why use cygwin?
 

Hey, I just stumbled onto cygwin and read up briefly on what it does. My question is why use cygwin when you have your own linux box? Like what's the point of cygwin? What can I get out of using cygwin? How do people use it in real life?

I've just finished a year long work placement where I had to use Windows. Cygwin meant I could still carry on using BASH and other such useful stuff.

It was also used within that company to run PostgreSQL databases (versions before 8 would not run natively on Windows). Many other UNIX-only apps can be made to run on Windows using Cygwin, usually with no code changes at all.

Re: why use cygwin?
 

Having your own Linux box is not always an option. For example, some corporate environments require XP for access to services. Cygwin is a good way to get the functionality you need without violating company policy.

Plus with Cygwin + X Windows, you can port forward X applications over, say, SSH using Putty. It's still a little strange seeing Konqueror windows pop up on my Windows XP laptop.

I use cygwin to connect to my linux machines (x windows) from windows. I also use it to add ssh to windows.

Oh by the way, did you know about Xming. It's the exact identical X server as in Cygwin/X except that it doesn't require Cygwin.

I couldn't get cygwin to work for me on my laptop. :( However, if you can, I do see how it could be a great thing to have.

How doesn't it work?

I type stuff. Hit enter. Nothing happens. Don't remember quite as it was a while ago I tried it.