Drew Furgiuele has an easy button for SQL Server:
Sounds great, right? I bet some of you already already thinking “Oh man, I can’t wait to run the Linux version SQL Server on this thing!” There’s just one really big catch: the CPUs on Pi boards are ARM-architecture based. Unlike modern processors in our desktops and laptops, these chips are more akin to what you find in mobile phones or other small devices. It also means programs you run or write on your computer are probably 32 or 64 bit and designed for Intel or AMD processors. ARM is a completely different architecture, so we can’t upload something to it and expect it to run. Programs have to be designed for it.
Furthermore a lot of “stock” Pi operating system images are Linux based so it can be difficult to write code that interfaces with .NET or Windows-based services. Not that you can’t; you can certainly write bash scripts that make wget or curl requests.
Based on my experiences at least, nothing with Windows IoT was really that easy… This is an intro post with a shopping list attached, so I am looking forward to Drew’s making everybody’s lives easier on a budget of $98.