Image copyrightAFPThe makers of the tiny Raspberry Pi computer have created a version of its operating system that can run on ordinary desktop computers.
The Pixel OS has been re-worked so it runs on PCs and Apple Mac machines, said the Foundation.
The release means Pi fans can write software on one Pixel device and use it on another with no changes.
The Pi Foundation said the release also aided its plan to produce the "best" desktop computing experience.
Raspberry Pi co-creator Eben Upton said the software should help schoolchildren who use the credit-card sized Pi in class or for their own projects but have to continue their work on PCs or Macs.
The Pi edition of Pixel and the version translated for bigger machines uses "exactly the same productivity software and programming tools, in exactly the same desktop environment", he wrote.
"There is no learning curve, and no need to tweak... schoolwork to run on two subtly different operating systems," he said.
In addition, he said, producing such a version of Pixel kept the Raspberry Pi foundation "honest" as it would help the organisation's coders work out what bits of the operating system were weak and needed fixing.
Mr Upton said that because the version of Pixel was based on relatively old computer hardware, it should run on machines that struggle to cope with modern operating systems.
He warned that the software was still "experimental" so might have bugs or other "minor issues" that might mean it does not run well on some machines.
Pixel was first released in September last year and overhauled the main desktop interface owners see and use when working with their Pi. It is based on a version of the open source Linux software.
The desktop version lacks two programs - Minecraft and Mathematica - because the Pi organisation has not licensed those applications on any machines other than its own.
In April last year, the Raspberry Pi officially became the most popular British computer ever made. More than 10 million have now been sold.
The computer was first released in 2012 and is widely used as an educational tool for programming.