Windows on RPI

[FinnCoding]

Hello everyone,


Today i have a question about OS.
I have Raspbian on my Raspberry pi 3 model B+ right now.
But i dont realy like it.
I want to have Windows XP or Windows 7 or something like that.

Last week i installed a DOSBOX on my RPI.
On that DOXBOX i have windows 95.
But that is not nice because its not a full OS.

Does anyone know how to install a complete version of: Windows/Mac?
(If you do know a realy good operating system you can also tell me!)

Realy thanks if anyone can help me out with Windows or another realy good operating system!


Windows on DOSBOX: https://gyazo.com/d335fbce404eb52428169004a18da83d

[alphanumeric]

The Pi uses an ARM processor which uses a different instruction set. You can't install an OS that uses the x86 instruction set on a Pi. Windows 10 IoT is basically it right now, and that's not a full featured version of Windows. IMHO, calling it Windows is a big stretch. The only other remote alternative is Windows Mobile but somebody would have to port it to run on a Pi. I don't see that happening any time soon.

[bensimmo]

Have a look for some of the other ones NOOBS lists

Ubuntu and SUSE. They are both, like Raspian, based around the Linux style.

There is RISC OS there as well, which is different.

But that's really it unless it's something more obscure.


Until Microsoft develop a desktop Windows for the Pi, then you'll not be able to use it.


Of course, feed back what you don't like about Raspian.

[jahboater]

I have Raspbian on my Raspberry pi 3 model B+ right now.

What's that? The B+ is an older single core armv6 model.
The Pi3 is the latest quad core armv8 model running at a much faster speed.
It also has double the memory and built-in WiFi etc.

But i dont realy like it.
I want to have Windows XP or Windows 7 or something like that.

Perhaps you could say what's wrong with Raspbian?

If you really have a B+, I suggest getting a Pi3.

Then install the latest Raspbian Jessie with PIXEL of November 2016.

Give it a really good try!

[Heater]

FinnCoding,

I have Raspbian on my Raspberry pi 3 model B+ right now.
But i dont realy like it. I want to have Windows XP or Windows 7 or something like that.

I'm curious. What is you that you don't like about Linux?

Over that last year I have been using Windows 10 almost exclusively. That is after having used nothing but Linux since about 1998.

The experience has been a bit eye opening. In that sometimes I almost forget that I am using Windows!

How is that possible? After so many years of negative Windows experience?

Turns out my Win 10 machine is running almost all the software I have been using on Linux for ages. For example:

Google Chrome browser.
Firefox.
Virtual Box.
Propeller IDE and BST IDE (For Parallax Inc. microcontroller)
Atom Editor.
Node.js
Qt Creator (C++ IDE for use with Qt GUI libs)
Mosquitto - MQTT broker.
Git - Version control
GIMP - Paint program.
LT-SPice - Spice electronics simulator.
KiCad - Schematic design and PCB layout
GCC - C/C++ compiler (Via Cygwyn)
Linux command line - Via the new Linux Subsystem for WIndows.
Python and many other languages of course.

As icing on the cake Microsoft itself is getting into Open Source software with it's Visual Studio Code IDE and Chakra core Javascript engine for node.js.

Now, admittedly a lot of things I have mentioned there are perhaps not available for Linuxon the ARM based Pi. But that would also be so if the were a Windows for the Pi.

[JumpZero]

(If you do know a realy good operating system you can also tell me!)

Raspbian !!!

[ElEscalador]

Isn't MS releasing a full ARM Windows OS thingie?

[jahboater]

Heater,

GCC - C/C++ compiler (Via Cygwyn)

Have you tried MinGW by the way? http://www.mingw.org/

[Heater]

I recall having built things with mingw a long while ago. Don't remember much about it. I have yet to use it for any of my own developments.

[TrapdoorSmoke]

I think Windows 10 can run on arm.

I wouldn't recommend doing this!
Steps
1. Break in Microsoft get a copy of the Windows 10 source code
2. Rewrite the x86 assembly into arm assembly.
3. As Windows is already rewritten in c and c++ all you have to do is get GCC to compile it and use Nasm but it's going to take some work to get it compile under GCC.
4. Start cutting it down, remove the unnessary things like Microsoft edge and paint etc.
5. Recompile everything and there you go.

I Microsoft have a arm version of Windows already I think it's called Windows RT or something.

[Martin Frezman]

As has been noted millions of times on this board, none of the "supported" Windows-on-ARM "solutions" are going to be worth much, because you won't be able to run any of your normal, x86-based, Windows software on it.

To the OP: I'm interested in how you got Windows 95 running on the Pi. Care to share details? It sounds really useful to me (despite the nattering we've already seen on this thread to the contrary).

[fruitoftheloom]

As has been noted millions of times on this board, none of the "supported" Windows-on-ARM "solutions" are going to be worth much, because you won't be able to run any of your normal, x86-based, Windows software on it.

To the OP: I'm interested in how you got Windows 95 running on the Pi. Care to share details? It sounds really useful to me (despite the nattering we've already seen on this thread to the contrary).

Windows 95 is running DOSBOX..

Windows 1/2/3.x/95/98/ME use a MS-DOS base so are in effect a GUI.......

[W. H. Heydt]

Two things... The first is trivial to the discussion...In what way is Win95 not a "full operating system"?

The second is...What exactly do you think Raspbian is missing that is in Win10 or OS-X that you feel you need?

With that in mind, please understand that a Pi--any Pi--is a lot less hardware than it takes to run Win10, even if an ARM version existed. Go confiure a PC with the general specs of a Pi3B--1.2GHz quad core, 1GB RAM--and see how well Win10 runs on it.

[fruitoftheloom]

Hello everyone,


Today i have a question about OS.
I have Raspbian on my Raspberry pi 3 model B+ right now.
But i dont realy like it.
I want to have Windows XP or Windows 7 or something like that.

Last week i installed a DOSBOX on my RPI.
On that DOXBOX i have windows 95.
But that is not nice because its not a full OS.

Does anyone know how to install a complete version of: Windows/Mac?
(If you do know a realy good operating system you can also tell me!)

Realy thanks if anyone can help me out with Windows or another realy good operating system!


Windows on DOSBOX: https://gyazo.com/d335fbce404eb52428169004a18da83d

Windows XP NT Kernel was never ported to ARM

Windows Vista introduced a new NT Kernel family which was used in WindowsRT ARM Laptop and Windows Phone 8 & 10, unfortunately or fortunately they were compiled for a different SoC, depending on model, than what is used in a Raspberry Pi.

Though Windows 10 IoT Core was compiled to run on the Raspberry Pi SoC and uses the NT ARM Kernel it uses a EUFI Boot Loader.

So bottom line is at present Windows 10 Desktop Version on the RPi BCM2837 SoC though "technically" feasible is a non starter due to Microsoft NT Kernel is closed source.

Supposedly MS is working on an ARM Netbook, but yet again that will use a different SoC.


Yes there are hacked version of SurfaceRT ARM around but like Android after 6 years is more proof of concept.


Happy New Year, I recently sold all my Windows Machine and Linux suffices for my needs

[HawaiianPi]

Hello everyone,


Today i have a question about OS.
I have Raspbian on my Raspberry pi 3 model B+ right now.
But i dont realy like it.
I want to have Windows XP or Windows 7 or something like that.

Simple answer, it can not be done.

Slightly more complicated answer. Even if you could get Windows (XP or newer) running on a Pi, it would run like crap, to the point of being unusable.

If you want a cheap Windows computer, look for a good used netbook or notebook. The Raspberry Pi is NOT a Windows computer. There is the IoT version, but it's not really Windows in the traditional sense (it won't run the Windows apps you most likely want to use). There are rumors of an ARM port, but that's all they are for now (rumors). There are x86 emulators, but they don't work well with any reasonably modern software (as you already discovered with DOSbox).

Raspbian Jessie with Pixel is the best OS for the Raspberry Pi right now.

[KMyers]

@Heater,
Love that you are having good experience with Windows, on the other hand I am now havinf great experiences with Raspbian,

Go figure, guess you have to just get used to both, Still dont like all the typing in the Linux world. Still difficult for my one good hand but getting used to it!

[HawaiianPi]

@Heater,
Love that you are having good experience with Windows, on the other hand I am now havinf great experiences with Raspbian,

Go figure, guess you have to just get used to both, Still dont like all the typing in the Linux world. Still difficult for my one good hand but getting used to it!

A lot of the "typing" can be handled through the GUI (Pixel Desktop), but in the Linux world, command line is the normal, and often preferred way to do things.

Give us an example or two of things you would like to be easier (less typing) and I'll see if I can offer you a solution.

One example I can think of is all the sudo nano this, and sudo nano that. For editing files outside of your home directory you can use a root file manager. I added a Root File Manager entry to my menu.

Menu > Preferences > Main Menu Editor
Click on Accessories, then new item:


You should also see an entry for a Root Terminal that is not enabled, so I enabled that while I was in there.

And here are a couple of custom icons I made for them (matching the new Pixel style icons).

As noted in the picture above, be very careful with this. You can easily mess up your system with a root file manager, which is why it's not commonly recommended. Do not use it to access files inside your home directory (normally/home/pi), use the normal file manager for that.

Now, when you see something like, sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, you can navigate to /etc/wpa_supplicant with the root file manager and double-click on the wpa_supplicant.conf file to open it in the default text editor (leafpad).

I hope that helps.

[alphanumeric]

Isn't MS releasing a full ARM Windows OS thingie?

That's for the Snapdragon processor though. One that the Pi doesn't have, and likely never will have.

[Heater]

KMyers,

Love that you are having good experience with Windows, on the other hand I am now havinf great experiences with Raspbian,

The whole point of my post was that my experience in Linux and Windows today is about the same.

So the question is, why use Windows?

Except of course I am using Win 10 on a Surface Pro 4. So I suspect there is no Linux that makes use of all that hardware so well yet.

I'm still very anti the idea of making my computing world dependent on a company in a far way country. But so far everything I do on this Surface Pro can be done on other machines without any such ties.

Now, what's with all the typing and your one good hand? I have the same amount of typing to do in Windows as Linux.

[jahboater]

Re excessive typing:

If you are on the command you can use various means to reduce it.

One simple way is an alias (put in ~/.bashrc).

Code: Select all

alias sn='sudo nano'

Then just type

Code: Select all

sn /boot/config.txt

Another is the bash history mechanism.
And so on.

[Heater]

That drives me nuts on the Windows command line.

Command history does not work well.

Tab completion does not work well.

No wonder Windows users think the command line is such hard work.

[jahboater]

Yes, tab completion is rather clever on linux.

I was surprised to see it works across the network:

scp pi@pi:/boot/co<tab> fills in the rest of config.txt

[DougieLawson]

Today i have a question about OS.
I have Raspbian on my Raspberry pi 3 model B+ right now.
But i dont realy like it.
I want to have Windows XP or Windows 7 or something like that.

Send your Raspberry Pi back to where bought it, get your £35 refunded. Use that £35 towards buying a new £300 Win10 laptop.

The Raspberry Pi is not for you.

[Pithagoros]

That drives me nuts on the Windows command line.

Command history does not work well.

Tab completion does not work well.

No wonder Windows users think the command line is such hard work.

Windows command prompt is deprecated now, Powershell is the current shell environment.

The thing about OSes is that for most desktop users the OS is not so relevant to productivity, productivity is mostly achieved within applications.

[Heater]

Pithagoros,

Windows command prompt is deprecated now, Powershell is the current shell environment.

Admittedly I know nothing of Powershell.

As far as I know it only works on Windows with Windows apps.

As such it is of no interest to me.

That's OK, MS now has the Linux Subsystem for Windows to make life easier.

The thing about OSes is that for most desktop users the OS is not so relevant to productivity, productivity is mostly achieved within applications.

I'm sure that is true. In fact that was the point of my post. I use the same apps on Windows as I do on Linux.

Of course many apps are not available on Linux. Which is sad.