Visual Studio Code is free and.Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers cause the USB device to appear as an additional COM port available to the PC.
![]() Massive improvements to WSL/Bash on Windows that have transformed it into a first-class Unix alternativeThis is just the big stuff, with much more being tweaked and improved on what feels like a daily basis. A native emoji keyboard, with Kaomoji and other symbols, available in any text field Native Yubikey support at the OS-level, integrated with web browsers like Chrome Picture-in-picture across the OS for browsers Synchronized timeline between computers and phones for seamless handoff + historic tasks Snip and sketch tools that natively enable quick screenshots + annotation with digital ink (Windows Key + S) Gdrive for google drive macA new 'sandbox' feature for safely testing any app in an instant-on disposable environment Control Panel is finally almost entirely unified within the 'modern' experience Instant system-wide search, without the annoying Cortana features What Bit Microsoft Should I Buy Full File WatcherBroke your bash setup? Just duplicate it, then spin up a fresh copy to mess around with, rather than needing to blow away your whole machine.The new, but rarely talked about WSL executable makes switching between them feel like genuine magic, and being able to make them portable between machines by exporting them is fantastic. Now you've got full file watcher support, native symlinking, the ability to use Vagrant via Bash, support for opening Bash files in Windows applications directly, and much, much more.One of the most powerful shifts has been that WSL environments are now fully disposable, and can even live alongside multiple Linux distributions, all living together in a happy family. A few tools might be a bit broken, or unsupported, such as things like Grunt's watchers.In last year's "Creator's Update" most of these issues were addressed—but I don't think it was promoted well enough. Lots of people assume it's not able to function as a true, full Linux pipeline–and it’s reached the point where it's fully capable for most web-development workflows.A few examples of this: when I first jumped into WSL, a bit of tinkering was required to make it work perfectly. Gaming-specific features for better performance, recording videos and even streaming to TwitchI'm still really satisfied with the WSL/Bash setup, which has really come into its own. While the MacBook continues to receive bumps to the same, broken keyboard design year after year, Windows hardware keeps getting better.There's a bunch of new hardware out there like Surface Laptop 2, Huawei's next-generation MateBook, Lenovo's X1 Carbon and more that feels genuinely original and high-quality.Looking into 2019, I'm excited that the Surface Book 3 might arrive, and about newer technology like this gorgeous OLED-equipped HP laptop.A big shift in the last twelve months has been the appearance of popular, traditional apps in the Windows Store.Everything from Slack to Discord, Flux and Spotify now lives there, which has a fantastic side effect: seamless updates without ever thinking about it. While the machine updates.6) You don't have to give up your keyboard layoutMost of my day is spent writing posts like this one—but one of the most infuriating things you'll notice immediately on Windows is how poorly optimized the keyboard layout is: getting an em dash is near impossible, unless you like ALT-codes.I struggled with this for a while until I stumbled across the 'typography layout' for Windows—a third-party keyboard layout that essentially delivers the Mac character set on Windows, making my life a whole lot easier.One of the best things about switching has just been the sheer options when it comes to hardware. Most updates notify me that they're done and need a restart, which is no longer a 'update' restart but just a normal-speed reboot to switch over the last few files.No more waiting around for "just a few more minutes" for.an hour. Lots of laptops are now shipping with it as standard, and I hope that continues as it just makes the experience a little bit more seamless.One of the most persistent memes around Windows computers harks all the way back to Windows XP: updates are infuriatingly slow and seem like they're always happening when you don't want them to.I'm happy to say that Microsoft has made updating less painful on Windows 10, changing the update process to actually apply the changes in the background and minimize the amount of time a machine is 'offline' during reboots. Along with new ideas like the Chocolatey package manager to replace Brew and projects like Boxcutter to automate setting up your environment, it's a great time to jump in.P.S—There's also a terminal emulator that finally gives Bash on Windows justice: Fluent Terminal.Now that all of my devices have a touchscreen, I find the lack of one on a MacBook just perplexing—and I keep touching other people's screens out of instinct.Say what you will about touch on laptops, but it's so much more natural than using a mouse a lot of the time, and it makes for a great experience when you're just on the couch, pawing through Netflix.I love Windows Hello—Microsoft's home-baked version of Face ID—on my Surface Book 2 so much that it's annoying when a device doesn't have it.I went out and picked up the Logitech Brio to add it to my desktop, because it felt silly typing in my password so much—and 1Password support sealed the deal for me. Projects like Vessel, which spins up an instant Laravel environment with Docker, now support WSL specifically, along with many other tools I use on a daily basis, and it's a great sign that the community cares as well.WSL is genuinely exciting, and continues to be a reason to jump across, if you're a developer. There's native official apps for Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Hulu, Plex and so on, which is surprising, given that they don't have macOS counterparts at all.There still remains a dearth of inspiring apps like you might see on the other side, but it's been years since something genuinely new arrived on macOS as well. While that may be true, I've come to find that I now use many more native, first-party apps that simply didn't exist on macOS in the first place.Netflix on the plane without a separate iPad just for that? Yup, you can even sync stuff offline. The badOne of the biggest hesitations of most people to switch is that they use a fancy macOS-only mail app they can't live without. Apps like Procreate are sorely needed to provide a compelling sell for the stylus, and I’m sad that they don’t seem to be actively targeting those popular apps.I'm hopeful that designers and developers looking for something new and jumping to Windows will encourage better, beautiful, weird ideas again, and there are promising signs.
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