Microsoft wants Windows 10 to take over computers big and small so it has released Windows 10 IoT Core, a new edition of the OS catering to developers for embedded devices. These days, everything from fridges to cars have computers on-board, a scenario known as the Internet of Things (IoT), and Microsoft wants a big chunk of that pie. Here’s how the “light” version differs.
Windows 10 IoT Core will run on single-board mini computers like Raspberry Pi 2 and MinnowBoard Max and it doesn’t matter if the device these computers are placed in have a screen or not.
An earlier version of IoT Core was shown at Microsoft’s //build/ conference and since then the OS has added a swathe of new features. These include:
- Improved support for Python and Node.js, including a new Express Node.js project template
- GPIO performance on the Raspberry Pi 2 has improved by 8X to 10X
- Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) are now supported via breakout boards and ICs
- New Universal Windows Platform (UWP) APIs give apps easy control over system management features like time zone and network connections
It’s not all work and no play with IoT Core. Microsoft has made the OS easy to build “fun and cool” projects with. The demonstrate this, the company built an air hockey table which runs on IoT Core, as you can see here:
This release of Windows 10 IoT Core requires a development machine running the 7/29/2015 release of Windows 10 (Build 10240) and Visual Studio 2015. If you have a Raspberry Pi 2 and MinnowBoard Max laying around, you can download Windows 10 IoT Core over at the Windows Dev Center page.
[Via Microsoft Windows Blog]
Comments