Ubuntu’s Unity desktop environment can run in Windows 10

Now You Can Run Ubuntu Linux With The Unity Desktop Atop Of Windows 10

Microsoft plans to bring the “Bash on Ubuntu on Windows” integration as a part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update due on August 2, 2016, which will allow users to run Ubuntu Linux natively on the Windows 10 operating system. In other words, an Ubuntu sub-system will allow you to run Linux software using a command-line interface.

Unity is the default desktop environment for Ubuntu Linux, but since Ubuntu on Windows is designed for command-line use, it’s not enabled by default.

While preview versions have been available since April, and Microsoft and Canonical have been working together to bring support for the Bash terminal to Windows 10, it didn’t take long for some users to figure out that they could get some desktop Linux apps to run in Windows.

GitHub user Guerra24 has managed to run the Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS with the Unity desktop environment on top of a Windows 10 installation. To make this work, he tried all kinds of tricks in the CompizConfig Settings Manager (CSSM) GUI configuration tool for Compiz, used a combination of VcXsrv and XLaunch, enabled the Unity plugin, and two applications for configuring and setting up a Windows X server.

In a ticket titled “Running Unity Desktop in WSL, he writes:

“I finally managed to run Unity inside WSL, this shows that is fully capable of running an entire Desktop Environment, there is some issues with dbus and sometimes VcXsrv crashes, also you can’t logout and the only way of exiting is closing compiz.”

The practicalities of running Unity inside Windows are also debatable. Guerra24 notes that: “the only programs that can be opened are in the panel and there is no way of opening the terminal inside unity, for do this you need to open another bash in Windows, export the display and run gnome-terminal, after that the terminal will show up so lock that in the panel for future use.”

Guerra24 has posted instructions for installing and configuring Unity at Github. While the feature is aimed at developers, it could appeal to Linux users that have to use Windows for some reason or vice versa.

Source: Softpedia

Kavita Iyer
Kavita Iyerhttps://www.techworm.net
An individual, optimist, homemaker, foodie, a die hard cricket fan and most importantly one who believes in Being Human!!!

9 COMMENTS

  1. I absolutely agree with Walt Bankes. Besides, why on earth (or any other habitable body) would I want to run Ubuntu *inside* Windows??? Why not run Windows *within* Ubuntu!?! Linux users have access to excellent versions of Virtual Memory and Emulators – as well as Dual Boot / Multiboot software. >>Iago

  2. Doesn’t make sense to me when you can install VirtualBox and have Ubuntu running as a complete system on the Windows desktop. Or any Linux distro for that matter.

  3. Why not just run Ubuntu on Windows 10 via Virtualbox? I run Windows in Kubuntu with virtualbox and even have Windows 3.11 set up as a virtual machine to run some legacy apps that won’t run on anything else.

  4. Proprietary software or Open-source software?
    According to documents released by Edward Snowden, the NSA has used covert partnerships with software companies to make commercial encryption software exploitable to eavesdropping, or to insert backdoors.

  5. If people’s chief complaint can be translated into -> Why would I use WSL when what I need is a virtual machine? Then I don’t know how to help you. That’s like asking “Why would I buy an SUV (windows + WSL) when I need a car (linux) sometimes and a truck (windows) other times?” You don’t, just dual boot.

    Or even better the VM argument is “Why would I buy an SUV (windows + WSL) when I can just tow a truck (windows VM) around with my car? (linux)” Really?

    The WSL integration with Windows is much nicer than a virtual machine. I don’t need to lose 20gigs of my hard drive to keep a distro handy. I don’t need to care about sharing folders and such. The WSL is also very light on resources and startup is near instant.

    I’m using WSL now and I can switch into a linux toolchain near instantly without a context switch. Why would I boot up a linux VM, consume needless resources, log into that separate system, remember where I left everything, make sure my folders are shared, relog into any web assets when all I want to do is kick off a process?

    Being able to run WSL saved me around $300 on my last laptop because it greatly reduced the power I needed and has just overall been a joy. I’m not towing around that VM anymore just in case I need it….

    So strange seeing people decry an awesome solution because it doesn’t address a similar but unrelated use case.

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