Ubuntu Linux On Windows 10 — Here Are The First Pictures
At the first day of Microsoft Build Developer Conference 2016, something amazing happened. Microsoft showed the world how Ubuntu on Windows 10 can ease the lives of developers. By installing official Ubuntu binaries on Windows 10, you can use any Linux tool on Windows 10 and get your work done.
Earlier, we told you about the expected next chapter in Microsoft’s love affair with Linux that mentioned a partnership between Microsoft and Canonical to bring Ubuntu to Windows 10. Well, at Microsoft’s Developer Build Conference 2016 we got the confirmation.
The long-rival operating systems have come together to allow developers use their favorite Linux tools inside Windows 10. During Day 1’s keynote at Build 2016, Microsoft’s Kevin Gallo announced that now you can run Bash on Ubuntu on Windows. This won’t be possible due to some virtual machine, emulator or a container. Instead, it’ll be with the help of Ubuntu binaries running natively in Windows 10.
Ubuntu on Windows 10 — What does it mean?
Well, thanks to the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary update, Windows OS will get a new developer feature that will allow you to import Ubuntu binaries and run native Linux shells and command line tools.
To run Bash on Windows, users usually turned to Cygwin, a GNU command line utility for Win 32 or HyperV and Ubuntu. Another option was to use Docker to run a Linux container.
On his blog, Dustin Kirkland from Canonical writes:
“Right, so just Ubuntu running in a virtual machine?” Nope! This isn’t a virtual machine at all. There’s no Linux kernel booting in a VM under a hypervisor. It’s just the Ubuntu user space. “Ah, okay, so this is Ubuntu in a container then?” Nope! This isn’t a container either. It’s native Ubuntu binaries running directly in Windows. “Hum, well it’s like cygwin perhaps?” Nope! Cygwin includes open source utilities are recompiled from source to run natively in Windows. Here, we’re talking about bit-for-bit, checksum-for-checksum Ubuntu ELF binaries running directly in Windows.
Willing to know more? Well, when this feature arrives in Windows 10, you’ll be able to run Ubuntu on Windows 10 by simply getting Ubuntu from Canonical and Windows Store like this:
The screenshots show a lightweight and real Ubuntu image on top of Windows 10. This Ubuntu on Windows 10 installation brings all Linux tool you can name — apt, ssh, rsync, find, grep, awk, sed, sort, xargs, md5sum, gpg, curl, wget, apache, mysql, python, perl, ruby, php, gcc, tar, vim, emacs, diff, patch, and more.
Inside your Windows installation drive, you can see all of your Ubuntu files in C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Lxss\rootfs\
After setting up everything, you can run apt-get update in Windows 10 and download your favorite developer packages. Below is the result of apt-get install emacs23:
Here’s a Windows 10 Start Menu screenshot that shows Ubuntu on Windows 10. Looks pretty great to me!
Wondering what Canonical thinks about the new partnership?
Here’s what Dustin Kirkland had to say — “This is an almost surreal endorsement by Microsoft on the importance of open source to developers. Indeed, what a fantastic opportunity to bridge the world of free and open source technology directly into any Windows 10 desktop on the planet.”
Are you excited about this future with Ubuntu on Windows 10? Share your views in the comments below.