Last year you may remember me talking about playing with a Raspberry Pi. Well since then my Raspberry Pi has been sat on a desk collecting dust.

This week I attended Leeds Sharp and the topic was Running Windows on Raspberry Pi and this has inspired me again to do something with a Pi.

But first what did I learn.

Here are a couple more of pics of last nights @LeedsSharp https://t.co/QvlsYjNFvB #RaspberryPi #MSIoT pic.twitter.com/60o4wiiPSv

— Richard Tasker 🇬🇧 (@ritasker) April 29, 2016

I had heard that a cut down version of Windows 10 could be installed on the newer Raspberry Pi’s, but I hadn’t really understood how cut down the version of windows is. Having now seen it demonstrated the OS consists of a single page with a few menu options.

The real power of Windows 10 IoT is when you connect remotely to it. There are a couple of ways to do this, PowerShell (check out https://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/win10/tools/CommandLineUtils.htm for a few commands), and of course connecting Visual Studio to your Pi.

When I had previously played with a Pi, it had been with bash scripts and linux commands. The beauty of installing Windows IoT is that you can write c# code, something I do in my day job so theoretically I should find it easier.

The demonstration at Leeds Sharp was pretty impressive. If you are a fan of the Big Bang Theory you may recall Sheldon playing a Theremin. Well it is actually possible to construct a Theremin from a couple of sensors and a Raspberry Pi. The code for which is on github.

Now that I have been inspired what shall I do?

My Raspberry Pi won’t support Windows 10 IoT, so I need to buy the latest version. I am thinking of buying a kit so I can play about with a breadboard, LEDs and resistors. Maybe not build a robot straight away but certainly try doing something that connects to the GPIO pins.

If you have any suggestions leave a comment below.