Cygwin vs mingw install#
Run the git install code you have downloaded.Open web page, and click on the "Download" button.Since git-bash is relatively small, installing git-bash is pretty simple.
Cygwin vs mingw software#
We are not using the git tool to manage our software in this class, but along with git, when we install git-bash, we get a terminal emulator which is very useful. The primary purpose of git-bash is to enable Windows users to use the "git" tool, which is used to keep track of multiple versions of software projects. The git-bash tool contains a very basic UNIX emulator. But to tell the truth, either Cygwin or git-bash work equally well, and installation efforts are not very different, so choose whichever you prefer. If you are looking for the quickest and easiest solution, go for git-bash. If you are looking for a UNIX emulator you can use for the rest of your academic career, Cygwin might be the best answer. Because Cygwin is bigger and more flexible, you need to invest a little more time and effort up front to install and maintain Cygwin. git-bash is smaller, easier to install, but the native git-bash is not extendable, and so separate installations are required for extended capability. The difference between Cygwin and git-bash is that Cygwin is bigger, more flexible, and more extendable, and more all-encompasing.
Cygwin vs mingw free#
There may be other alternatives as well, such as Windows Subsystem, and there are always new software becoming available, but Cygwin and git-bash both have the advantage of being free to install, relatively easy to use and maintain, and which provide all the tools necessary to do work for this class. There are two good UNIX emulators that run in a Windows environment, Cygwin and git-bash.
Cygwin vs mingw full#
These commands will not work in a terminal emulator (without lots of extra effort which frankly is not worth it.) However, it is possible to run Windows commands from a UNIX emulator terminal window which run in full screen. In a real UNIX terminal window, there are commands for tools such as editors or web browsers which open up full screen applications in separate windows. You can edit files using a windows editor such as Notepad, and those edits will be visible in your terminal window.
![cygwin vs mingw cygwin vs mingw](https://ptc-it.de/assets/images/mingw_msys_shell_commands_found.png)
That means that you can use either UNIX commands such as "ls" to list the contents of that directory, or you can use Windows Explorer to look at the same list of files. The default disk space in your UNIX emulator will be a sub-directory of your windows disk. The response to those commands is typed back to the screen and another prompt appears. You get a command line with a prompt where you can type commands.
![cygwin vs mingw cygwin vs mingw](https://0.academia-photos.com/attachment_thumbnails/32759876/mini_magick20190411-3170-htkvv7.png)
Similar capabilities are available on Apple machines as well, but since I don't have an Apple machine, I can only go into details on the Windows process.Ī Unix emulator provides the capability of opening a terminal window on your laptop that looks and feels like a terminal window on a UNIX machine. If you have a Windows laptop, there are UNIX emulators that make it possible to do the coding work for this class on your laptop. Using UNIX Emulation Using UNIX Emulator Software on Windows