A linux version of cygwin?

Solution 1:

As others have mentioned, there are things such as coLinux that run Linux inside Windows, and side by side, Windows.

But.. if you're happy with Cygwin other than colors, maybe you can change your terminal to something that shows colors better. Look at rxvt, and mintty, both available from setup.exe. Then use chere to set that as the term emulator to open in Windows

Solution 2:

not sure i understand your question, but here goes.

if you are using linux or mac os x as your operating system, you can just open up the command line and do all the cygwin things. see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal for a howto.

if you are using windows, cygwin is your only option for linux command line functionality.

Solution 3:

A little more Linux than cygwin? Have a look at coLinux and andLinux.
If you want a full blown linux under Windows then you have to use virtualization, for example with VMWare or Virtualbox.