6 week's travel with WSL 2.5.7 and Ubuntu 25.04 on hp 17-cpl3005 laptop

Six weeks out-of-office with going back and forth to Europe on Queen Mary 2. Everything worked, no failures and no need to unpack backup laptop). Only operational problem was that I was using device so much that the lettering is coming off the keys. Main Linux program I use is Gnome Evolution for email It is far easier to use the Outlook 365, I also use Cinnamon's Nemo as my file manager. It is essential when you first start to see where program files such as Studio Pro 2024 (PDF editor) are being loaded so you can setup the file associations for opening PDF files. Use of Firefox under WSL will occur when you open hyperlinks in the email you are receiving with Evolution. This gives an instability, so it is better to copy the hyperlink to a windows in MS Edge. Also, program updates and upgrades are done from a command line that yuou open with WSL.

John

So why do you think we need to know that?

Thank you for asking the question. Here is why my update is important:
1. hp has put some sort of protection on this particular laptop that prevents the normal Ubuntu installation software from doing the installation.
2. WSL gets unstable when you open hyperlinks in Evolution email that cause Firefox to launch and open the hyperlink.
3. Laptop is relatively cheap compared to others with 17-inch screens, so some may question durability. Yes, I had enough emails and reports to write to beat on the machine more than I would with normal use (my go-to office PC is a Dell 7720 laptop).

smoketoxdoc said:

Thank you for asking the question. Here is why my update is important:
1. hp has put some sort of protection on this particular laptop that prevents the normal Ubuntu installation software from doing the installation.
2. WSL gets unstable when you open hyperlinks in Evolution email that cause Firefox to launch and open the hyperlink.
3. Laptop is relatively cheap compared to others with 17-inch screens, so some may question durability. Yes, I had enough emails and reports to write to beat on the machine more than I would with normal use (my go-to office PC is a Dell 7720 laptop).

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1. There are always around installation unless the device is a cheap mmc style device which sometimes can only install windows due to firmware constraints.

2. No idea but this does not seem to be an issue that would concern most wsl users.

3. As my dear old Gran used to say "You get what you pay for". Is that any different to any other purchase in life?

I have to say your post is pretty pointless splurging a number of issues together in one long paragraph. I read it several time but could not really make out what you were saying without a decent description of your system.

As each of the applications mentioned in the O/P is available as a native Windows build, I just don't get the point of making life more difficult with that Laptop by using WSL/Ubuntu, unless it was simply a 'learning experience'.
Then again, as an occasional Linux user, I have grown to 'hate' most things Canonical/Ubuntu, so perhaps I'm biased.

@LeLibran

I've found this system easily the most convenient when using a laptop on travels -- The whole thing runs from an external Nvme ssd type drive (2TB) attached to the PC via a small NVME->USB3 adapter -- and the laptop is a 2016 HP envy Gen 6 CPU which in theory shouldn't run Windows 11 at all.



Partitions are /dev/sdb1 - EFI partition for Windows boot menu, /dev/sdb2 large data partition containing several Windows vhdx physical files so can have choice of around 6 different Windows builds / language options etc, /dev/sdb3 EFI partition for Linux grub efi boot /dev/sdb4 Linux '/' or root partition and /dev/sdb5 for Linux /home partition. Linux system is currently Fedora 42 but I could add more. This Linux distro doesn't need a separate swap partition as it's done via "ZRAM".

I see no reason any more to mess around with the WSL - good idea when it started but technology has moved on both hardware and software wise.

I have a 2nd copy of the stick - easy to create via dd !! just in case of device failure.

Works brilliantly especially as the laptop has actually a slower 256 SSD internal drive and only 8GB of RAM - but these days I'm not taking an expensive new laptop while travelling these days especially seeing the typical chaos at larger airports now almost everywhere.

Cheers
jimbo

LeLibran said:

As each of the applications mentioned in the O/P is available as a native Windows build, I just don't get the point of making life more difficult with that Laptop by using WSL/Ubuntu, unless it was simply a 'learning experience'.
Then again, as an occasional Linux user, I have grown to 'hate' most things Canonical/Ubuntu, so perhaps I'm biased.

Click to expand...

"Perhaps! !?