Windows 10 Now Runs Linux Programs With GUI | Applications and Software

Windows 10 Now Runs Linux Programs With GUI | Applications and Software" title="Windows 10 Now Runs Linux Programs With GUI | Applications and Software" />

Perhaps you are too young to remember when Microsoft said that the Linux it was a “cancer”. This has changed radically: now, programs for Linux distributions that have a graphical interface can run side by side with applications from Windows 10, even using hardware graphics acceleration, without the need for a virtual machine.

This Wednesday (21), Microsoft complied two promises she made last year, during the Build 2020 conference: she guaranteed that WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) would have native support for graphical user interface (GUI) programs, and which would support GPU hardware acceleration.

With WSL, it was already possible to run a Linux environment on Windows 10 to run Linux utilities and tools – as long as they used only the command line. Thanks to the new WSLg feature, GUI programs will also work.

Basically, when you open a Linux application with a GUI, Windows only loads the resources it needs to communicate with the system (Wayland, X Server, etc.). Meaning you won't see Ubuntu or another distribution booting inside your PC – the experience is more seamless. When you close the program, WSL also closes.

Yeah, but what's this for? Here are some examples:

• some Linux programs are not available for Windows, but may run on Microsoft's operating system;
• programmers will be able to create applications for Linux using IDEs (integrated development environments) like gedit and gvim;
• it is possible to test the same program on Windows and Linux, without having to resort to another PC or virtual machine.

Linux on Windows Has Hardware Graphics Acceleration

Microsoft has also enabled support for GPU-accelerated 3D graphics, either graphics chip or video card, through the OpenGL standard. That's good news for programs that do complex 3D rendering like Gazebo, a robotic simulation tool.

Furthermore, GUI-based Linux programs can use the PC's audio and microphone without needing to be modified, something useful for Audacity and similar programs.

To use Linux app support with GUI, you need to install Windows 10 build 21364 or higher, available to Insiders.

So, there are two possibilities:

• if you don't have WSL enabled, run the command wsl –install to install WSLg automatically;
• if you already have WSL, just run the command wsl –update to use GUI programs.