The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book - Projects_Book_v4

raspberrypi.org/magpi The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book 43

WINDOWS 98 WATCH Projects

>STEP-01

Add a touchscreen

Equipped with a heatsink and spacers for mounting

the PiTFT 2.4-inch touchscreen, a Pi A+ – with optional

overclocking – runs the QEMU hypervisor in Raspbian.

>STEP-02

Power it up

Sugru and tape are used to secure the 1000 mAh LiPo

battery and PowerBoost to the bottom of the Raspberry

Pi, powering it via a USB to micro USB cable.

>STEP-03

Emulate Windows

Windows 98 is converted to an IMG file on a

PC, then transferred to the Pi to run via QEMU.

Framebuffer mirroring is used to output the display

to the touchscreen.

BUILD YOUR

OWN TIMEPIECE

file over to the Pi and running
it there.”
When the Windows 98 system
eventually boots, it really does
work, although Michael admits
it’s too slow to be usable and
touchscreen navigation is tricky.
“I need to look into calibration,

I think, or it could be an issue
with the way QEMU works when
launched from the command line.”
Even so, Michael is eventually
hoping to get classic 3D shooter
Doom running on the watch, once
he’s overcome a technical issue:
“I can’t find a way to create a

virtual graphics card on QEMU on

the Pi that will allow Windows 98

to run in 8-bit colour.”

While Michael has considered

using a Pi Zero for the watch,

he has a different plan for an

upgraded version: “It could be

made marginally slimmer with a

Pi Zero and it would give a bit of

a speed boost... I am thinking of

going the other way, though, and

using a Pi 3 in future.” Although

this would be even bulkier, it

would run a lot faster as the Pi 3

handles emulation far better. “I

can potentially put a bigger screen

on and have multiple operating

systems selectable from the

buttons, such as 95, XP, and even

something out there like ReactOS

or some random Linux distro.”

In the meantime, Michael

has received plenty of positive

feedback for his Windows 98

Watch, which he wore to Raspberry

Pi’s Fifth Birthday Bash. “The

reaction has been crazy; I never

expected it to take off like it did,

but I’m very happy it did and it has

inspired me to create more and

work harder.”

I can potentially put a bigger

screen on and have multiple

operating systems selectable

Remember this? The classic ‘flying windows’ screensaver

An AdaFruit 2.4 ̋ PiTFT touchscreen,
with added push buttons, is mounted
on the Pi