FUCK YES! I FUCKING DID IT. I'M FUCKING RUNNING I3 ON LINUX ON MOTHER FLIPPING WINDOWS!!!

I'm sorry but I don't have anyone else to share this with. I feel so... empowered. If windows continues to support the wsl, who knows how far they will get. This makes windows so attractive. I still keep using debian on my desktop machine but my laptop isn't so underpowered in terms of software now that I'm figuring this stuff out.

Wait what. Linux in windows? What what whaaaaaaaat?

@Froot yep. It's a linux kernel on top of the Windows kernel. I don't know much about the details, but here's a good read if you are interested: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ws...

It can't run GUI apps out of the box but you can make them work by using a windows X server such as vcXsr.

awesome man! I have not thought about x server for gui... will give it a go!

@olezhka Have fun! :)

I was thinking of doing that only for running a proper terminal app.

@gitcommit it's a Linux userspace with all the syscalls ported into equivalent windows calls. Its not a Linux kernel, just userspace

@stevemk14ebr you are right.

Also note that the cool thing is all io is shared between the two oses (because Linux just uses windows through a translation layer). So appache can run in Linux and on Windows access through localhost without bridges or anything, it uses windows TCP stack. Same with filesystem, etc

@stevemk14ebr yeah, Idk if you noticed but I'm running the local server django provides through local host. I was pretty impressed when it ran seamlessly the first time.

@Condor why so negative about it? Of course it's not the same as linux itself, but it's a great tool for those that can only use windows. I can't install linux in my laptop becouse some hardware isn't supported yet, and while I could program without that hardware, I rely on it while I study.

The wsl open source btw. Idk if you noticed but windows is slowly turning to open source culture with vscode and typescript, and other smaller projects. I know it has been a shitty company in the past, but at least it is trying, unlike Apple, which is only profiting on good looks and the well established brand that Steve Jobs left behind (I liked their initial focus on UX, but now, it's just leaving everything else behind).

@Condor Did you know that Microsoft is one of the biggest contributors to the linux kernel?

I understand your point but it's not 1998 anymore. 😉

If you have no choice to run Linux natively, it is at least way better than cygwin :)