WSL

Posted on Edited on

For years, I've been using VirtualBox to run Linux virtual machines (currently using Arch [btw]), but I've gotten started with WSL, and it's fantastic. Microsoft is certainly trying to make the developer community like them, and here's another win for everyone.

"Windows Subsystem for Linux" is a way to seamlessly run a tiny Linux VM on your Windows 10+ machine. To run Linux on a machine that runs Windows, there are a few options, here sorted in terms of more involved to least:

  • Have two computers
  • Dual-boot
  • Dedicated VM
  • WSL

From this, WSL is the least involved to set up (or buy), and also the least involved to use. It's ... just there.

I don't hate running VMs through VirtualBox - it's been incredibly useful for me over the years, for learning Linux, learning Unix tooling, connecting to and setting up VPSes (often through DigitalOcean), setting up VMs for my employers, etc. I owe a lot of my learning to VirtualBox. Over the years, I've gotten pretty handy with it, and also with the various Linux distributions that I've used (Ubuntu, *ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Fedora, Arch, and more).

To install WSL, you can follow the documentation here, and/or take a look at these two videos: 1, 2.

10/10, would recommend.