wsl on Windows

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wove
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

wsl on Windows

Post by wove »

Since it is way too cold way too early, I am just messing around in a warm comfy chair. I am waiting for another SSD to install Linux, so I am playing a bit with Windows 11 on an older smaller SSD I do have on hand.

I activated wsl on Windows 11. Windows always strikes me as a bit brain dead. In order for wsl to work, it needs the HyperVisor activated, but Windows does not do that automatically, which seems to me it should. If HyperVisor is a dependacy of wsl, then it should be turned on with wsl, instead of needing to be selected seperatly. In the end I did get wsl active. It defaults to Ubuntu shell.

I installed homebrew in Ubuntu which went without a hitch. Next using Homebrew, I installed Gedit. That ran to completion without errors. I had assumed that it would work like it does on the Mac where I could just select the Gedit application, but it is nowhere to be found amidst Windows applications. I next tried to open it from the Ubuntu shell, where it simply complained that gtk could not open a window.

I assume I would need to install the graphical environment for Ubuntu and then run gedit in what is essentially an Ubuntu VM on Windows. All of this of course makes me wonder, "Is wsl just a Linux VM maker for Windows?". I guess for myself I just do not see much of any use for wsl. I would be interested to hear if people are using it and what it is they do with it.
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crosscourt
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Re: wsl on Windows

Post by crosscourt »

Being a Windows user its something I have no need for nor care about. Hyper-V is off by default in Win11 and theres really no reason for it to be on unless you need it. Win11 doesnt have all features on by default and doesnt automatically enable them unless its a default feature to begin with. Mainstream users simply dont care about VM and have much different priorities.
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