Canonical has announced the release the Ubuntu on Windows Community Preview, a special build of Ubuntu for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that is an experimental WSL distro that allows exploring new features and functionality.
Being an Preview project for testers, Ubuntu on Windows Community Preview is not listed in the search results on Microsoft Store. To get it, you should follow this direct Store link.
The new release is notable for the following features.
- Ubuntu WSL Out-Of-Box experience: An user-friendly setup interface for the first run based on `subiquity`(the same installer used by Ubuntu server), that allows you to perform additional customization of your environment after your first run.
- Ubuntu WSL commandline interface `ubuntuwsl`: A tool that allows you to readily configure your WSL distro.
- Windows Terminal Fragment Extension: A work-in-progress extension that provides an entry on Windows Terminal.
- There is also a new theme for Windows Terminal that replicates the Ubuntu look.
Ubuntu on Windows Community Preview will receive frequent updates. Unlike the current public version of Ubuntu for WSL, which is based on LTS versions of the distro, the new one will include more recent software.
Windows Sybsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) is a new version of the architecture that powers the Windows Subsystem for Linux to run ELF64 Linux binaries on Windows. This new architecture changes how these Linux binaries interact with Windows and your computer’s hardware, but still provides the same user experience as in WSL 1.
It comes with a native Linux kernel. WSL 2 receives Linux kernel updates via Windows Update, and provides incredible performance compared with its previous implementation. You can easily upgrade your existing WSL 1 setups to WSL 2.
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