On Python: fair pushback. Picked it for stdlib coverage (zero runtime deps on 3.11+, one tomli fallback for 3.9/3.10) and iteration speed. Heavy lifting is in the container and FreeRDP so perf hasn't been the bottleneck, but yeah the language choice is a tradeoff. Reverse file association is interesting, hadn't thought about that direction. The v0.3.0 agent could probably handle it but I'd want to look at the security model first. Marking it TBD. If you open an issue with the use case that'd help me scope it.
- thesuavefactor 5mo agoWhat's wrong with python for this use case?
- d3Xt3r 5mo agoI'm fine with the language, I just don't like its dependency ecosystem. I don't mind using it for quick-and-dirty single-file scripts, but once a python project reaches a certain level of complexity, you start relying on external libraries and before you know it, you now have to maintain this messy behemoth of a project with a gazillion dependencies, breakages and potential vulnerabilities up the chain... just thinking about it gives me a headache.
- kernalix7 5mo agoyeah.. I also agreed with that. so I'll optimize the code continuously and lower the dependency on python. but for now I'll keep it because of some benefits.
- romanroe 5mo agoDoesn't this apply to every language? You always will rely on external libraries once a project reaches a certain level.
- thetoon 5mo agoCertainly not those where you need to reimplement everything yourself, at least ;)
- Induane 5mo agoPython has nothing on the sprawl of nodejs packages. It is a fair criticism and some languages do fare better than others. Python is kind of in the middle there in my opinion. It's pretty easy to keep a relatively simple dependency graph with a little bit of discipline.
- kernalix7 5mo agoNow it supports reverse-open
- deevus 5mo agoDemo? Video? That's the first thing I want to see.
- kernalix7 5mo agoFair point. Working on it now — will push a screenshot and short clip soon.
- mtucker502 5mo agoEvery reply by OP sounds like AI.
- kernalix7 5mo agoFair, English isn't my first language and I've been leaning on tooling. I'll dial it back.
- trollbridge 5mo agoEnglish-as-a-second language is very much welcome here--your grammar/spelling do not need to be perfect. Just try your best.
- kernalix7 5mo agoThanks for your opinion, i ll try my best!
- livinglist 5mo agoThis is nice!!
- Zetaphor 5mo agoTerse sentences? This is how I naturally write and think out loud and I assure you I'm not an LLM
- bugufu8f83 5mo agoYes, looking at their profile it does look that way for all their contributions on HN. Ctrl+F "real" and Ctrl+F "genuine" as one quick indicator--AI absolutely loves these adjectives and their forms right now.
- selfhoster11 5mo agoI use both of these and I don't think I've once had an LLM rewrite my comment before posting it on HN.
- satvikpendem 5mo agoSo, Linux subsystem for Windows?
- happymellon 5mo agoSince this is a UI forwarder to a Windows machine, I don't think so?
- satvikpendem 5mo agoWell, WSL GUI apps are just a forwarder to a Linux VM in the Hyper-V hypervisor.
- happymellon 5mo agoWSL2 is. The first WSL wasn't though, was it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux > allows the use of a Linux environment from within Windows, foregoing the overhead of a virtual machine and being an alternative to dual booting. WSL2 isn't a Windows subsystem by definition as far as I can tell.
- satvikpendem 5mo agoYes WSL2 as WSL 1 was just an implementation of Linux utilities. WSL 2 is a subsystem on Windows for Linux, it's poorly named but makes sense if you take it as Windows' subsystem for Linux.
- happymellon 5mo ago> makes sense if you take it as Windows' subsystem for Linux. But WSL2 is a VM, not just an implementation of Linux utilities
- satvikpendem 5mo agoIn Hyper-V, Windows also runs as a VM next to Linux. So I guess technically both are subsystems of Hyper-V.
- quincepie 5mo agoMight be harsh to say but not bothering to fix the spacing in the ai generated ascii diagram tells me how much i should be taking this project seriously.
- surajguptayc 5mo ago[dead]
- swaits 5mo ago[flagged]
- copper-float 5mo ago[flagged]
- politelemon 5mo ago> GPU passthrough via VFIO is a manual bring-your-own setup — not yet packaged. Can we take this to mean that GPU passthrough is planned? This would be huge especially for running Adobe/Canva software.
- kernalix7 5mo agoJust at the planning stage, needs careful consideration first.
- shlip 5mo agoDoes this mean that each software you run is now the size of a windows install + sw or is it a single container that runs all your softwares ?
- kernalix7 5mo agoFor now single container runs all softwares. tradeoff with dockur/windows limits, saves ram and disk. planning multi container later for better isolation.
- seoulful 5mo ago[dead]
- Sithuk 5mo agoHow does the responsiveness of the application compare between the OCI winpodx approach and a VM based winapps approach? The OCI approach should mean that resources are not ringfenced and held separate from the host, which would be beneficial for applications run on the host. A winapps approach using a VM that is run on the host would constrain the host while the VM is running, which the VM would need to be to make sure the windows app is "always available". Is there a noticeable performance benefit to using winpodx compared to winapps? How does the idle resource usage compare too?
- kernalix7 5mo ago[dead]
- leoparkbuild 5mo ago[flagged]
- hallegbg 5mo agoInteresting!
- the_wolo 5mo agoIs it intended that readers initially read "windpox" (as I did)? I hope so. That'd be funny.
- nbiznich 5mo agoWill Solidworks work on Linux now?
- kernalix7 5mo agomaybe it runs, but gpu hardware accel doesn't support now.