Almost every tutorial and project focused on the Raspberry Pi starts the same way: by buying the hardware. Due to shipping costs, customs duties, and other unexpected taxes, the distribution of the Raspberry Pi is a nightmare in many regions. Knowing its specifications, how difficult would it be to create an emulator? The good news is that Microsoft is working on that, although it technically qualifies as a simulator. The bad news is that it is at a very early stage of development, so we need to be patient.
Those users who already own a Raspberry Pi can skip this article. Yes, it's a strange way to start, but if you have direct access to the hardware, any inconvenience in creating projects or developing code should be easily resolved. This time, the priority is all those enthusiasts who have not yet bought a Raspberry Pi, whether due to price or availability. In its most basic version (without counting the original models), the mini computer has 512 MB of RAM and a single core at 1 GHz. The idea of emulating a Raspberry Pi is not so far-fetched, but reproducing its specifications is not enough. The emulation must reach “everything” about the Raspberry Pi, including GPIO and dedicated ports.
Microsoft is already working on a project with these characteristics, and its name is Raspberry Pi Simulator. This makes clear that it is still very far from an ideal emulator, but the online environment offered by the Redmond giant is more than enough to experiment with our code. The system is divided into three zones: Assembly (with a BME280 sensor and an LED), Code (where the editor is located), and Console (which presents the code output). The editor has a sample, but its operation requires creating an IoT hub in the Azure portal and a Microsoft account.
Personally, this dependency on Azure takes away a bit of attractiveness from the Raspberry Pi Simulator, and its rough edges are too evident, although the entire project is open source, and anyone can create a fork. Beyond the difficulties, I think we are ready for a functional Raspberry Pi emulator, and it would be great if Microsoft shared it without restrictions once finished.
