Build 2020: Microsoft Is Adding Support for Linux GUI Apps to Windows 10

May. 20, 2020

“Our goal is for you to be able to run Linux GUI apps on your desktop seamlessly alongside your Windows apps. This will enable you to use Linux apps to edit, build, and run your code, visualize data plots in Python, or even use applications that are optimized for a Linux environment.”,wrote Microsoft’s Craig in a blog post.

Microsoft demonstrated a few sample Linux GUI apps running from WSL such as Eye of Gnome, gedit, and the mpv media player. The apps are connected to a wayland server that is running inside the WSL. They communicate with a remote desktop client on the Windows host.

The ability torun GUI-based Linux apps on Windows 10with WSL is not really something new. However, developers had to rely on third-party servers such as VcXsrv to achieve this. The process is not only inconvenient, to begin with, but also takes a minor hit on the performance.

GPU Compute workflows enable hardware acceleration with Linux tools. NVIDIA CUDA and DirectML are the first two scenarios that will take advantage of GPU compute support for WSL. Microsoft will roll out this update to Fast ring Insiders in the next few months.

Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.