Hello,
I am pretty new to UNIX and would like to know how i can run unix commands on a windows 7 machine. Basically, I want to practice running commands, created bash/awk/etc. scripts. I've read some things about cygwin, but it doesn't sound like it's exactly what I'm looking for.
Any suggestions?
You have roughly three options:
1) Use something like cygwin to create a program environment where you can work with unix commands. This is sometimes sufficient for ad-hoc data manipulation and/or to learn some unix commands.
2) Setup your pc to dual-boot. One side is normal Windows, and the other side a unix environment.
3) Make your pc completely unix, as in a linux workstation.
Loading and running cygwin may be the easiest solution for you.
Another popular option is to set up a virtual PC with Linux or UNIX running inside it.
This is more realistic than Cygwin, which is still subject to the usual Windows limitations and problems.
For setting up virtualized Unix/Linux environment under Windows you have three options: