Show HN: Winpodx – run Windows apps on Linux as native windows

kkernalix7 about 4 hours ago 32 commentsRead Article on github.com

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86% Positive

Analyzed from 575 words in the discussion.

Discussion (32 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

d3Xt3r•about 4 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•about 3 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•about 3 hours ago

What's wrong with python for this use case?

d3Xt3r•about 2 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.

kernalix7•about 2 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.

politelemon•14 minutes 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•4 minutes ago

Just at the planning stage, needs careful consideration first.

deevus•about 4 hours ago

Demo? Video? That's the first thing I want to see.

kernalix7•about 3 hours ago

Fair point. Working on it now — will push a screenshot and short clip soon.

satvikpendem•about 3 hours ago

So, Linux subsystem for Windows?

happymellon•about 2 hours ago

Since this is a UI forwarder to a Windows machine, I don't think so?

satvikpendem•about 2 hours ago

Well, WSL GUI apps are just a forwarder to a Linux VM in the Hyper-V hypervisor.

mtucker502•about 3 hours ago

Every reply by OP sounds like AI.

bugufu8f83•about 3 hours ago

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.

selfhoster11•15 minutes 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.

kernalix7•about 2 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•about 2 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.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

thunderbong•about 2 hours ago

And "fair"

Zetaphor•about 3 hours ago

Terse sentences? This is how I naturally write and think out loud and I assure you I'm not an LLM

odie5533•about 2 hours ago

Fair hit, though I'd like to push back slightly

faangguyindia•about 2 hours ago

On Mac, you can select a text you write, right click > Writing tools, which uses AI to rewrite and proofread.

kernalix7•about 3 hours ago

Fair, English isn't my first language and I've been leaning on tooling. I'll dial it back.

trollbridge•about 2 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.

kernalix7•about 2 hours ago

Thanks for your opinion, i ll try my best!

quincepie•about 3 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.

walrus01•about 2 hours ago

Let's hope nobody teaches "AI" how to use aalib to generate cool looking renderings of things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAlib

kernalix7•about 2 hours ago

That's my mistake. I just focused on the functionally working, so I missed that point.