Ubuntu Command Line Tools Come To Windows Store As An App

[Lucian Armasu]

Canonical announced that a GUI-less Ubuntu operating system is now available for the latest Windows Insider build as an app that can be installed from the Windows Store.

Ubuntu Command Line Tools Come To Windows Store As An App : Read more

 

[mcconkeymike]

Doesn't sound all that interesting considering the limited functionality. I'll stick with virtuals if I want to run Linux on a Windows box.

 

[theLaminator88]

I've been using this for a couple of months now and it's been great. There are a few quirks, but as the article states it's not a full blown Ubuntu install. I run an X-Server (xming) on my Win 10 desktop and pass my display variable (from Ubuntu) back to it so I can use Terminator and other graphical tools. It hasn't replaced my Fedora install and probably never will, but I find myself using my Fedora box less and less.

 

[spiketheaardvark]

In research most the people I know use macs. The result is some of tools I need for analyzing sequencing data are built on *nix only python libraries. WSL came around just as I was starting and has saved me from having to switch from PC to mac. Which is exactly the scenario MS was hoping for. It is a little quirky at times, but I don't have to carve off a chunk of my laptop's drive or ram for a vm. Heck I can even run the new aligners on my machine and skip using the compute cluster all together.

 

[bit_user]

As with many new features, the Ubuntu app is now available to members of the Windows Insider Program, but it should be soon be available to everyone.

I thought this had been available to Insiders for nearly a year, now. Phoronix was certainly testing it last year. I guess this is just proceeding at Microsoft speed.

Anyway, I've used Cygwin-X for over a decade. For my purposes, this doesn't really add anything. I can see the benefit of being able to run proprietary Linux binaries without having to recompile, but if you just want to use standard tools I recommend checking out Cygwin. It's a little rough around the edges, but probably has a broader range of packages out of the box.

 

[Frank_139]

You are wrong, this is a full linux distro running as a subsystem under windows. It works like of like wine in reverse interpreting and translating syscals. If you install xming and type export display 0:0 in the bash shell you can run gui apps like Firefox.

 

[alextheblue]

As with many new features, the Ubuntu app is now available to members of the Windows Insider Program, but it should be soon be available to everyone.

I thought this had been available to Insiders for nearly a year, now. Phoronix was certainly testing it last year. I guess this is just proceeding at Microsoft speed.

WSL/Ubuntu is not new, but the prebuilt app form of Linux distros for WSL is new. In other words, it's new to the Store. Having a store version makes it easier to keep up to date among other benefits.