ARC and Windows on Raspberry Pi 4

Wintel monopoly days are over. ARM uses less power and is lower cost.  Perfect for Robotics.

This is why mobile phones and other edge devices all run ARM and why ARC needs to move to Linux on ARM.

@Nink - That's a rabbit hole i don't want to go down lol. Can you imagine any of our users managing a Linux desktop? We'd be a linux support community. Oh boy, i have so much to type on that it's not even worth my brain activity right now. If anyone wants to use Linux as a daily driver, then ROS probably suits your needs because you have a lot more time on your hands than me lol

"Wintel" or Windows & intel cpus are absolutely not over - that's been dead headlines for years. Almost as believable as "the robots are coming!". You're referring to "phones and edge devices". Neither of which Intel or Windows is involved in. Sure, microsoft tried the phone for some reason - but with a trillion dollars in the bank, why wouldn't you try something for fun? Everyone harps on MS and Windows but we all use it. As i typed earlier in this thread - unless someone extends the ARM architecture through expensive licensing to add cpu instructions that make operating systems and applications run quickly (like APPLE has been doing for years with Ax and now M1), we won't see ARM on desktop. That's exactly why you're not reading this on a chromebook or a raspberry pi. Maybe a phone, but that's not a computer and again out of scope on this comparison.

The day you and your employer give up all intel based cpu for all ARM Devices running Linux is the day Linux is ready for a real consumer application to be written for it.

PS, i've tried to load a web browser on a Pi 4 before. I want my 3 minutes back lol

My daughter (and every one of her friends), who know nothing about computers and can only point and click, want a Unix BSD based OS running on a RISC computer for Christmas.

Unfortunately she can’t run ARC on it. She doesn’t know how to use windows, and it would be impossible to teach her ROS.

So how does she learn about Robotics?

She'll learn in school where they have real computers hopefully her school hasn't given up and gave them social media menu tablets to "learn with" because it quiets them up. Do your daughter a favor and get her a laptop with a keyboard and mouse. Pointing and clicking is why the next generation is in trouble with technology and why STEM is so important. She doesn't need to program... but she should know how to use a real computer. The work place is not ever going to change to a "point and click". She'll need to learn robotics on devices that are used to program robots. If you buy her a butter knife, she's not going to cut down a tree either

Ever see the movie Idiocracy? I worry about our future sometimes.

But i think we're having a few different conversations in this thread.

1. We started about running Windows on a Pi.
2. Then the Pi being to low powered for Windows.
3. Then why would someone buy a slow Pi when they can be a fast SBC for the same price
4. Then why intel is still faster than native arm (i.e. Pi version, not the apple M1 extended licensed version with a ton of specific hardware acceleration)
5. Then ARC should run on a complicated Linux OS rather than an easy-to-use professional/business windows OS
6. Then kids are using "point and click" interfaces that teach them how to use social media apps rather than computing that prepares them for jobs

If you all want a linux version, we can hire a second developer to support the effort. I'll have to raise the price of the subscription for the hire, and i'll need to substitute the lack of revenue from the linux version because not enough people would use it to cover the salary.

This was a good read actually: https://www.alphr.com/features/390064/arm-vs-intel-processors-what-s-the-difference

Quote:

At this point, both ARM and Intel processors have their own benefits and drawbacks. Choosing which is better for you heavily depends on what you’d like to do with your tech devices and if they’re compatible with other hardware and software.

Intel is faster and more powerful than ARM processors. But, ARM processors are more mobile-friendly than Intel processors (in most cases).

The past two years have caused an upset for people who were diehard one or the other. Intel-based Macs will so be released with Apple’s own ARM processors, while we’ve seen some great things coming from Microsoft. Only time will tell, but there are constant improvements to both processors meaning what’s great now may not be so great in a year.

@Nink that is so cute!! It seems like recently there is a change of mind in the younger generation. Away from consumerism and big tech!! Makes me happy to hear that... My mom is also using Linux Ubuntu and never had a problem during the whole systems uptime, it comes with Thunderbird and Firefox pre installed and all the browser extentions are working!

I am using Linux mainly to play Video games, I just dual boot into my game drive to get a good framerate, which is not disturbed by all the windows stuff running in the back...

But I would not want to miss my good old daily used, tried and trusted Windows 10 for all those daily tasks, for my ARC and my Fusion 360!!

@DJSures I love Idiocracy, such a great movie!! And thanks for the link, very informative...also I think the discussion here is a good one, nice thing you summed up the conversational flow of topics!

My intend when starting the post was the following info, that your article is also pointing out!

Quote:

In 2019, things changed with the release of the Surface Pro X. Although the chassis of the tablet didn’t change much from previous versions, Microsoft didn’t give up on the ARM processor. The Surface Pro X is the tablet with an ARM processor that runs full Windows rather than a watered-down version.

Surface Pro X  starts at $999.99  or 1,000.00

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-pro-x/8QG3BMRHNWHK?s_kwcid=AL!4249!10!79302399292901!79302619849525&OCID=AID2100839_SEM_82e16f3f9b0f1f54394030ececbedbfc%3aG%3as&ef_id=82e16f3f9b0f1f54394030ececbedbfc%3aG%3as&msclkid=82e16f3f9b0f1f54394030ececbedbfc&activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab