Rendered at 19:52:59 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Cloudflare Workers.
d3Xt3r 17 hours ago [-]
WinApps doesn't use a Docker backend btw, you can use any Windows machine running anywhere - cloud, physical, container etc. All you need is the IP address of the box once it's set up.
This looks great though. +1 choosing Qt instead of Electron. -1 for Python though. Otherwise, your approach ticks most of my boxes.
One feature I'd like to see though is reverse file associations - basically associate Linux filetypes inside the Windows VM so that any file you open in a Windows app would open the file in Linux, assuming Linux has a file association for it. Say I've installed Directory Opus in the VM and I want to use it as my primary file manager in Linux, and say I double-click on a .xml file, I would like to open it in the Linux app associated with that filetype (which would be Kate in my case).
kernalix7 16 hours ago [-]
Right, I had WinApps pinned to dockur in that comparison and missed the IP-based flexibility part. That's an actual difference, will fix the README.
On Python: fair pushback. Picked it for stdlib coverage (zero runtime deps on 3.11+, one tomli fallback for 3.9/3.10) and iteration speed. Heavy lifting is in the container and FreeRDP so perf hasn't been the bottleneck, but yeah the language choice is a tradeoff.
Reverse file association is interesting, hadn't thought about that direction. The v0.3.0 agent could probably handle it but I'd want to look at the security model first. Marking it TBD. If you open an issue with the use case that'd help me scope it.
thesuavefactor 16 hours ago [-]
What's wrong with python for this use case?
d3Xt3r 15 hours ago [-]
I'm fine with the language, I just don't like its dependency ecosystem. I don't mind using it for quick-and-dirty single-file scripts, but once a python project reaches a certain level of complexity, you start relying on external libraries and before you know it, you now have to maintain this messy behemoth of a project with a gazillion dependencies, breakages and potential vulnerabilities up the chain... just thinking about it gives me a headache.
romanroe 12 hours ago [-]
Doesn't this apply to every language? You always will rely on external libraries once a project reaches a certain level.
Induane 10 hours ago [-]
Python has nothing on the sprawl of nodejs packages.
It is a fair criticism and some languages do fare better than others. Python is kind of in the middle there in my opinion. It's pretty easy to keep a relatively simple dependency graph with a little bit of discipline.
thetoon 10 hours ago [-]
Certainly not those where you need to reimplement everything yourself, at least ;)
kernalix7 15 hours ago [-]
yeah.. I also agreed with that. so I'll optimize the code continuously and lower the dependency on python. but for now I'll keep it because of some benefits.
Sithuk 12 hours ago [-]
How does the responsiveness of the application compare between the OCI winpodx approach and a VM based winapps approach?
The OCI approach should mean that resources are not ringfenced and held separate from the host, which would be beneficial for applications run on the host. A winapps approach using a VM that is run on the host would constrain the host while the VM is running, which the VM would need to be to make sure the windows app is "always available".
Is there a noticeable performance benefit to using winpodx compared to winapps? How does the idle resource usage compare too?
kernalix7 12 hours ago [-]
[dead]
nbiznich 2 hours ago [-]
Will Solidworks work on Linux now?
deevus 17 hours ago [-]
Demo? Video? That's the first thing I want to see.
kernalix7 16 hours ago [-]
Fair point. Working on it now — will push a screenshot and short clip soon.
shlip 13 hours ago [-]
Does this mean that each software you run is now the size of a windows install + sw or is it a single container that runs all your softwares ?
kernalix7 12 hours ago [-]
For now single container runs all softwares. tradeoff with dockur/windows limits, saves ram and disk. planning multi container later for better isolation.
the_wolo 9 hours ago [-]
Is it intended that readers initially read "windpox" (as I did)? I hope so. That'd be funny.
satvikpendem 16 hours ago [-]
So, Linux subsystem for Windows?
happymellon 16 hours ago [-]
Since this is a UI forwarder to a Windows machine, I don't think so?
satvikpendem 15 hours ago [-]
Well, WSL GUI apps are just a forwarder to a Linux VM in the Hyper-V hypervisor.
> allows the use of a Linux environment from within Windows, foregoing the overhead of a virtual machine and being an alternative to dual booting.
WSL2 isn't a Windows subsystem by definition as far as I can tell.
satvikpendem 3 hours ago [-]
Yes WSL2 as WSL 1 was just an implementation of Linux utilities. WSL 2 is a subsystem on Windows for Linux, it's poorly named but makes sense if you take it as Windows' subsystem for Linux.
happymellon 3 hours ago [-]
> makes sense if you take it as Windows' subsystem for Linux.
But WSL2 is a VM, not just an implementation of Linux utilities
satvikpendem 3 hours ago [-]
In Hyper-V, Windows also runs as a VM next to Linux. So I guess technically both are subsystems of Hyper-V.
kernalix7 12 hours ago [-]
yeah from user side it feels like that. but technically its more like extremely user-friendly way of using VMs.
politelemon 13 hours ago [-]
> GPU passthrough via VFIO is a manual bring-your-own setup — not yet packaged.
Can we take this to mean that GPU passthrough is planned? This would be huge especially for running Adobe/Canva software.
kernalix7 13 hours ago [-]
Just at the planning stage, needs careful consideration first.
hallegbg 10 hours ago [-]
Interesting!
quincepie 16 hours ago [-]
Might be harsh to say but not bothering to fix the spacing in the ai generated ascii diagram tells me how much i should be taking this project seriously.
kernalix7 15 hours ago [-]
That's my mistake. I just focused on the functionally working, so I missed that point.
walrus01 16 hours ago [-]
Let's hope nobody teaches "AI" how to use aalib to generate cool looking renderings of things.
Yes, looking at their profile it does look that way for all their contributions on HN. Ctrl+F "real" and Ctrl+F "genuine" as one quick indicator--AI absolutely loves these adjectives and their forms right now.
kernalix7 16 hours ago [-]
The Korean intent is mine, but I run it through an LLM to phrase in English. That's where the pattern comes from. Will skip the LLM step from here.
tomhow 15 hours ago [-]
It's against the guidelines to do this. The community much prefers you write in your own voice, even if your English is imperfect.
Is Grammarly considered AI or not? I use Grammarly heavily because I use speech recognition in a stream of consciousness mode. It catches misrecognitions and language where I thought the right word but said a different one.
The below is the above once through Grammarly and a couple of written-by-me substitutions.
Is Grammarly considered AI or not? I use Grammarly heavily because I use Aqua speech recognition in a stream-of-consciousness mode. It catches misrecognitions and language where I thought the right word but said the wrong one.
tomhow 14 hours ago [-]
It’s the reaction of the audience that matters, not what happened on your device that nobody can see.
If the writing ends up being the same as what you would produce if you carefully edited it yourself, it will be well received. If it shows any signs of being machine-generated rather than human-authored, the audience will sense it and react negatively.
We advise against copy+pasting any generated text into HN. If you think there’s some fuzziness around the definition of “generated”, well, see what happens.
kernalix7 15 hours ago [-]
God it, i ll follow the guidelines, Thanks for the pointer. Apologies..
selfhoster11 13 hours ago [-]
I use both of these and I don't think I've once had an LLM rewrite my comment before posting it on HN.
thunderbong 16 hours ago [-]
And "fair"
Zetaphor 16 hours ago [-]
Terse sentences? This is how I naturally write and think out loud and I assure you I'm not an LLM
odie5533 15 hours ago [-]
Fair hit, though I'd like to push back slightly
faangguyindia 16 hours ago [-]
On Mac, you can select a text you write, right click > Writing tools, which uses AI to rewrite and proofread.
kernalix7 16 hours ago [-]
Fair, English isn't my first language and I've been leaning on tooling. I'll dial it back.
trollbridge 15 hours ago [-]
English-as-a-second language is very much welcome here--your grammar/spelling do not need to be perfect. Just try your best.
This looks great though. +1 choosing Qt instead of Electron. -1 for Python though. Otherwise, your approach ticks most of my boxes.
One feature I'd like to see though is reverse file associations - basically associate Linux filetypes inside the Windows VM so that any file you open in a Windows app would open the file in Linux, assuming Linux has a file association for it. Say I've installed Directory Opus in the VM and I want to use it as my primary file manager in Linux, and say I double-click on a .xml file, I would like to open it in the Linux app associated with that filetype (which would be Kate in my case).
On Python: fair pushback. Picked it for stdlib coverage (zero runtime deps on 3.11+, one tomli fallback for 3.9/3.10) and iteration speed. Heavy lifting is in the container and FreeRDP so perf hasn't been the bottleneck, but yeah the language choice is a tradeoff.
Reverse file association is interesting, hadn't thought about that direction. The v0.3.0 agent could probably handle it but I'd want to look at the security model first. Marking it TBD. If you open an issue with the use case that'd help me scope it.
It is a fair criticism and some languages do fare better than others. Python is kind of in the middle there in my opinion. It's pretty easy to keep a relatively simple dependency graph with a little bit of discipline.
The OCI approach should mean that resources are not ringfenced and held separate from the host, which would be beneficial for applications run on the host. A winapps approach using a VM that is run on the host would constrain the host while the VM is running, which the VM would need to be to make sure the windows app is "always available".
Is there a noticeable performance benefit to using winpodx compared to winapps? How does the idle resource usage compare too?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux
> allows the use of a Linux environment from within Windows, foregoing the overhead of a virtual machine and being an alternative to dual booting.
WSL2 isn't a Windows subsystem by definition as far as I can tell.
But WSL2 is a VM, not just an implementation of Linux utilities
Can we take this to mean that GPU passthrough is planned? This would be huge especially for running Adobe/Canva software.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAlib
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Is Grammarly considered AI or not? I use Grammarly heavily because I use speech recognition in a stream of consciousness mode. It catches misrecognitions and language where I thought the right word but said a different one.
The below is the above once through Grammarly and a couple of written-by-me substitutions.
Is Grammarly considered AI or not? I use Grammarly heavily because I use Aqua speech recognition in a stream-of-consciousness mode. It catches misrecognitions and language where I thought the right word but said the wrong one.
If the writing ends up being the same as what you would produce if you carefully edited it yourself, it will be well received. If it shows any signs of being machine-generated rather than human-authored, the audience will sense it and react negatively.
We advise against copy+pasting any generated text into HN. If you think there’s some fuzziness around the definition of “generated”, well, see what happens.