Tech Advisor - UK (2020-06)

JUNE 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 7

...But there’s also the pretty new

Windows Terminal app, with

Ubuntu open in the current tab.

As the drop-down menu shows,

you can open tabs in Linux, the

command line, and PowerShell.

You can also adjust the settings

to tweak the colour scheme and

even add a background picture

You’re still free to run a BASH shell from within a Linux

application like Ubuntu, but Terminal’s designed to be

the preferred way to run Linux within Windows.

That’s because Linux under WSL2 is largely text-

based. While there are methods to enable a Linux GUI,

most require some interaction between WSL2 and

Windows 10, and a remote connection between the

two. By and large, WSL2 is designed for text-editing

apps like vim and emacs, according to Microsoft

employees working on WSL2, as well as text-based

‘apps’ like Nethack, as Microsoft’s own tutorial shows

off (fave.co/2VYlFgz).

Terminal’s clean, modern, pleasant to use, and

doesn’t get in your way – all prerequisites for a text

editor. But it’s not perfect, either: for one thing, how

functions are split between PowerShell, the Command

JUNE 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 7

...But there’s also the pretty new

Windows Terminal app, with

Ubuntu open in the current tab.

As the drop-down menu shows,

you can open tabs in Linux, the

command line, and PowerShell.

You can also adjust the settings

to tweak the colour scheme and

even add a background picture

You’re still free to run a BASH shell from within a Linux
application like Ubuntu, but Terminal’s designed to be
the preferred way to run Linux within Windows.
That’s because Linux under WSL2 is largely text-
based. While there are methods to enable a Linux GUI,
most require some interaction between WSL2 and
Windows 10, and a remote connection between the
two. By and large, WSL2 is designed for text-editing
apps like vim and emacs, according to Microsoft
employees working on WSL2, as well as text-based
‘apps’ like Nethack, as Microsoft’s own tutorial shows
off (fave.co/2VYlFgz).
Terminal’s clean, modern, pleasant to use, and
doesn’t get in your way – all prerequisites for a text
editor. But it’s not perfect, either: for one thing, how
functions are split between PowerShell, the Command