[GTALUG] Any experience with "Linux on Windows"?

[sciguy at vex.net]

Hi

I have been running dual boot into Windows and Linus for decades, but had a major problem with the latest Windows 10  in dual booting with Ubuntu. Apparently, I have heard (can't locate the source) booting into Linux can no longer be done on the latest major upgrade to Windows 10. And this was my direct experience when a Windows 10 upgrade this past September all but bricked by computer, rendering 50% of my storage inaccessible. I tried to check the boot area, and fix the situation with a Windows disk then a Linux disk, which rendered both systems unbootable.  The problem pretty much solved itself when I downgraded to Windows 7, not touching Linux.

Whether it boots or not may be moot, since Windows has offered many Linux distros to run in a windowed environment on top of Windows 10, kind of like VLC. That is to say, you go to the Microsoft Store, download a Linux distro, and it will install as a Windows application under Windows 10. Sample link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/ubuntu-1804-lts/9n9tngvndl3q?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

The link points to a copy of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I can see from the offerings, you can also install Debian, Suse, Fedora, and something called "Pengwin". Beware: some of these cost money, sometimes a fair chunk of it.

It begs the question also as to how different are these distros from Cygwin? Sounds like these are just different attempts to duplicate what Cygwin is doing. BTW, Cygwin itself is not offered at the Microsoft store.

Anyone have experiences with these weird versions of Linux  running on Windows? I would like to hear about it. Any experience with how it would look with a dual monitor?

Paul King