Mycroft on Windows

Hello, can I use Mycroft for desktop on my windows computer? Thanks

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Right now the best way to do that is to use a Virtual Machine and install linux on it. I recommend Virtual Box with an Ubunutu Image. You may be able to also get it working through docker. Never tried the docker route for windows so not sure if currently possible.

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This is something we want to do next year once we’ve really stabilized the software base ( we go to alpha this month and beta in Feb 2018 ). Right now we’ve focused on open operating systems because we need to significantly improve the user experience before we really push for wide adoption ( i.e. support easy installation on Windows and iOS ).

One danger for a technology being developed in the open is that the product gets wide adoption before it is ready for prime time and people decide it isn’t very good.

Some time next year, though, we’ll deploy easy installers for Windows and iOS that will let you use Mycroft to replace Cortana or Siri.

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Thanks! I’ll use a virtual machine.

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Is there an update on this topic

I guess there won’t be updates until mycroft will be a “product” for consumers, so they stick on the open ecosystem until then, just guessing, but windows and mac user base is huge and (in general terms) not very used to open source projects, so if they find bugs or limitations, they will abandon them without chance to try it again on the future, so I guess mycroft team won’t develop anything for them until they have a proper product, and it can be easily 2019 or so.
Anyway, you should wait until Mycroft beta will be released on February 2018 to start asking for non-linux clients (ios and android included).

We are still making a lot of improvements to the user experience. Before we go to less developer focused platforms like Windows or OSX we want to be sure that the software works well. Otherwise we risk damaging our reputation.

Right now we are focused on the extreme tail of the bell curve - early adopters who run Linux.

Keep an eye on it though. After we go to beta and feel that we can provide general users with a good experience we’ll release installers for Windows, OSX, iOS and Android.

You can actually get it running on Windows Subsystem for Linux. Unfortunately, the audio is not supported yet, but you can already type commands and test skills as a developer.

http://allthingssmart.xyz/running-mycroft-on-windows-subsystem-for-linux

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I did a little reading and found something that seems to be about successfully getting audio out of WSL, though I can’t try it because I don’t have WSL.

Though I do wonder if I could do similar to what the person in the allthingssmart link did by installing Windows SUA and then installing something along the lines of http://debian-interix.net/ or similar into it?

(On a side note, I’ve already discovered that mycroft doesn’t install right at all in Cygwin64, though I may have simply been doing it wrong… :sweat_smile: )

And yes, I know, none of these are supported configurations in any way, shape, or form, I shouldn’t expect them to work straight off the bat (or at all really, I suppose), and I’m pretty much on my own messing about with them.

Hello there. Sorry about the necro rise, but seems like makes sense to ask on this thread.

Im planning to try some of this alternative routes to have Mycroft on windows, but would like to ask first if there are any news or ETA for the windows installer before diving into dangerous waters.

Thanks!

Hi there @Novack - I know that @AIIX has done some work on Windows using WSL, but there hasn’t been any progress towards a Windows-based installer yet.

Hi There,
recently I saw a very nice guide how to install Mycroft on Windows or Mac using a Virtual Linux, but unfortunately I lost the link.
Does anyone know where to find it, or maybe has an alternative one?
Much apretiated.
/R

this worked flawlesly for me, but be warned there is some very noticeable latency in audio i/o

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and in our fancy new docs:
https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/using-mycroft-ai/get-mycroft/macos-and-windows-with-virtualbox

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Thanks for the virtual machine option, I’m having some issues with the wsl version, if I don’t get it running soon I will try this :slight_smile:

Finally a documentation that invites to be read :slight_smile:
I didn’t see the proper announce, is the documentation still in the works?

EDITED: yes, I see the new documentation is properly referenced on home site :slight_smile:

Yeah, it’s been a quiet release so far. Will do a proper announcement soon, but wanted to get feedback from the community and fix any broken links etc before we do that.

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I set up the Virtual Machine yesterday, following the instruction, using the default settings. I allocated 2048mb RAM of my 16000 to the machine instead of the default 1024. Still the setup of Ubuntu did not complete after more than 2h. Should I also allocate 2 or 3 CPU to the machine before restarting? it seems weird that it is not a problem to run it on a raspberry but the setup takes that long on the PC. Especially while Installing ubuntu 18.04 (now I am using 19) was very quick compared to that when I installed it from the microsoft store. The default setting include setting up the machine and the “hard drive” in the user folder on my system drive (SSD).

That does sound like a long time. Where did the setup get stuck? Was it during the Ubuntu installation?

Yes, I think so, unfortunately I could copy the output, it was not possible to highlight at that moment in the setup, and in cannot make screen shots. It said something about" waiting for the seed to finish " if I remember correctly. I’m back on the road, I will try again Monday and maybe take a pic with my phone if there is the same problem again…

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