back to article Intel's Raspberry Pi rival Galileo can now run Windows

Windows fans can run their OS of choice on Intel’s counter to Raspberry Pi, courtesy of an Intel firmware update. Chipzilla has delivered firmware version 1.0.2 for the Galileo Gen 1, which means Windows can now run on the developer board. Microsoft fans had had to make do with a preview image until now. Getting the update is …

  1. Pen-y-gors

    Why?

    see title

    1. Tom 35

      Re: Why?

      No it should work great, like windows 7 on a netbook.

    2. Charles Manning

      Because

      We all want our washing machines to be able to tweet the fridge.

      Even if it means the washing machine take 2 minutes to boot, except when it's a Patch Tuesday and it takes 20 minutes to do all the updates.

      Better keep the antivirus up to date too.

      I think it is all an evil hippy plot to cut down on water use because nobody will want to do their laundry any more.

      1. Haku

        Re: We all want our washing machines to be able to tweet the fridge.

        Too right, whilst stood in front of the washing machine I want to be able to play pong with whoever's stood in front of the fridge!

        Just like these pedestrian crosswalk signs in Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx4z2V6uCkc

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why?

      Because its aimed at developers, not armchair critics or end users.

  2. MaXimaN

    Single-threat?

    A Freudian slut there, I think.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Single-threat?

      The classic Pentium did have a single threat, that it couldn't do arithmetic properly.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Single-threat?

        Meh… high power consumption (compared with AVR), slow boot-up time, sluggish storage… I wouldn't say this is any threat to the Arduino market, or the related Raspberry Pi market.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Single-threat?

          It's not even in the same market.

          (infact, there's probably not even a market for it)

    2. LaeMing

      Re: Single-threat?

      Just don't try to get it past the TSA!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Huh?

    I like the idea of single-threat Pentium, microSD slot 100Mb Ethernet port with various memory options. Multiple threats are always a pain. I'm not sure how to connect an RJ-45 connector to a microSD slot, but I'm sure they'll sell me an adapter. And various memory options on Ethernet open up interesting possibilites, like the 'no memory' option for those, ahh, educational web sites.

    Grammar, it saves lives.

  4. Gordon 11

    Standard Windows timings

    Putting Windows on the Galileo microSD card can take between 30 minutes and two hours. Booting Windows once loaded will take up to two minutes.

    So a bit like any other hardware.

    The only Windows install I've done (on a quad-core system with lots of memory) took over an hour, with ~4 reboots involved. And it wasn't a one-off, as I had to repeat it all the next day having discovered that you couldn't switch the SATA to AHCI mode without doing a fresh install (unlike the Linux install I'd done at the same time, in 15 minutes, which just looked for what setting was there and behaved accordingly).

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      You beat me to it.

      Reinstalling Win 7 Pro seems to take several hours, if for no other reason than all the updates since the iso was created. Disk speed limited, certainly not my Internet.

      1. Ross K Silver badge
        FAIL

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        Reinstalling Win 7 Pro seems to take several hours, if for no other reason than all the updates since the iso was created

        They got this thing called slipstreaming now. You integrate the updates into your install image so you don't have to piss around installing updates post install.

        Crazy, eh?

        1. Jordan Davenport

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          More like this thing called imaging now since that's how Windows since Vista (and really Windows for Legacy PCs) does it. And that's only worth it if you have more than one computer to update. Why can't Microsoft offer updated install images as suggested above?

          I imagine the answer is as simple as it's supposed to be more incentive to buy the newer version - fewer updates required. That's also probably why we won't ever see Windows 7 Service Pack 2.

          1. Ross K Silver badge
            WTF?

            Re: Standard Windows timings

            And that's only worth it if you have more than one computer to update. Why can't Microsoft offer updated install images as suggested above?

            What a dumb suggestion... What are they supposed to do? Issue a new ISO every patch tuesday? Do you really need your hand held to that extent?

            A clean install of Windows 7 SP1 will take 150 updates or thereabouts to be up-to-date.

            Last time I looked (which was two days ago) those 150 updates came to about 500Mb.

            If you're only doing an install ONCE I don't see the need for bitching - 500Mb is nothing.

            If you're doing it multiple times you'll have an automated solution unless you're a total mouthbreather.

            Maybe you should try installing OS X or Ubuntu and see how many hundreds of megs of updates you need to download after an install...

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Standard Windows timings

              Maybe you should try installing OS X or Ubuntu and see how many hundreds of megs of updates you need to download after an install...

              For Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu) I had to download about 100MB of updates (which includes updates to all programs, not just the core). Took about 5 minutes in total - hard to say exactly how long, as I could continue using the computer, no reboot. No big deal.

    2. Steve Knox
      WTF?

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      Wait, you've done one Windows install (two if you count the repeat), so you feel qualified to generalize how it installs on any hardware?

      1. Steven Raith

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        Installing Windows isn't the problem.

        It's the gigabytes of updates it requires post install that are the issue, which can take anything from hours to days to install depending on your connectivity and performance levels.

        Windows 8.x seems to improve this though, grabbing and applying updates post-install seems to be much improved - I think it may be doing some slipstreaming of the install WIM as it goes along or something - proof will be in the pudding in a years time when there are more, larger patches for it.

        Steven R

        1. kellerr13

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          God! I don't believe you are talking "Windows 8" and a scaled down system all in the same sentence. And I'm not even talking about the resources that Windows 8 requires. I'm talking about the fact that Rasberry PI and any equivilent are hacker tools, and any descent hacker is not even going to consider Windows 8 as part of that tool.

        2. Adam 1

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          >Windows 8.x seems to improve this though, grabbing and applying updates post-install seems to be much improved

          Funny thing is that my memory of installing 8.1 involved first applying about 1GB of update patches before it would let me download the upgrader itself (only available via their windows store BTW) which then proceeded to basically blow away and replace with new versions all of those files it had just demanded be installed.

          Incidentally, I don't remember win 7 taking as long as OP suggests. Maybe I spent too long many years ago fighting each machine that was loaded with either 2k or 98 where upon install you had to find another machine with net access to find your network drivers before you could find your video drivers so you could get out of 640*480 mode... fun days (and at the time Linux wasn't much better; the initial install was seamless in comparison but there was always something that would take days to get working.)

          1. Charles Manning

            Meanwhile....

            I work with a lot of ARM embedded systems. I often use buildroot for smaller projects. A full Linux build from source, including fetching the code, building Linux, u-boot, rootfs, and generating the final binaries. will take you less 10 minutes. It takes under 2 minutes once you've fetched everything.

            Even on my crap old laptop and internet connection.

            These boot into a running Linux application within 2 seconds. Maybe 5 seconds for a fat-arsed application that needs to load a bigger footprint (eg. Qt).

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        so you feel qualified to generalize how it installs on any hardware?

        It certainly doesn't qualify him, he had beginner's luck!

      3. Gordon 11

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        Wait, you've done one Windows install (two if you count the repeat), so you feel qualified to generalize how it installs on any hardware?
        No. I was only comparing my times to those quoted for this low-powered device and noting that they were similar.

        And, to others, my timings didn't include running the updates. That came later, and at least I could walk away while they ran knowing that the only reboot would be at the end.

        Installing the OS required reboots at apparently arbitrary times during the actual installation so I had to hang around and wait...

        But, to be fair, this was Vista.

        And the AHCI was not the default motherboard setting, and it was only the next day when talking about it at work that a friend suggested I check it...hence the re-install. Followed the next day by the same friend having dug up some info on how it could be changed without a reboot (via some undocumented changes).

    3. channel extended

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      Perhaps they were talking about the amount of time until the BSOD?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      Funny, I call bullshit on you last statement. I just did a Win7 install with a 256 GB Sata drive and it was AHCI from the start, the Windows install took less than a half hour. THE UPDATES took another 40 minutes. Please stop the FUD!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        it was AHCI from the start

        If you didn't enable AHCI before installing Windows, it wouldn't have enabled the drivers for it. You'd have manually enable it in the registry, but how do you do that if you can't boot? (And this is your first time installing Windows)

        install took less than a half hour. THE UPDATES took another 40 minutes

        So it took you over an hour, too.

        Bonus comment: I've only installed Linux twice (in a VM), it was a piece of piss compared to the many Windows installs I've performed

        1. kain preacher

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          Simple you edit the reg before switching to AHCI mode in the BIOS. or had that thought not occurred to you ?

        2. Jess--

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          you can enable AHCI post-install.

          change one registry entry, reboot

          then reboot again and change the setting in your bios to AHCI

          job done

          1. Steven Raith

            Re: Standard Windows timings

            Update - I can confirm that the first tranche of critical updates for a freshly set up machine, today, is a whopping 700mb.

            That's the *first* tranche.

            HTH.

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        "Windows install took less than a half hour. THE UPDATES took another 40 minutes. Please stop the FUD!"

        Is that not part of the point though? Why are MS not providing up to date ISO/USB images to install from? Why should we be installing a potentially years old image followed by gigabytes of patches and updates? Why do we have to build out own "slipstreamed" images with service packs and updates?

        It's not as if anyone can't already make copies of Windows install media and pass it around. You still need a key so having a freely downloadable image file is not an additional security risk.

        I just updated my Win7 laptop after leaving it for two whole weeks. 748MB of updates. Admittedly that included Office updates, but 748MB? WTF? Then 30 mins install time, must reboot, more updates installed during extended 10 minute shutdown, reboot happens, more updates so a 10 minute startup time.

    5. kain preacher

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      There was no need to reinstall windows. IT a simple reg edit to turn on ahci mode.

      Exit all Windows-based programs.

      Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

      If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

      Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

      In the pane on the right side, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.

      In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

      On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

      1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        Re: Standard Windows timings @kain preacher

        And people say that changing settings in Linux is obscure and convoluted!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Standard Windows timings @kain preacher

          And people say that changing settings in Linux is obscure and convoluted!

          But.. but.. on Linux, you have to use the KEYBOARD!!"

          And edit a plain text file using a normal text editor - there's not even a special tool for it! It's completely under-engineered.

    6. psychonaut

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      Bullshit. You can change to ahci by changing the start value of the msahci key in the registry. No reinstall needed. About 30 seconds on google would have gotten your answer. You have to make sure the bios has ahci enabled after changing the key and rebooting (otherwise it wont boot)

      1. JEDIDIAH
        Thumb Down

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        ...and they say that Linux is arcane.

    7. psychonaut

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      Oh and my win 7 installs take 5 minutes from an image via usb 3. About another 2 mins to set up the user. Drivers can take a while maybe 10 minutes to find on the web. Guess you dont know what you are talking about

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        Guess you dont know what you are talking about

        It appeared that the original comment is from someone installing Windows for the first time. So yes, obviously.

        The arrogance of Windows cheerleaders astounds me at times.

        1. psychonaut

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          And yet the same op deemed his comments as worthy. So I was correct...he doesnt know what he was talking about

    8. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      Well, I've done Linux install unattended that took 40 minutes total, on 7 computers, all at the same time. So that would be less than 6 minutes per machine. None of the machines were identical, but it helped that they all had bios setup to boot from ethernet, and Linux compatible hardware.

      And it took 25 minutes to install OS in Raspberry Pi: 20 minutes to write OS image to SDcard, then 5 minutes to setup ssh server and run a configuration script through ssh and that then mounts and executes scripts over the network.

      1. psychonaut

        Re: Standard Windows timings

        Re. Linux imaging.

        whoop do fucking do. Back in 1999 me and a colleague invented a system that you could phone up and it would image up to 400 pc's with the customer image of your choice whilst engineers were driving to the site for a disaster recovery emergency. Call at 4am...we need to get set up now for, say, chase manhatten. . Call MARVIN. Marvin images machines whilst you drink coffee and get clothes on and drive to the office to put kit on truck to take to dr site. But as you know, this requires some forethought and planning. Its not really comparable to building windows on a pc at home is it?pxe booting from an imaging server for a linux install isnt really the same thing

        1. Steven Raith

          Re: Standard Windows timings

          “Funny, I call bullshit on you last statement. I just did a Win7 install with a 256 GB Sata drive and it was AHCI from the start, the Windows install took less than a half hour. THE UPDATES took another 40 minutes. Please stop the FUD!”

          So on an SSD with a fast fibre connection, it takes about 20mins to install and maybe a bit under an hour to install just the critical updates - i doubt your specific numbers (I’ve built more Windows boxes than you’ve had hot dinners, including 20 machines a time from the Windows DVD - it would have taken more time to make a proper system image than to do them individually on a 'production line' system). On an SSD system if you want it with all critical updates installed, you’re talking at least an hour. If you want all recommended updates (.net etc) then it’s far, far longer - there are about 2gb of updates, and the .net ones are crushingly slow to install.

          Don’t even start on how long it takes over a 16mb internet line with spinning rust storage.

          “They got this thing called slipstreaming now. You integrate the updates into your install image so you don't have to piss around installing updates post install.”

          Yup, which is great if you’re constantly rebuilding Windows systems. If you’re a home user, or only occasionally rebuilding machines, that time is spent making the slipstreamed image - assuming that it doesn’t cock up the slipstream build when you’re creating it, which because I've done this several times, I have seen. All that saved time, ruined!

          As I stated, Linux makes a small base install from one standard OS install disk (no slipstreaming or custom images required), then applies the updates in one shot, then boots you into a working OS. You just can’t do that with Windows as it stands. Linux is, quite simply, better at this - it’s demonstrably true.

          “Simple you edit the reg before switching to AHCI mode in the BIOS. or had that thought not occurred to you ?”

          So I should do a full install of Windows, then go into the system registry, where one slip up can destroy the machine, change a value, then reboot?

          Why can’t it just work this shit out by itself?

          That’s less a stab at you and more at Windows, but given that they sorted out most of the uniprocessor/multiprocessor stuff in NT6, I’m hoping that NT7 will be more capable in this regard, because storage types they-are-a-changing and more flexibility will be needed with this stuff.

          “Oh and my win 7 installs take 5 minutes from an image via usb 3. About another 2 mins to set up the user. Drivers can take a while maybe 10 minutes to find on the web. Guess you dont know what you are talking about”

          How long did it take to create the image? How much did the USB drive cost? What if your machine doesn’t have USB3? What if the image wasn't prepped properly and it accuses you of piracy?

          Do you see the inherent problem here? It’s not how it works *out of the box* and as such, doesn’t count. I could image a linux install and have it running in five minutes too, but it’s not massively faster than just booting the standard install image from USB if you have a zippy enough internet connection, so why bother?

          “Well, I've done Linux install unattended that took 40 minutes total, on 7 computers, all at the same time. So that would be less than 6 minutes per machine. None of the machines were identical, but it helped that they all had bios setup to boot from ethernet, and Linux compatible hardware.”

          I’ve used WDS and Server 2008 to PXEboot 30 bare metal machines with sys prepped images to join the domain, source their drivers from network shares (the network drivers were in the image, natch), apply GPOs to them, install applications and boot to a genuinely complete login screen in under 40 minutes. Admittedly it needed £20k of server and switching behind it, but damn it’s impressive to see it do it. I’m looking forward to trying those tricks in Linux in my new job, frankly - linux sysadmin stuff. That’s also not a barb, I really enjoy this level of automation, it’s awesome.

          “Last time I looked (which was two days ago) those 150 updates came to about 500Mb.

          If you're only doing an install ONCE I don't see the need for bitching - 500Mb is nothing.”

          That’s the first tranche of critical updates - as I noted elsewhere, if you do recommended settings, you’re talking a couple of gig, including lots of very slow .net installs. I agree with your statement that if you’re doing more than half a dozen, you owe it to yourself to learn sys prep and imagex.

          As for Ubuntu updates, you get a couple of hundred megs of updates that install in one shot, you might want to reboot to get the latest kernel, and that’s it. I get a couple of megs of updates a day on my home Dev box, and it’s been running for about three weeks before I decided to reboot it to get the latest kernel, which requires a reboot to install. You don’t need to do three updates with a linux system out of the box - typically just one.

          Lots of bollocks posted on here (and some reasonable, if moderately inexperienced conjecture). Long and short is that Windows really needs a better update mechanism, ideally one that allows on-the-fly slipstreaming of the install image. the rest (all the updates etc) would require serious, core changes to the way Windows and NTFS work, and I can’t see them coming till the next major NT revision update.

          Which is a shame, as much as though I’m ranting here, I quite like Windows for it’s general usability. I’m just really glad I won’t have to work with it (and fix it, and install it, etc) on a day to day basis soon.

          Steven R

          1. Maventi

            Re: Standard Windows timings

            Well said Steve! You really hit all the nails on the head there!

            Speaking as someone who manages corporate deployments of Windows 7 (via PXE/WDS/WSUS), Ubuntu (via PXE/Preseed/APT) and RHEL (PXE/Kickstart/YUM) desktops, the severe shortcomings in the Windows installation and patch process become painfully obvious.

            I concur with your 40 minute Windows deployment, although I notice that patching still takes a bit longer and a few reboots on top of that (despite the machine being functional from the first boot). Did you include third party apps in there too?

            I find that by comparison a typical Ubuntu deployment by comparison takes around 15 minutes on a modern machine with an SSD. All the latest patches are automatically included during installation for both OS and applications (right down to the Adobe Flash plugin) so on the first boot it really just does work.

            This is when hosting a local APT mirror via HTTP and using PXE boot with an appropriately written preseed file. If you don't want to mirror an entire APT repository then using apt-cacher as a proxy does a pretty good job too - once you build the first machine the rest are just as fast as using a local mirror.

            RHEL is pretty similar and the fact you can use Python scripts for Kickstart more than makes up for having to live with YUM over APT. :)

            My biggest gripe with the Linux side is still having to figure out a few things manually, e.g. some preseed options are easier to find by trial and error after installation using debconf utils than reading documentation.

            Going back to the original topic, I'm not sure what Microsoft are trying to achieve by venturing into Galileo territory. Despite making for a reasonable desktop experience, Windows is close to useless without a video output. RDP just seems silly in this case and Windows abstracts hardware a lot further away from the userland then Unix-like OS's do, e.g. no equivalent to /dev or /sys. When hardware interfacing is exactly what the board is aimed at I just can't see why anyone would want to use anything else.

            1. Steven Raith

              Re: Standard Windows timings

              Ey up,

              After the subsquent reboot after that tranch of updates, there were another 40mb of updates and then it was done - after another reboot.

              And that was only critical updates - no third party apps or 'recommended' updates.

              So the thick end of a gigabyte, three hours, and three reboots.

              Go Windows Update, it's so FAST!

              WRT to accessing a Gallileo machine, RDP using WinFX is pretty tasty, so I hear, but I must admit I've never had a reason to test it with anything in anger (other than RDPing servers, which doesn't count really).

              Not had an excuse to have a PXEboot server in here for a long time, not since my last laptops CDRom drive died and I had to rebiuld it. VM of a PXE boot server on Debian, add image, whoosh, sorted!

              Steven R

              1. Steven Raith

                Re: Standard Windows timings

                Oh, and for reference - Windows 8.1 install, fresh out of the box (Acer OEM).

                Told to install essential updates only - no extras, or addons, etc. Just essential updates.

                Tranche 1 - just over 900mb, some 80 updates.

                Install, reboot.

                Tranche2 - one update, 896 mb by itself.

                So those who think Windows Update ain't that bad? Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

                That's nearly 2gb on a fresh machine out of the box, on an operating system that isn't even a year old.

                1. Steven Raith

                  Re: Standard Windows timings

                  Tranche three of those updates - 450+mb of 'recommended' updates.

                  Nice.

                  Machine has been nothing but Windows Updates since 0930, now 1400.

                  Glad I have other things to be doing....

    9. captain veg Silver badge

      Re: Standard Windows timings

      > Booting Windows once loaded will take up to two minutes.

      ... unless connected to Active Directory, in which case there will be a delay of several millenia while Group Policy is applied.

      -A.

  5. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Meh

    This sounds like the actions of very, very scared people desperate to get a foothold in an area they know nothing about.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Raspberry Pi is a run-away success.

      Intel/MS seem to have missed the point. So you get one of these "devices", download a pre-made image, boot, wait.. open notepad. And now what?

      It's only a "subset" of the Windows API, you'd be lucky to get anything running on it.

      1. Ole Juul

        Physical size

        So you get one of these "devices", download a pre-made image, boot, wait.. open notepad. And now what?

        I'm not knowledgeable about MS-Windows, but you're not implying that I'd have to attach a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, are you? I sure hope not! That would lose any advantage of using a small device in the first place.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Physical size

          attach a keyboard, mouse, and monitor

          Keyboard: How else do you propose we hit alt-ctrl-del in order to log in?

          Mouse: To click on the icons to start stuff. Windows doesn't have a real command shell. it's GUI driven.

          Monitor: It's difficult to judge where to click without seeing the mouse pointer

  6. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    What software will it run?

    Back when X86-64 was shiny and new, Windows did not run on it. Eventually Microsoft ported Windows. 64-bit drivers usually arrived when manufacturers released new products and all Windows applications were 32-bit for years for compatibility with the large installed base of 32-bit machines. AFAIK, Windows developers now target X86-64. What happens when you try to buy 32-bit software for Windows?

    1. LordWilmore

      Re: What software will it run?

      It just runs

    2. DrXym

      Re: What software will it run?

      "AFAIK, Windows developers now target X86-64. What happens when you try to buy 32-bit software for Windows?"

      Most software is still 32-bit and runs on 64-bit Windows quite happily through a Windows on Windows layer which thunks the difference away. Devs won't bother to offer a 64-bit version unless it offers a tangible advantage since it's more effort to build, test and distribute two binaries instead of one.

      Microsoft has mostly dumped 32-bit Windows but it's still around for some Atom powered devices and of course there is a substantial legacy of such machines.

      1. Steven Raith

        Re: What software will it run?

        "Microsoft has mostly dumped 32-bit Windows but it's still around for some Atom powered devices and of course there is a substantial legacy of such machines."

        Unless you get Office 2013, where the recommended install is still the 32bit variant.

        Seriously, check your Live account if you have it and have a look at the other install versions - 32bit is the one they expect you to use.

        On the OS side, though, 64bit is the way to go, and the way it implements 32bit compatibility is pretty good - better than Linux in some cases.

        Steven R

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Flocke Kroes - Re: What software will it run?

      McAfee - full blown suite.

    4. Christian Berger

      Re: What software will it run?

      I'd say the vast majority of software for Windows was long abandoned before 64 bit Windows came around. And the software that's not yet abandoned couldn't afford to cut Windows XP users out.

      On the other hand, only very few types of applications actually profit from the larger 64 bit address space.

      Additionally, Microsoft removed Windows support from their 64 bit versions. So your normal 16 bit applications won't run anymore. So I can understand large parts of the Windows market still being on 32 bit, particularly in the business sector.

  7. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

    How

    Wintelligent

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If only

    They had ported XP - maybe it would have been fun thing just to play with.

    Now it is like having to shovel sh*t - yes I can do but why in hell would I want to.

  9. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    FAIL

    Microsoft +Intel. The Micky & Mallory Knox of the IT business.

    Can you say "dysfunctional co-dependent facilitators" ?

    BTW I've never had to re-install a copy of Windows.

    It sounds like a nightmare.

  10. Breen Whitman

    Its no Rasberry Pi

    Where can I buy this? How much?

    The Raspberry Pi meets two requirements above making some fantastical claim like intel:

    1. Its cheap

    2. Its available.

    Till then, I presume Intel's solution is a small computer at computer prices, in some special production run

    Fail.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Its no Rasberry Pi

      "Till then, I presume Intel's solution is a small computer at computer prices, in some special production run"

      But it's got an x86. And now it can run Windows. Please show it some love.

      They really really really don't get it do they.

      Have a lot of fun.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Its no Rasberry Pi

        But it's got an x86. And now it can run Windows. Please show it some love.

        Even more reason to stick with the Raspberry Pi and Linux. A full-blooded desktop PC slows down enough after a year's usage. I can't imagine how agonisingly slow this thing will run with an SD card for storage.

        1. pPPPP

          Re: Its no Rasberry Pi

          > A full-blooded desktop PC slows down enough after a year's usage.

          How? I've got a Windows 7 PC which runs as well as when I installed it a few years back. As do all of the rest of my boxes (all Linux).

      2. hplasm
        Angel

        Re: Its no Rasberry Pi

        Chalk and Cheese.

        One is a fully fledged computer with myriad uses and millions (?) of users.

        The other is a Windows SBC...

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Its no Rasberry Pi

      3. It comes with hardware support for a lot of codecs. Without this the Pi wouldn't be so interesting for so many. Of course, it's still tiny and dirt cheap and useful for all kinds of stuff but the codecs make it universal.

  11. Anonymous Bullard
    Facepalm

    me too!

    Why would you want Windows on an embedded device like this?

    It's not even the full Win32 API, and if it scares you to drift too far from MS, put mono on your RPi.

    Any Microsoft fans wish to fabricate a use for it?

    1. pPPPP

      Re: me too!

      Not an MS fan, but the only use I can think of is to build a small media player with Netflix. There's no binary for Linux.

      More generically to run applications which will only run on Windows.

      I'll stick with my RPis though.

    2. Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip

      Re: me too!

      Its use is stated at the end of the article, they're giving 50 thousand away to universities. At the moment with the popularity of RPi the engineers of tomorrow are learning ARM/Linux. Obviously Wintel would prefer they learn x86/Win. Simple grass roots marketing.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No trust

    I'm sorry, but intel has been proven to be in bed with "the man", and we need more competition out there. I'll stick with Rasberry PI, and Linux.

    1. Long John Brass
      Coat

      Re: No trust

      I am "The Man" and I also stick with the Rasberry PI, and Linux

      yes, yes .... I'm going

  13. Len Goddard

    Windows fans?

    Is there such a thing? All the people I know who run windows do so because they have to in order to support essential apps (like games), not because they are fans of windows.

    Apple has worshippers

    Linux has fans

    Windows has users

    1. Christian Berger

      Re: Windows fans?

      No that should be:

      Linux has fans and users

      Windows has mostly sufferers

      So far most of the Windows users I've seen seem to suffer from it. They are constrained by the arbitrary limits it imposes and more or less fight with it over trivial problems. Just read Trevor Pott's articles where he fights to do trivial things like getting e-mail out of an e-mail server. Things which on any other platform just require a single line typed into the command line... or dragging and dropping a folder in the GUI.

      Of course there is also a group of genuine Windows fans. Those people actually know Windows and do things like porting Windows CE onto the Raspberry Pi (at least they claim to do that) or bypassing the Win32 API and directly talking to the kernel.

      Then of course there are the Windows fanbois. People who have no idea about Windows, but just irrationally like it very much. That seems to be a much larger group than the genuine fans. They may have tried to install some 10 year old Linux distribution on overly exotic hardware... and fail, which they use as justification for thinking Windows is the best thing EWAR.

    2. Charles Manning

      Re: Windows fans?

      x86 gets hot.

      Fans required.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Windows fans?

        x86 gets hot.

        Fans required.

        My Pentium Overdrive chip begs to differ…

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All comments aside, MS has got to do something. Running programs, doing task, playing games and browsing has migrated from the desktop to the phone and tablets.Love 'em or hate em, Apple showed the world that you don't need a PC to do everything, and people took notice. there is nothing MS can do about that, they've tried to duplicate and it hasn't gone that well. I do see this "all things connected to the net" thing catching on, it will be the next big thing, and MS is trying to get their part in (again).

    Problem is, they keep dragging this huge, bloated thing to the party known as Windows. Windows has a place, and that place is on a desktop. Not on a tablet, not on a phone, and not on an Internet of things. They haven't done the one thing (successfully) that has made Apple and android so popular, and that is look at the device it is intended for and just do a damn OS for that. They don't know how, and if they try it always has to be tied in with Windows and Office, thus the dragging of the bloat monster.

    How about a small, new, reliable and secure OS that people can try on say, a rooted tablet, or something. Just something that isn't Windows and build from there. It's not that hard of a concept to have a screen with icons on it, you press them, they do something. But I think they are too late to the party due to dragging that bloated thing known as windows.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "a small, new, reliable and secure OS that people can try on say, a rooted tablet, or something."

      Cutler still works for MS, doesn't he? [Xbox, last time I looked]

      I wonder if they know where the sources are for NT3.1

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Pretty good, but seriously, what you just said is kinda their problem. The first question that comes about always seems "how can we integrate it with Windows".

        The Xbox has been a success for MS (I never thought it would work, put me in the corner with the people who never thought the IPhone or the Ipad would work either) and they seriously need to look at that. Not turning a tablet into an Xbox but.....the interface and functionality of the device.

        "We have this device in mind, how can we make it work great" instead of "These things are becoming popular, how can we put Windows in it".

        Smart TVs are the rage. but for some reason, clunky and really needing some improvements. My point, there is room to grow in that area. MS could really hit a home run in this evolution if they could just push aside the 800 pound gorilla. I dont want Windows on TV, I want an interactive TV menu that makes me wonder "How did I get along without it".

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I dont want Windows on TV

          "Smart TVs are the rage. but for some reason, clunky and really needing some improvements. My point, there is room to grow in that area. MS could really hit a home run in this evolution if..."

          Interesting, isn't it.

          Smart TV should actually have been a natural winner for MS; it shares many (but not all) of the commercial characteristics of MS normal territory:

          * deals are done with a small number of device manufacturers (PC: Dell, HP, etc,. TV/STB: Pace, Samsung, etc) rather than individual end users

          * deals (or at least co-operation) are also needed with the "content providers" whose high value content must be protected from unauthorised copying at all costs (cf "application providers").

          And sometimes strategic product design deals with MS are done direct at near-CEO level rather than the usual process of designers and engineers looking rationally at what options are available and making a business decision based on the facts.

          Yet, despite everything that should be in their favour, how far have MS got in the smart TV/set top box market?

          Did you even know they were trying to be a player in that market?

          Well they were and one of their bigger "successes" back in the day was in the UK with the early incarnations of BT Vision.

          How's BT Vision going for MS now?

          The latest incarnation of BT Vision, for the last couple of years, no longer uses Microsoft software.

          And even more amazingly, MS manage this in a market where (as you rightly point out) some of the UIs on "smart TVs" are some of the worst UI designs people have ever seen.

          Sell.

          1. Goat Jam

            Re: I dont want Windows on TV

            Didn't MS buy WebTV about 15 years ago?

        2. Christian Berger

          "Smart TVs are the rage. but for some reason, clunky and really needing some improvements. My point, there is room to grow in that area. MS could really hit a home run in this evolution if they could just push aside the 800 pound gorilla. I dont want Windows on TV, I want an interactive TV menu that makes me wonder "How did I get along without it"."

          Well for that Microsoft would have to:

          1. have a clue on how to do it, which is much harder than you'd imagine

          2. be able to have that clue somehow survive through the company and reach the people who are in charge

          Particularly point 2 is not likely to do happen at any time. Microsoft just is far to large for that.

      2. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

        "I wonder if they know where the sources are for NT3.1"

        This is one thing I've seen on some embedded Linux devices; they'll have a pretty old kernel (not NT 3.1 old but pretty old), but an arbitrarily modern userland on there.

      3. Charles Manning

        "I wonder if they know where the sources are for NT3.1"

        Some of it is in Windows CE (or EC as it is called now).

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "and MS is trying to get their part in (again)."

      They do say that as you get older, lube helps.

  15. William Boyle

    What a terrible to ruin an otherwise great bit of embedded gear! Gah! Shoot me now, please!

  16. Frank Rysanek

    The Galileo has no VGA

    no VGA, no point in installing Windows on the poor beast.

    Well you could try with a MiniPCI-e VGA, or a USB VGA... both of which are pretty exotic, in one way or another.

  17. RyokuMas
    Coat

    It looks like...

    ... you're trying to do some washing/watch TV/refrigerate your food!

    ... can I help you with that!

    Microsoft Domestic Assistant.

    /shudder

  18. d3rrial

    Wouldn't it be the Intelnet of Things then?

  19. david 12 Silver badge

    Win version?

    The linked article says that "a GUI-based OS is out of the question".

    What are they providing as "the IoT version of Windows"? Is it a headless version? A winphone version? Win8?

  20. geraldpaxton

    After purchasing 2 Galileo boards in January and failing to get a bug free operating system loaded, I ran across 'pcDuino3' which booted Linux 'out of the box' and is used at UC Boulder in classes. With all of the new boards being produced for IOT, I think Galileo is behind the curve.

  21. CFWhitman

    Well, the Galileo has dropped in price a bit and is not so expensive as to be ridiculous to compare to the Pi ($50 plus in the US). However, even though it is a reasonable piece of hacking hardware, it makes almost no sense to install Windows on it under any circumstances. It does not have the video capabilities to support a proper GUI interface. In many ways it is not a Raspberry Pi competitor at all, since it is dedicated almost entirely to Arduino type uses rather than anything that requires video, like media playing or using as a mini-desktop system.

    If you want a Wintel system to use as a media player with Netflix support, you'll have to look elsewhere.

    Interestingly, soon (starting with version 38, I think) Chromium/Chrome will have native Netflix support (it's already working if you run the beta versions), so that will be a way to run Netflix on a Linux box (though you still have to spoof the user agent). I don't know if this will have any carryover to ARM machines or not (I'm not sure whether the DRM part of the code is portable across architectures or not).

    1. Anonymous Bullard
      Thumb Up

      I can confirm Netflix works on Chrome 38 in Linux. And it works well.

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