A UNIX shell running on Windows

15th November 2007

Here’s an idea that I got for a post before I spent that torrid weekend with Windows that caused me to jump ship to Linux. The idea of having a UNIX command line while still remaining in Windows did appeal to me at the time and Cygwin seems to provide an intriguing way to do this. At its most basic, it is a set of DLL’s that allow you to run standard UNIX commands in a shell like what you see below. However, it is extensible with a good number of packages that you can choose to install. NEdit is just one that gets included and I think that I spied Apache too. The standard installation is a web-based affair with your downloading only the components that you need; it’s worth trawling through the possibilities while you’re at it.

Cygwin Shell

Now that I am firmly ensconced in the world of Linux, this may be one possibility that I will park, for a while anyway. After all, I now do have the full power of the UNIX command line…

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A UNIX shell running on Windows

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