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I had the impression that cmd.exe was on its way out, soon to be replaced by Powershell entirely. When I saw the option for Powershell to open by default in Wi

I had the impression that cmd.exe was on its way out, soon to be replaced by Powershell entirely. When I saw the option for Powershell to open by default in Windows 8/2012 instead of cmd.exe, I figured the writing was on the wall.

forgottenpass 13y ago
Powershell still uses the same terrible terminal emulator that cmd.exe does. This article is mostly about terminal emulators, and using windows shells for unixy stuff. Its not cmd.exe sepcific, I use Console2 for powershell terminals at home.
- dman 13y ago
  I wonder if its time for microsoft to think about supporting a unix userland.
  - rainforest 13y ago
    They already do/did [1,2]. Curiously there used to be a POSIX subsystem (alternative to Win32) but that was removed in favour of SUA. [1] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interix [2] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_UNIX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_UNIX
    - tanzam75 13y ago
      Services for UNIX has been deprecated. It is no longer being kept up-to-date with new Windows versions. That's because the primary purpose of these tools was not to provide a UNIX environment for users. Rather, it was to provide a transition to Win32 for developers of UNIX applications. In version 1, you'd move the UI over to Windows, and leave the back-end mostly unchanged. In version 2, you'd then rewrite the back-end for the Windows API. At this point, if you haven't already ported to Win32, then you're probably running on Linux.
    - kickingvegas 13y ago
      Was about to mention Interix. I consider what Microsoft did with them to be truly a cautionary tale.
- ygra 13y ago
  The Windows console isn't a terminal emulator, though, and never tried to be (ansi.sys notwithstanding, as that was a DOS remnant). I guess what most people actually want isn't a terminal emulator (which is kinda useless with the Windows Console API anyway) but just the nicenesses of a resizable console they have come to expect on Linux.
- mc32 13y ago
  I find Conemu[1] even better than Console2. It's very configurable, and I think it's actively developed. [1]https://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/ https://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/

forgottenpass 13y ago

Powershell still uses the same terrible terminal emulator that cmd.exe does. This article is mostly about terminal emulators, and using windows shells for unixy stuff. Its not cmd.exe sepcific, I use Console2 for powershell terminals at home.

dman 13y ago
I wonder if its time for microsoft to think about supporting a unix userland.
- rainforest 13y ago
  They already do/did [1,2]. Curiously there used to be a POSIX subsystem (alternative to Win32) but that was removed in favour of SUA. [1] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interix [2] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_UNIX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_UNIX
  - tanzam75 13y ago
    Services for UNIX has been deprecated. It is no longer being kept up-to-date with new Windows versions. That's because the primary purpose of these tools was not to provide a UNIX environment for users. Rather, it was to provide a transition to Win32 for developers of UNIX applications. In version 1, you'd move the UI over to Windows, and leave the back-end mostly unchanged. In version 2, you'd then rewrite the back-end for the Windows API. At this point, if you haven't already ported to Win32, then you're probably running on Linux.
  - kickingvegas 13y ago
    Was about to mention Interix. I consider what Microsoft did with them to be truly a cautionary tale.
ygra 13y ago
The Windows console isn't a terminal emulator, though, and never tried to be (ansi.sys notwithstanding, as that was a DOS remnant). I guess what most people actually want isn't a terminal emulator (which is kinda useless with the Windows Console API anyway) but just the nicenesses of a resizable console they have come to expect on Linux.
mc32 13y ago
I find Conemu[1] even better than Console2. It's very configurable, and I think it's actively developed. [1]https://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/ https://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/