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Is the Windows Subsystem for Linux worth it?
(lemmy.world)
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I am a software developer and am forced to have Windows on my work computer. WSL allows me to have a Linux terminal that I can use directly on my files without needed a VM.
Same. Well, not forced, but using Linux would just make everything more difficult. I like being able to drop to a shell and use a Linux environment with its useful utilities to manipulate stuff on my Windows PC.
Yeah, I could use mingw, but that is a pain, and I can't just
apt install
stuff.Not the same as
apt
, but there's Chocolately, which is actually a legitimate package manager for Windows.There's also a package called
gsudo
which allows you to preface a PowerShell command withsudo
to run it as an administrator. It will cause a UAC prompt.I guess that's a bonus.
But being forced to use a terminal to do anything is kinda hard to deal with if you're not a developer. I'm probably guessing this didn't bother you that much.
I prefer the terminal and have tools I like to use that are CLI only.
Edit: and Linux only.
Good to know.
What are you trying to do on WSL? I think the whole point of WSL originally was to have a linux terminal on Windows, before they added graphics in WSL 2.
I was trying to run applications on it, similar to their Windows Subsystem for Android that they released as an update to Windows 11. I have to say, the latter is significantly easier to deal with imo.