You Can Now Run Windows 10 on a Raspberry Pi using ...

Roman Shaposhnik, also of Project EVE, and Stefano Stabellini, of the Xen Project, saw that the RPi 4 had a regular GIC-400 interrupt controller ... Skiptomaincontent Pressentertobeginyoursearch CloseSearch BlogProjectEVE YouCanNowRunWindows10onaRaspberryPiusingProjectEVE! ByLFEdgeJanuary26,2021NoComments WrittenbyAaronWilliams,LFEdgeDeveloperAdvocate EversinceProjectEVEcameundertheLinuxFoundation’sLFEdgeumbrella,wehavebeenaskedaboutporting(andwewantedtoport)EVEtotheRaspberryPi,sothatdevelopersandhobbyistscouldtestoutEVE’svirtualizationofhardware. BothwerelookingforaneasywaytoevaluateEVEbycreatingsimplePoCprojects,withouthavingtobuyacommercialgradeIoTgatewayoranotherdevice. Theywantedtojustgetstartedwithsomethingtheyalreadyhadontheirdesk. AndweareexcitedtoannouncethatwehavecompletedthefirstpartoftheworkneededtorunWindowsonaRaspberryPi4! Wehavepostedthetutorialonourcommunitywikiandittakeslessthananhourtogetitupandrunning. TheRPi TheRaspberryPiwasfirstreleasedin2012withthegoalofhavingacheapandeasywaytoteachhighschoolstudentshowtocode. IthadUSBportstoattachakeyboardandmouse,HDMItohookuptoyourTV,GPIO(GeneralPurposeInput/Output)pinsforIoT,andanetworkingcableforinternetaccess. Thusfor$35youhadagreat,cheapcomputerthatranLinux. TheRaspberryPiFoundationsoldalotofthesedevicestoschools,buttheRPireallytookoffasdevelopersandhomehobbyistsdiscoveredthem,thinking“Wowa$35Linuxcomputer,IwonderifIcoulddothathomeIoTprojectIhavebeenplanning?” Plus,inmanycompanies,theRPibecameagreatwaytocreate“real”demosandPoCscheaply. Fastforward7yearsandweknewthatwewantedtoportEVEtotheRPi,becauseitwassuchalargepartoftheIoTworld,especiallydemosexplainingIoTconcepts. (Itismucheasiertogotoyourmanagerorspouseandaskfor$50RPivs.$500+forsomehardware.) But,accordingtoErikNordmark,TSCChairofProjectEVE,“theGIC(GlobalInterruptController)andtheproprietaryRPIbootcodeontheRPi3(andearliermodels)preventeditfrombootingintoaType1HypervisorlikeXenwithoutahackingupstrangeemulationcode.” Thus,whileitwaspossible,itwouldtakealotworkandmightnotworkwell. ThischangedwiththereleaseoftheRP4. RomanShaposhnik,alsoofProjectEVE,andStefanoStabellini,oftheXenProject,sawthattheRPi4hadaregularGIC-400interruptcontrollerthatXensupportsrightofoutthebox. Thus,gettingXentoworkontheRPishouldbeprettyeasy,right? AndastheydocumentedintheirarticlefromLinux.com,itwasn’t.“WewereutterlyobliviousthatwewereabouttoembarkonanadventuredeepinthebellyoftheXenmemoryallocatorandLinuxaddresstranslationlayers.” ButsoontheirhardworkpaidoffandtheywereabletogetXenworkingandsubmittedanumberofpatchesthatwillbepartoftheLinux5.9release. (TolearnaboutRomanandStefano’sadventure,seetheirarticleXenonRaspberryPi4AdventuresatLinux.com). Withthatdone,theEVEteamturnedtheirattentiontoseewhatworkwouldbeneededtocompletethevirtualizationoftheRPi,whichwentprettysmoothly. WhyWindows? WehavebeensayingsincethestartofProjectEVE,thatEVEistoIoTasAndroidistophones. Androidallowsyoutowriteyourcodeandpushittothedevicewithouthavingtoworryaboutthehardwareunderneath. EVEworksmuchthesameway. Itvirtualizesthehardware,allowingyoutopushyourcodeacrossdevices. AndsinceEVEisopensource,everyonebenefitsfromthe“plumbing”beinghandledbythecommunity. Theplumbinginthiscaseistheadditionofanewdeviceorfamilyofdevices.Thus,whenadeviceisadded,thewholecommunitybenefits. IoTdevicesdohaveanextrasecurityconcern,namelytheynotusuallyhousedinalockedbuildingandinsteadareoutintheopen. Therefore,thephysicalsecurityofthedevicecannotbeguaranteedanditmustbeassumedthatthereisnophysicalsecurity. Becauseofthis,thedefaultforEVEisturnoffallexternalports,suchasUSBports. Thisbringsustothequestion,whyWindows? Simply,whynot? Windowsdoesn’tbelongonaRaspberryPi,sowefiguredthatitwouldbefuntoseeifitwouldwork. Anditworkedrightoutofthebox,wejustneededtofindacontainerizedversionofWindowsandthenwejustdeployedit(itisreallythateasy). AnditisalotoffunusingWindowsknowingthatitisrunningonaRaspberryPi! Whatworkisleft Wehaven’tdonealotoftestingandforusthisisaPoC,sowewon’thaveafulllistoflimitations. Buthereareacoupleofthingsthatwehavefound. Wewillupdateourtutorialpageasthecommunityfindsandfixesthem. AskingPetrFedchenkovandVladimirSuvorov,leaddevelopersonProjectEVEaboutissuesthattheyhaveruninto,Petrmentioned,“ThebiggestissueisthattherearenodriversforGPUandWindows10ARM64doesn’thavevirtio-gpusupport. So,weareusingramfb(RAMFramebuffer),whichismuchmorelimited.” Inlayman’sterms,thismeansthattodayifyouplugakeyboardandmonitorintotheRPI,youwillinteractwithEVE,nottheWindowsdesktop. TheeasyworkaroundistorunRDP(WindowsRemoteDesktop)orVNC,butinourtestingRDPworksmuchbetter. ThenativeWiFidoeswork,butyoudoneedtoturnitonviaEVE. RememberEVEisdesignedtogiveyoucontrolofyourdevices,remotely,yetsecurelyso,theWiFiisturnedoffbydefault. AsyoubuildEVEforyourRPi,youhavetheoptionofpassinginaSSID,whichturnsoftheWiFi. Bluetoothiscurrentlynotworking. USBportsshouldwork,butthereneedstobesomeconfiguration. WearealsonotsureabouttheGPIOpins,wehaven’ttestedthemyet. (seebelowonhowtohelpouttogettheseworkingandtested. CallforHelp Whileitisprettyamazingwhatwehaveaccomplished,butweneedalotofhelp. Ifhaveanyinterest,inpartofthis,pleaseletusknow. WeneedhelpwithgettingtheUSB’sfullyworkingplustheitemsmentionedabove. IstheredevicethatyouwouldliketoseeEVEworkon? Pleasehelpusportittothatdevice. Wealsocouldusetechwriters,bloggers,oranyonethatcanhelpusimproveourdocumentationand/orcanhelpusgetthewordoutaboutEVE. Ifyouareinterested,pleasevisitourGitHub,Wiki,orslackchannel(#eve). 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