Windows Subsystem for Linux. A n00b5 Toy?
by P4!nt
This article should have been written a lot earlier and probably has been. But Microsoft had included a nifty little feature into Windows 10 called the "Windows Subsystem for Linux." When I first saw the Windows Subsystem for Linux (or WSL as it's called), I originally thought it was a useless terminal emulator for n00bs to call themselves "hackers." So out of curiosity, I thought "what have I got to lose" and went through the process of installing the required stuff for it and installing Ubuntu (not the 16.04 version that is also on the Microsoft Store).
After it installed, I sat through the 20 minutes it took to install (thanks to my Western Digital 5400RPM hard drive). After I had made an account and password, I was greeted with what I expected, a blank prompt with:
It reminded me of the Ubuntu terminal (namely Xterm), and I decided the first thing I was going to install was a nifty program called "neofetch." (For those who don't know, neofetch displays system info in the terminal.) So right off the bat, I have to mention, run:
first or you will run into errors just like I did. So one update and neofetch installed later. I found out that it did indeed work like it should. And one line interested me:
So it was indeed a Microsoft bastardized Linux kernel (most likely modified to talk to the NT kernel) running Ubuntu 18.04 just like the kernel should.
I should add that, much like normal Ubuntu, it comes with "GNU nano" installed which is pretty nifty. And I mention nano to bring up something else: you can indeed run X on this thing. But it's sort of a process to get it running and the only mainly functioning desktop environment is "Xfce4." But there are some limitations. Namely, you can only really use Xfce4 as a desktop environment and even then it somehow takes a performance hit. On my machine, for some reason, audio did not work, but it worked on my laptop. So mileage may vary on audio. And the worst of it all was that sometimes the X server would not work and, when it did, you were mainly stuck with Xfce4. I tried i3 and MATE with no real success. i3 kept coming up with errors and MATE just crashed the X server.
But is it a n00b toy? Honestly, no. Yes, it does seem childish, but Microsoft actually introduced something that is useful to Windows 10. Now, yes, it is kind of unfair that I tested Ubuntu when there are a few others on the Microsoft Store (mainly Debian, openSUSE Leap, and Kali Linux). Ubuntu is the one I see a lot of beginners and n00bs going towards. In the end, I see the Windows Subsystem for Linux as a helpful tool to assist people getting into Linux, and for some to get Linux-based tasks done on Windows without the need for dual-booting.
The rig I tested WSL on:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 @ 4.25 GHz RAM: 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 HDD: 1 TB 5400 rpm WD Blue, 320 GB Toshiba 5400 rpm, 160 GB Hitachi 5400 rpm GPU: 2 x Nvidia GeForce GTX 750Ti OC Edition OS: Windows 10 Pro