How can you make Windows easy? Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL in short. Well, probably this is not true for everyone. However, as a Linux user, I definitely love WSL. When not using a browser or text editor, I spend my time on the command line. With WSL, you can have the familiar Linux command line environment from openSUSE also under Windows.

Why Windows?

Die hard Linux users might ask: why do I use Windows? There is an Open Source alternative for almost all Windows software. Well, it’s mostly true. However there are multiple problems. I love state-of-the-art hardware. Nothing could open the RAW files from my brand new camera for years under Linux, so I had to use Windows to process those files. My other hobby is playing on the synthesizer. Not that I ever learned music, but I still enjoy most of the noise I make (strictly only using headphones…). Linux Audio was problematic even before PulseAudio was introduced, but now it’s even more difficult and its sound quality is even worse. And while there are some software synthesizers available under Linux, there are a lot more available under Windows. Without spending days and weeks to get them to work.

As a bonus, using Windows also helps to separate my work and private life. Linux is my work OS, Windows is my play OS for photography and music. And I do not have access to anything work-related from my Windows box.

Why WSL?

I recall that one of my managers told me when he saw how I work: you do not need a GUI, you do everything in a terminal window. Well, it’s not completely true, but I even start LibreOffice from a terminal and not from the menu. On Windows, it’s slightly different: I start all applications from the search window. For working with files, I use the terminal. PowerShell is powerful, just as its name implies. However, I already have shell scripts to manage photo archives and got used to BASH anyway. Using WSL, I do not have to learn PowerShell, but I can keep using my familiar tools. Use joe for text editing, Midnight Commander for file management, including sftp access to remote Linux hosts. There might be native alternatives available on Windows. But that would require research, testing software, integrating a new environment.

When installing openSUSE Leap in WSL I can keep the exact same scripts and workflows on my Windows box as I already have on Linux. I can spend my time on photos and music instead of building up and maintaining a new environment on Windows.

You can find some of my photos on-line at GuruShots: https://gurushots.com/pczanik/photos

There are no recordings of my music, not even in private :-)

• WSL
• openSUSE
• planets