March 2026 Updates: Developer Desktop for Pi 4 and 5!

If you've been following along, you may remember that in December (and again in January), we released the QNX Self-hosted Developer Desktop for use in QEMU virtual environments on Linux. Starting today, that experience is now available on hardware targets too: the Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5.

So if you were wondering, as one does, "when can I self-build my QNX projects on actual hardware?" – the answer is now!

The idea of the "QDD" is simple: build, run, and debug your QNX applications directly on QNX, without a cross‑compiler and without a separate target machine.

With the self‑hosted QNX desktop, you can:

• Build C and C++ applications natively using GCC, Clang, CMake, Ninja, and other familiar OSS tooling
• Develop directly in the included IDE (or remotely with VS Code and the QNX Toolkit for VS Code!)
• Run, debug, profile, and iterate without switching between host and target
• Use built‑in tools like Python, Vim, GTK‑based apps, and standard desktop components
• Port your own favorite utilities to QNX—because now you’re developing on the OS, not just for it
• Experience real‑time determinism even while working in a full graphical environment

Ultimately this model of development eliminates complex toolchain configurations and the complexities of cross compilation: an excellent thing for learning and prototyping!

Have questions about the new image?

• Find the whole team in Discord: https://discord.gg/Jj4EkkrFTT

Enjoy!