Got pinged by google - one of my accounts vulnerable after some databreach…
The only one was my account at linuxfoundation… So I changed it and deleted the stored password…
So beware, not only does the Foundation President use a MacBook only at presentations, they’re insecure (nothing wrong with using a MacBook - I use mine quite happy with it - but - I’m not out there “representing”).
nothing wrong with using a MacBook - I use mine quite happy with it
This is a little off topic, but why is that?
What I mean is, why do you see so many people using a Mac? On YouTube, at conferences, etc. When in “real life” they have a fairly small percentage of the desktop computer pie.
I use a Windows 10 laptop for work even when supporting Linux servers. We have about three fourths of our servers running on Linux.
On my home laptop I run Ubuntu. In Windows 10 I use WSL sometimes. I also dual boot and run VMs with Ubuntu or some other distro in it.
Why do we see so many Macs?
Good question. I remember that very old YouTube video where Richard Dawkins used a MacBook, as well.
Maybe, because rich people buy expensive stuff by default, because it’s the usual stuff? So, does not even have to be a conscious decision.
I’m in a similar situation. The thing with Windows 10 is, that you can run Windows and Linux runs inside it very well. Whether it’s a VM for the almost full experience or WSL2 for a better integrated experience, there are so many options.
However, when using Linux, you are basically locked into Linux and may start a Windows VM, if it works. But that’s slow, etc.
In my case, I have to use proprietary Windows software anyway, so Windows 10 is the clear winner in that scenario.
For example, I know a guy who uses Macs not for any great reason. He literally just uses it, because he’s been using it since the 90’s and he got used to it. That’s it. A matter of being used to it and not wanting to learn a new operating system.
It’s on topic - 'cause :
Maybe you misunderstood. I was not asking why YOU use a Mac. I was asking why we see so many on YouTube, conferences, TV commercials (spot placement), when they are a small market when compared to other platforms. That’s why I said my comment was a little off topic. It’s your topic of course you can pick anything you like.
I am not calling you a Mac fan boy, but those types are what really annoy me. I don’t care for Apple, but it’s more the fan boys that get me.
At one time I had to be a secondary support person for some Macs. They just wouldn’t see reality. Their replies to comments were similar to what some folks have accused Windows fans of. The software they used was indeed very specific to the Mac platform, but…that was five years prior.
My reply was that everything you can do on a Mac, you can do on Windows. The reverse is not true. That isn’t 100% true, but much more true for Windows that Mac.
Anyway. Just wondered why we are over exposed to Macs. Since you use one I thought you might have a thought.
Yes, there are many facettes, where this is true.
For example, as a long time Windows user, it’s hard for me to imagine buying a generic & cheap piece of PC hardware and having the chance of it simply not working on my computer, just like that.
I always wondered about how many products are specifically labelled as “compatible with Mac”, because apparently a whole new market of products that should work on Mac by default arose, due to Mac always being more picky about hardware compatibility, than a French poodle about its feed.
Hi @pdecker,
I am getting really behind in the PC world. I had to look up what WSL was.
I had hear that Linux could run under Windows, but never looked into it.
Reading your post has got me curious and I may give it a try tho I do not use Window very much anymore.
Me too.
Can I ask, if one runs Linux inside Windows, does one discard the Linux GUI and use the Windows GUI instead?
It works, as if you had a Linux terminal inside Windows. It’s extremely convenient. You can even access the filesystem of the Linux system inside Windows! It’s really great.
Of course, there is no way to do this with Windows, on Linux…
Plus, installing a new Linux operating system through WSL/2 is literally just a matter of pressing the “Install” button in a Windows GUI. That’s it.
No horsing around. No frustration. Just click “Install” and you’re done.
This is the magic of Windows.
So if I start an X11 app in the linux inside windows, how does it display… in the Linux terminal window, or in second linux terminal window, or in a windows window?
So does WSL have it’s own brand of linux? Can a person install any Linux distro?
I like the idea that thru WSL you could access Linux files. Does that include encrypted files with LUKS?
Would work like with Docker, but you must likely SSH into it with X forwarding, I suppose.
No. It just made the installation painless. Click “Install” and you are done.
You can install plain old Ubuntu, SUSE, Fedora, Alpine, etc…
Theoretically, most should work, but currently only the most demanded ones are easily supported through a one-click installation method.
No. You can access WSL Linux files from within Windows. So, you can open a Windows Explorer window and navigate to the location, where WSL stores its files.
OK, so it is not Linux with a windows GUI
it is linux in a container
plus windows able to access the filesystem inside the container.
So slightly better than running a linux in Virtualbox in windows, but basically the same VM technology.
Been using WSL on and off since 2016…
It has its good points, it has its crap points too… it’s still partially hobbled…
Note : it’s not actually LINUX - it takes some tweaking to get X to run - e.g. it doesn’t come with an X Server so you have to install xming or something like that…
Note also : the inverse of this would be like running PowerShell on Linux, which is also possible.
Note also : the first “cab” off the rank, was Ubuntu 14.04 (in 2016)… But now there’s Debian and Ubuntu 20 and so on, not sure about SUSE or Fedora…
With a bit of tweaking - you can even get it to run SSHD so you can SSH to your Windows machine and get a bash shell…
As for file access, from WSL, you can also access your Windows files e.g. something like cd /drives/c, /drives/d (kinda like how MobaXterm does it).
Note : I may be going back to using Windows more often from Thursday, but I’ll probably opt for MobaXterm (I paid for a license) over WSL, which is still a bit clunky for my taste.
The funkiest (as in stinky, not funky as in “cool”) thing about WSL was the HIDEOUS interface, it used the same UGLY window as CMD and PowerShell - e.g. proper X select and middle-button paste did not work. I think that’s been fixed by using Microsoft Terminal for Windows, which is a vast improvement, but doesn’t support proper transparency like you can get on Gnome Terminal, i.e. it can appear semi-opaque, but everything under it is blurred…
You can’t run Windows programs with that setup, so WSL is still much superior.
Yes, that’s great, too. I’m literally doing this every single day.
I’m using the new Windows Terminal since it came out, though I didn’t have any issues before, either, because I did not expect any shortcuts to work. In any terminal I just use right-clicks and perhaps select with left-clicks. Which is something that works anywhere.
Sounds like its as difficult as Virtualbox.
I am not yet impressed with any VM effort. Best I have seen is my colleagues VMWare with Rhel and Windows.
I just remembered what I kinda hated about that Windows Terminal app, you had to edit JSON files to configure/customise it… is it still like that? If so - I’m dreading going “back” to my old job…
Wait, do you say that as if that were a bad thing?
That’s actually genius, because it gets rid of the Linux nightmare of having a configuration method for each of the one billion programs available. It’s like having to learn a billion languages.
Whereas in Windows, the newest products all have streamlined configuration.
For example, in Visual Studio Code, you can configure (if you like – you can use a GUI instead, of course) everything by JSON. So, it is universally usable, applicable and modifiable. No more Linux CLI tool nightmares, where everything has its own fringe way of configuration.
They are taking all the fun out of it.