Run GNU/Linux applications natively on Windows
To run Linux apps on Windows you can install your favourite distro on a virtual machine, also you can use the SSH trick from yesterday or you could just run them natively. That’s right! You can run Linux applications on Windows whitout virtualization or need for remote servers! All you need is andLinux, wich is an Ubuntu Linux System that runs on Windows (2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7; 32-bit versions only). andLinux uses coLinux as its core, Xming as X server and PulseAudio as sound server.
There are two versions of andLinux: KDE and XFCE. Get the one you like from the downloads page. I downloaded the XFCE version wich weights only 200mb (andLinux Beta 2 (final)). Once you downloaded the andLinux installer the installation is pretty straighforward, just double click the installer and select the options you wish on every screen. This are the steps I followed:
- Accept the license and default install destination
- Select the stable coLinux Kernel, I think a stable kernel would work better than a development one
- When selecting the amount of RAM used for andLinux I choosed 256mb because I have 512mb installed.
- Install Xming, use the primary screen’s resolution and enable sound for andLinux
- Select “run andLinux automatically as a NT service + use Windows shorcuts”
- Set username and password
- Select CoFS to have access to Windows files. Samba works with filenames with special characters on them but it’s easier to use CoFS. Your windows files will be accesible from the windows directory of your home (/home/youruser/windows)
- Accept any other default option
When the installation proccess ends you’ll be prompted to restart the machine. After restarting you can run your Linux apps from the andLinux menu (located at the system taskbar):
The andLinux menu has a very few entries, there are just a terminal, the thunar filemanager and the mousepad text editor but you can run any command from the terminal and every program you run will have it’s own Windows window. Because andLinux is an Ubuntu system you can install any application you want (that runs on Ubuntu). andLinux beta 2 is based on Ubuntu 9.04 so chances are that any program that runs on Ubuntu 9.04 will run on andLinux.
Finally here’s a screenshot showing the XFCE terminal and Firefox 3.6 playing a youtube video (I downloaded and installed the flashplayer from a .DEB from adobe site):
Running andLinux gives you access (if it’s enabled, like by using CoFS) to all the files and folders of the Windows system, that way you can run Linux apps but also let those apps open and edit your files, just be aware it may give you one crash or two.
A great thing about andLinux is that it gives you a whole GNU/Linux system to play with so it’s a safe way for users to learn about linux before making a definitive jump.
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