[CSC 315] Installing a linux distro under Windows 11 (WSL/Ubuntu)

[Andrew J. Pounds]

For those of you that don't have access to a linux system at your 
home/dorm for graphics development, I have been successful in using the 
Windows Subsystem for Linux to at least develop and test simple OpenGL 
code.   If you want to try it here are the steps I used.  Disclaimer: 
try this at your own risk.  It worked for me but based on how your 
system is configured there may be additional steps needed.

1. type WSL into the search bar and run the command.  you will get 
window that looks something like this...

screenshot

Press any key and wait while it installs the base components. Wait for 
it to finish!

2. REBOOT    (this allows the WSL engine to become part of windows -- 
but we still have a lot to do...)

3. Bring up a terminal and enter the following command to install the 
Ubuntu distribution

     wsl --install -d Ubuntu

    wait a few minutes for it to install, then create the default Unix 
account.

4. Now we need to add some code building components

     sudo apt install build-essential

     when it asks for a password, enter the password you created with 
the default Unix account.  Now, enter the following command to bring in 
the repositories needed for many of the graphics programs we will be 
developing

     sudo apt update

this will take a few minutes.

5.  Reboot the computer again -- THIS IS A MUST -- as it will use the 
new kernel we installed and the updated repositories

6.  Once the system restarts, type wsl in the searchbar to now open a 
Ubuntu instance -- this may take a few seconds.

7.  Now for the big install...  in the ubuntu terminal type

     sudu apt install mesa-utils libglu1-mesa-dev freeglut3-dev 
mesa-common-dev glew-utils libglew2.2 libglew-dev exhuberant-ctags gedit

8.  Let all of those install and then try to run glxgears by typing 
"glxgears" in the ubuntu terminal and hitting enter.  If you don't see a 
window pop up be sure to check your lower menu bar.  If it doesn't work 
don't fret -- there are many possible tweaks that may need to be made.  
It worked perfectly on my laptop the first time but took several 
modifications on my old desktop to get it to work.


-- 
/*Andrew J. Pounds, Ph.D.*/ (pounds_aj at mercer.edu)
/Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science/
/Director of the Computational Science Program/
/Mercer University, Macon, GA/
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