Raspberry Pi 2 Available and Will Run Windows 10

[2ffat]

Raspberry Pi 2 is on sale. In addition to running Linux, this will also run Windows 10. To get Window 10 for free, you will need to be a member of the Windows Developer Program for IoT.


James P. Cottingham
I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!

 

[IPGuru]

So I am not the only one here then

I have read that the Windows 10 variant will not have a desktop, so it is really designed for making embedded devices.

Probably too little too lake from Microsoft, but then again I am a Linux geek anyway.

Raspberry Pi 2 running OSMC
Model B rev 1 used for hardware hacking
Model B rev 2 recently retired, was running RaspBMC & will probably be donated to my son to play with.


A Maintenance contract is essential, not a Luxury.
Do things on the cheap & it will cost you dear

 

[jpadie]

the number of times I see a McDo terminal, or cash machine, stuck on the windows embedded machine boot screen ... doesn't fill me with confidence that my plug and leave forever irrigation controller should be ported to Windows!

Also - how price realistic is this? the typical Atmel processor is a couple of bucks and runs most embedded electronics just fine. In fact it's probably overkill for everything lesser than a full interactive computer.

So has the Pi moved direction? is it no longer in the 'Duino space but now wanting to become a fully fledged low-end terminal?

 

[jolouis]

The Windows 10 for Devices is really an attempt to let their existing developer base work on things that previously were more in the realm of the Linux/embedded people. It'll never be full Windows with a GUI/etc, think of it as the Windows Kernel with a file system and command prompt... similar to the recovery console CLI. Agreed that it's probably too little too late at this point, but I'm betting it was done more in response from developer requests than from a Microsoft initiative. After all, if you were a fluent C# developer it's easier to have this then to have to go learn a whole different development language/chain and underlying OS.

AS for the PI, comparing it to an Atmel is like comparing an ATV to a pickup truck. For low level stuff (sensors, low level electronics etc) the AVRs/Duino/etc are fine... but as soon as you want to get higher level than that your cost and effort skyrocket. Try adding ethernet and the ability to directly drive 1080P resolution screens to your AVR... then try doing that for $35 US including the AVR itself. They're really designed for two different purposes. Sure there's some overlap, but in most cases they have two different roles and really a lot of the time should be used together rather than viewed as competing devices (Sure you can toggle GPIOs on and off... but try doing multi-channel ADC directly on the PI, for example. It just wasn't designed for tasks like that).

 

[jpadie]

Sure. But in years of developing I've never wanted my sensor tech to drive a 1080p screen. Or any screen beyond perhaps some LEDs or a glcd at a push. I run plenty of atmegas with Ethernet and there is no penalty other than cost for an embedded stack or mem footprint for a software stack. But I'd rather use any other comma protocol. Including shouting the data to the receiver....

I do accept that it is a question of finding the right tool for a job. My concern is that nascent joiners to this community will go overkill and use a Pi with Win 10 as their controller for closing their curtains at night ...

I can just about guess what a pickup truck ia from the amount of US TV we get in Europe but I have no idea about an ATV. In my world that's the wee white box that apple used to market to plug into TVs!

 

[dilettante]

I suspect Microsoft wanted a play in the hobby/education programmable protoboard space, and so put under the table funding into this "Pi 2" bulked up enough to run WinNT/ARM in order to co-opt the project to their own ends.

They tried before with their goofy Netduino which went nowhere, so this is Fire Two. This time they get to play missionary to a large established tribe instead of shaping one from dirt. I'm not sure the .Net religion will take root there though.

A far more mainstream path is the existing Pi (or far better spec boards out there) able to run a small Linux along with Oracle's JVM. That gives you Java, Scala, B4J, and lots of other programming languages as well as C and C++ as options.

 

[IPGuru]

The Pi was never really in the Arduino Space
I see it as more complementary

The Pi gives you a full OS that can be easily programmed, using cheap Arduino/pic type devices to provide intelligent interfacing where Real-time signalling is req.

A Maintenance contract is essential, not a Luxury.
Do things on the cheap & it will cost you dear