Credit: Micrsosoft
On April 21, Microsoft released a new Windows 10 trial version, 21364, on the Dev Channel. This build includes a few new notable features, including the ability to run Linux graphical user interface (GUI) apps on Windows using the Windows subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2).
Microsoft is making its first preview of support for Linux GUI applications, including editors and tools, for those who want to develop, test, build and run their apps. Microsoft officials said at Build 2020 last spring that it plans to bring Linux GUI apps to Windows. (It calls this function WSLg.)
Until now, WSL has focused on allowing users to enable command line tools, utilities and apps, but not GUI apps. WSLg allows users to run a variety of Linux IDEs on their Windows machines, including gedit, JetBrains-based editors, gvim and more, officials said. Users can also use WSLg to run any GUI app that may only exist in Linux or to test GUI apps in a Linux environment.
Linux GUI apps on WSL will include out-of-the-box audio and microphone support. And users can leverage WSL’s GPU access to run Linux apps with accelerated 3D graphics. More information about WSLg can be found in this separate Microsoft blog post.
The current Dev Channel build also includes support for Microsoft Edge process classification in Task Manager, a feature designed to help users find out their resource consumption in Edge. Among the categories being tracked are tabs, browser processes (browser, GPU process, crash path), utility plugins, dedicated and service workers, and more. This particular feature is only available to Insiders with the latest Edge Canary or Dev builds and will be rolled out in a staggered fashion starting with a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel.
Microsoft is also testing a new experimental feature in Task Manager called “Eco Mode”, which is designed to help users limit process resources. This is to help users limit resource consumption in certain apps in order to prioritize other apps. This feature is also rolling out in a staggered fashion starting with a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel.
There are a number of other changes and fixes in Build 21364, which Microsoft lists in its blog post, as well as several known issues.