Microsoft is bringing Linux GUI apps to Windows 10

[Karlston]

Microsoft is bringing Linux GUI apps to Windows 10

Linux on Windows 10 gets a big boost and GPU acceleration

 

Microsoft is promising to dramatically improve its Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) with GUI app support and GPU hardware acceleration. The software giant is adding a full Linux kernel to Windows 10 with WSL version 2 later this month, and it’s now planning to support Linux GUI apps that will run alongside regular Windows apps.

 

This will be enabled without Windows users having to use X11 forwarding, and it’s mainly designed for developers to run Linux integrated development environments (IDE) alongside regular Windows apps.

 

While it has been possible to run Linux GUI apps within Windows previously using a third-party X server, poor graphics performance has always been an issue. Microsoft is promising to solve this, too. Windows 10 will soon get added support for GPU hardware acceleration with Linux tools. This is primarily focused on development scenarios involving parallels computation or training machine learning and artificial intelligence models.

 

The GPU hardware acceleration will start appearing in the next few months for Windows 10 Insiders in the Fast Ring, and Microsoft is planning to share more information on the timing for Linux GUI app support later this year.

 

All of these latest Linux improvements are clearly aimed directly at developers who want to use Windows as a dev box. Microsoft has made some solid improvements to Windows with WSL in recent years after surprising everyone by adding the Bash shell to Windows at Build four years ago. The development community has also embraced WSL, with direct support in many tools.

 

Microsoft also added native OpenSSH in Windows 10, and even Ubuntu, SUSE Linux, and Fedora in the Windows Store. Microsoft’s Windows Terminal command line tool launched in preview last year, and it’s now reached 1.0 general release this week. Microsoft is even improving Linux file integration in File Explorer for Windows 10.

 

WSL 2 and these new GPU promises should hopefully address a number of outstanding WSL issues. Microsoft has been struggling with compatibility and file I/O performance in the original version of WSL, and it’s been a big area of focus for WSL 2 that arrives in Windows 10 later this month.

 

 

Source: Microsoft is bringing Linux GUI apps to Windows 10 (The Verge)

[mp68terr]

Linux under win10, why not running linux directly?

[Karlston]

The Windows Subsystem for Linux is getting GPU and GUI support

 

Microsoft is continuing to improve the Windows Subsystem for Linux, as the company today announced even more features that are on the way. Windows 10 version 2004 is going to include Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, which means that an actual Linux kernel is shipping with Windows 10, and soon, it's getting GPU and GUI support.

 

With GPU support comes hardware acceleration, meaning that you can handle some pretty heavy workloads depending on what kind of hardware you have. You can do things like parallel computation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence models.

 

Support for GUI apps without a third-party server is pretty interesting as well. It's not just about having a command line shell anymore. Now, you can run your favorite Linux IDE from right within Windows.

 

The third and final improvement that Microsoft announced today is that it's going to be easier to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux. All you have to do is run the command 'wsl.exe - install'. Previously, you had to activate it through the Control Panel.

 

Microsoft didn't exactly say when these features will arrive, but Insiders should be able to test them out pretty soon.

 

 

Source: The Windows Subsystem for Linux is getting GPU and GUI support (Neowin)

[SPECTRUM]

1 hour ago, mp68terr said:

Linux under win10, why not running linux directly?

 

due compatibility reasons.

[BimBamSmash]

I applaud their work here but do people use Linux because of its... umm... GUI apps, or do they choose it to stay clear of paywalls, data collection and glitches "offered" by other platforms?

[steven36]

On 5/19/2020 at 3:19 PM, mp68terr said:

Linux under win10, why not running linux directly?

Maybe they  like some Linux users  like me who use Crossover  were i can run most Windows  Apps on Linux . Linux has some apps you couldn't run on Windows  . you can build Linux apps on Windows  so wouldnt you want devs who  just build   on  Windows that do cross platform to to be able to test the app out before it gets forked to Linux ? If you can't test the app you made in Windows that would mean you wold have install to Linux in VM  like devs did before .It just means more apps for Linux  and Windows taking  another step to  becomeing Linux.😆

 

On 5/19/2020 at 3:13 PM, Karlston said:

This will be enabled without Windows users having to use X11 forwarding, and it’s mainly designed for developers to run Linux integrated development environments (IDE) alongside regular Windows apps.

 

They couldn't sell UWP to the developers so there bringing Linux apps to windows  this is not a feature for consumers . If Enterprise needs to use Linux they use   Linux if they need Windows they  use Windows  they have the money to use whatever they want . Windows is not really  for  consumers  anymore unless  your a PC gamer  there  gravy train is the cloud and Enterprise. they lost most of there consumer App  DEVs to Android  and IOS  . All this has to do with Microsoft Aruze  has more Linux users than Windows .  Makein Linux apps on Windows  is not making anything new useful to consumers . Only if the DEV ports a app  to windows is it useful  and  it may or may not be useful to consumers. It just depends on what the app is for .

 

Also Linux  is making  a move away from X11  with Wayland  but there still a long ways off before all apps and DEs work  with it .  For anything to be good enough to use in production or consumption  in Windows  they would have to make Linux apps emulate X11 and Wayland  as good as Crossover can make Windows apps run in Linux  . But there is no benefit to doing that when they could just make a Windows native app.    The reason we use crossover is to use apps because there closed source  like games  or a app that  never been ported to Linux. None of my apps  i have in crossover  are really useful to me i already have Linux  apps that do the same thing  . except for my games  . I just test windows apps to see do they work and most do.