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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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WSL vs. Dual Booting vs. virtualbox (self.linux)

submitted 2 months ago by thebestaquaman to c/[email protected]

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have a friend thats setting up linux (ubuntu) on his machine. He has a windows installation. I personally use mac as my primary OS, but I've had a linux partition on my machine as well, and I'm having a slightly hard time giving him good advice as to what solution he should choose when setting up linux (I don't even know how I would partition a disk on a windows machine to prep it for dual booting).

My question is quite simple: What are the pros/cons of WSL vs. Dual Booting vs. Virtualbox, both with regards to setup and with regards to usage?

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[–] tired_n_bored 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

WSL Pros: easy to use and to install Cons: it still runs on top of Windows and some hardware functions are not available. Also, terminal-only

Virtualbox Basically the same as WSL but it could be slower being a layer2 hypervisor

Dual booting Pros: a full-fledged Linux OS Cons: Harder to install and to mantain.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Also, terminal-only

this is not the case anymore. You can run graphical applications.

[–] tired_n_bored 4 points 2 months ago

I didn't know, thank you

[–] Metju 3 points 2 months ago

While they do work, the UX is kinda gimped (knowing Micro$oft - that's on purpose).

Source: using Rider Snap in Ubuntu in daily work

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Dual booting Pros: a full-fledged Linux OS Cons: Harder to install and to mantain.

Also, sometimes Windows being an ass and "accidentally" breaking the bootloader.

I advice anyone to have just one OS per drive installed. Keep Windows and Linux separate if possible, or some Windows update may break GRUB.

[–] criss_cross 2 points 2 months ago

Then you can wipe out windows when you realize you don't use it anymore :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

They did that to my daughter. I'd setup a laptop for her. The windows boot partition was still there (my bad for scraping every last bit of Windows off - it was setup in haste) and she accidentally chose windows from grub one day. The Windows Bootloader decided to change boot options in the bios and then remove grub somehow, but there was no windows on disk to launch so it was bricked.

The next time I could out hands on the computer I scoured that disk clean of Microsoft's plague rats so they wouldn't get a finger in edgewise again.