[kirillkh]

Depends on your use case/tools/habits. WSL gives you the advantage of being able to access the same files with native Windows tools and from the GNU[1] command line. If you plan on using the X GUI tools, it will be much less useful to you.

[1] I can't bring myself to use the term 'Linux' here, because, ironically, Linux is the primary missing part in this Ubuntu distribution. It should really be called WSG or WSU.

[microtonal]

If you plan on using the Linux GUI tools, it will be much less useful to you.

If you install an X server, such as VcXsrv and set the DISPLAY variable (typically export DISPLAY=:0 will suffice), you can just run X11 apps. For instance, here's a screenshot of a Prolog/Tk application running on WSL:

https://danieldk.eu/Posts/2017-01-10-Alpino-Windows/alpino-w...

I have installed Windows on a workstation just to try WSL out and it's quite impressive. Many regular applications just work. I could build Ubuntu packages and upload them to my PPA (I just had to use fakeroot-tcp to replace fakeroot).

Of course, there are also things that don't work for obvious reasons. E.g. because they require facilities deep in the kernel (performance counters/perf) or because they require kernel modules and hardware access (running CUDA programs).

[20161112]

So if I want to use my GPU for machine learning applications, I would have to run my programs under Windows rather than from inside the WSL?

[microtonal]

Indeed. There is a 'uservoice' about this issue:

https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-con...

[pjc50]

> access the same files with native Windows tools

Er, about that: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-n...

DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, create and/or modify Linux files using Windows apps, tools, scripts, consoles, etc.

Edit: downvoting accurate information that was previously posted on HN? Really?

[detaro]

You can access your entire Windows filesystem freely from Linux, so that's not really an issue. Just keep your data in /mnt, or link it from there to other places.

[swiley]

All of my friends on windows say X is just as easy to set up as on cygwin

[kirillkh]

I never said X GUI apps could not be used, just that the more Windows tools you use, the more you gain more from WSL.