Someone Got Windows Running on a Pixel Watch Because Why Not

Imagine glancing down astatine your wrist and seeing the acquainted Windows logo. That's the world a determined PhD pupil has brought to life. Gustave Monce, a sanction you mightiness admit from his erstwhile exploits, has successfully managed to footwear Windows connected a Pixel Watch 3. Because helium could.

Monce, known for his knack for getting Windows to tally connected devices it was ne'er intended for, cleverly named this task "Windows connected ARM.” As successful the limb you deterioration a ticker on, not the semiconductor company. Or, arsenic Monce enactment it: “ARM arsenic defined by the Cambridge dictionary, not the Cambridge based firm” (ARM is headquartered successful Cambridge, United Kingdom).

As you tin imagine, the process wasn't precisely plug-and-play. And portion it was announced connected April Fools’ Day, it’s wholly real. The archetypal hurdle was installing a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) connected the smartwatch. This is simply a important step, arsenic UEFI fundamentally acts arsenic the intermediary betwixt the hardware and the operating system, allowing it to footwear correctly.

With UEFI successful place, the adjacent situation was enabling USB mass-storage mode connected the Pixel Watch 3. This allowed Monce to link the ticker to a machine and dainty its interior retention arsenic an outer drive. This was the cardinal to past loading a Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) representation onto the tiny device. WinPE is simply a lightweight mentation of Windows akin to a Linux unrecorded ISO.

While seeing the Windows interface connected a smartwatch is beauteous chill (and funny), the functionality is acold from what you'd expect from a emblematic Windows device. You won't beryllium browsing the web, editing documents, oregon moving your favourite desktop apps connected your wrist–if you adjacent wanted to. But that’s not truly the point.

Projects similar this are a testament to the ingenuity of the hacking and modding assemblage who perpetually propulsion the boundaries of what's imaginable with devices. Monce's enactment shows the unseen imaginable of modern hardware and software. In reality, the devices we usage each time are really overmuch much almighty than we know.

Mainstream smartwatches often person locked-down software, but there's ever a assemblage of enthusiasts who are funny successful pushing the limits. Devices similar the Pine64 PineTime, for example, are specifically designed with openness successful mind, allowing users to basal the instrumentality and instal alternate operating systems.

While moving a full-fledged desktop operating strategy similar Windows connected a smartwatch mightiness look impractical for mundane use, the cognition gained from specified projects is invaluable. It tin pb to a deeper knowing of strategy architecture, operator development, and the challenges of moving analyzable bundle connected resource-constrained devices.

Ultimately, “Windows connected ARM” is conscionable a amusive project. While you mightiness not beryllium ditching your laptop for a Windows-powered smartwatch anytime soon, it's a glimpse into the imaginable for pushing the boundaries. Check retired the nexus beneath for overmuch much accusation from Monce astir however and wherefore helium did it.

Source: Gustave Monce, The Register