Until a week ago I would have said that Cygwin was the best available way to hybridize Windows and *nix. I was relatively happy with my xterms and ssh. But that was all that I could use it for. Running X applications compiled for Cygwin was unusably slow. So I had to use VNC to connect to run X11 apps. Well, I no longer have Cygwin on my machine, it has been replaced by Cooperative Linux.
I don't know what rock I've been hiding under for the past two years but I had not heard of Cooperative Linux until a few weeks ago. Cooperative Linux is a recompilation of the Linux kernel as a Windows executable. All of the native posix commands get remapped to the Windows kernel. And it's fast. It's unbelievably fast. Once the kernel is running, it can run native Linux binaries. In other words, you can boot your Debian/Gentoo/*buntu/etc. distribution while in Windows without any binary recompilation a la VMWare or Virtual PC.
I've configured coLinux as a service so that when I login my Debian unstable distribution loads in the background. When I need to access it I load up Putty to ssh in. The only connection between coLinux and the Windows install is the local networking, so you can either ssh into it or open up the coLinux terminal window. Since coLinux does not have access to native graphics hardware, I export X11 over the internal network to the Windows XServer (Xming). Some of the graphics updates are imperfect, but it's a small price to pay to have Emacs, Kile, and all of my other favorite Linux applications running at what feels like 95% speed.
If you are interested in trying coLinux out, I grabbed my copy here. I used the 20070302-Snapshot release. It can be confusing to get it started, check out their wiki as a resource. The biggest hurdle is networking. If you don't have Linux experience then I recommend having a friend help who does. Good luck, it's completely worth it.
18 comments:
Hello Josh,
Can you please send me your email address?
I could not find it published in the site.
I have a little question about Launchy. Not something that will take more than a minute of your time, and this is something you may want to use.
My email address:
JonathanOrlev_REMOVEME_@gmail.com
Thanks a lot,
Jonathan
Hi Josh. Sorry to be entering this as a comment, but I don't have your email at my current location.
I wanted to let you know two things:
(1) Someone appears to have co-opted your "Launchy" name. See http://gemal.dk/mozilla/launchy.html
(2) I have just posted an overview of Launchy and would appreciate your feedback (if any), like if I missed something important or misspoke: http://tictechtoe.wordpress.com/
Thanks! Mark Lorenz
Hi
don`t know where to write...
I`m Using your project Launchy!
And I have a problem - it not pop-ups on a hot key
I` tried to reinstall it , (and also remove all registry keys with Launchy) - but it not helps
Could you help ?
Thanks
Hey there Josh,
That CoLinux thing is really interesting, but I think I'll stick with the dual boot right now (god I love Beryl (Coral)).
I also recently installed Launchy, it's been terrific. Gentle on the eye and packed with power.
But I'd like to warn you against feature bloat! The plugin architecture that you have now is perfect for preventing this, but it could still happen (firefox...).
So any new versions would preferably contain memory/cpu utilisation optimizations (faster indexing, though it's already pretty good) and bugfixes, along with a feature in a very big release.
Well, of course you don't have to do anything I say, it's just my 2 cents. Whatever you do, you still rock
Wow, some commenters are so rude. I thought it was a nice article. And feature-bloat-boy doesn't know what he's talking about.
"(1) Someone appears to have co-opted your "Launchy" name."
The mozilla firefox plugin with the same name has existed since 2003, so I guess it is the other way around ;)
Hey Josh,
I could not find anywhere else to contact you, so here I write.
I've just discovered your fanta-mazing program Launchy, and it was good!
Until, I set the hotkey as win+space,
and somehow the combination does not work.
Now gone in to the thin desktop, I tried to uninstall + reinstall, the setting is still there.
I looked up registries, dlls, but, I'm sure it's not a hugh problem, just can't find where the settings are.
Solutions will be great!
:Maybe adding option as a seperate file? or maybe including option for a tray icon, etc. I'm sure you as a programer have much more ideas.
Grazie,
Rua Reasons
Hi Josh,
Really appreciate the great Launchy program, but I also happened to set the "Win-Space" key combo for launching Launchy and now I can't seem to get it up again. I've tried looking for some config file, but can't seem to find one, any pointers? Thanks very much!
- Tony
luckygold6@yahoo.com
Hello Josh,
My name is Kyoko.
I am an editor of a Japanese magazine.
For this time, I would like to introduce your Software "Launchy".
I want to send the details by an email, please send me your e-mail address.
itoh@primary-inc.jp
Thanks
Kyoko
I'm also unable to find a contact e-mail address to ask you about Launchy. I use W2K, and the applications works fine, but run *.lnk files doesn't work.
jGuru@mail.com is my address
Josh, I have a fully-defined application that needs Launchy. I am willing to give an equity position to the right guy (gal) who can spend some time coding.
Please send your email address. This is a very good opportunity.
myersrayted@aol.com
Hi Josh,
I just have 2 short "thank you" for you (BIG and small):
1) The BIG thank you is for writting such a great program - it's a killer app
2) The small thank you is for destroying my configuration from 1.25 when I updated to 2.0 ;-P
I suppose you could do this one little improvement cause it's a relatively big disappointment for such a great app to do such terrible thing.
Anyway your program is great and after all you deserve an honset thank you :D
Regarding Win+Space not working: are you using Vista? If so, the Windows Sidebar grabs this keyboard combination so pressing it will focus the sidebar, not show launchy. I cured this problem by getting rid of the useless sidebar.
coLinux is, I suppose, great if Linux is your concubine and Windows your wife.
For easy setup you can use andLinux, it's pretty nifty.
Regards.
Thank you very much.
This is really great stuff.
Good job with Launchy guy!
If you want a translator to portuguese here I'm!
;)
Hugs!
rafaelluik@hotmail.com
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