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I wrote a piece of software for a small company. It uses a Raspberry Pi 3, a touch screen and also an external (USB-based) fingerprint scanner. Currently everything is based on Linux, but the company would prefer to use Windows, because they also use it for other products.

I do not have any experience with Windows IoT on the Raspberry, but I already found out, that the fingerprint scanner company does not have any libraries for Windows IoT, which means the scanner won't work.

But I have some other questions about Windows IoT:

  • If I create a working image, can i then also just copy / paste the SD card use this for the commercial product? Thats how it is done now. Or are there any issues with the license?
  • It seems that Windows IoT is for free? Is this really true? Also for commercial use?
Piotr Kula
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Kevin Meier
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2 Answers2

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Firstly Windows 10 IoT is not like traditional Windows 10

  • It only runs using .NET core
  • It was designed to run a single app in a sandboxed thread
  • Drivers are limited at the moment but there are horrible ways to port if really needed
  • IoT was designed to run a simple client. (aka dashboards, simple data collection) Do not mistake it for a full OS!
  • Porting your existing linux version (written in C++ I guess??) to .NET if just a mind blowing waste of time

If they really want everything to be written in .NET or Windows API then do it.. but then run it on MONO on a nix OS like Raspbian.

Piotr Kula
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The first part of your question - distributing the image. Using Win32DiskImager you can create an exact image file of your MicroSD card. This can be distributed and burnt onto any other SD card to create an exact replica of the original you copied.

The second - IANAL but https://www.windowsforiotdevices.com/ explains what you can and can't do.

seanbulley
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