I've always been crazily enthusiastic about computers and programming since I was a kid, so it is perhaps not that surprising that I ended up pursuing a career in software development. If I remember correctly, my first "Hello World" program (plus the obligatory GOTO 10) was crafted on an 8-bit Commodore Vic-20 with a punchy 5KB of RAM hooked up to a black and white TV and a (...sometimes reliable) tape deck for storage.
Since I purchased my first Raspberry Pi Model B back in 2011, I've been absolutely fascinated by the capabilities of these low-cost little single board computers. I've built a small collection of these boards over the last few years including Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and a handful of Pi Zeros and Zero Ws. The form-factor of the zeroes is even more impressive, capable of being powered from a 5V USB hub they are about 1/3 of the size of the standard Pi boards but equally capable of running a full modern Linux distro. More recently I've added a bunch of Pi Zero 2 Ws to my collection, these are based on a quad-core ARM Cortex A-53 64-bit CPU clocked at 1GHz with 512MB of RAM. OK, its not going to give a gaming PC a run for its money but this is not a bad set of specs when you consider they cost less than £15.
As well as hobbyist projects at home mostly around home automation and media, I've found these boards are also capable of running IBM MQ, the enterprise messaging product that I've been an engineer for the last 25 years. For the last 5 years, IBM have provided developer editions of IBM MQ Advanced for Linux on 32-bit ARM (armhf) - "as-is" with no formal support, I've found these MQ images incredibly useful in providing education and demos.
When I decided to install an OS on my new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Ws, I decided to opt for the latest Raspbian 64-bit rather than 32-bit. It wasn't until I'd flashed the micro SD cards that I panicked and realised I'd need to install IBM MQ binaries for 64-bit ARM (aarch64), does IBM publish these?
At first I found issue 1, opened back in Septmeber 2020 which suggested that I was going to be out of luck. Fortunately once I'd figured out the right search terms, I found that IBM have been publishing 64-bit debian packages for ARM for over a year now. Phew!
The latest debian packages for IBM MQ Advanced for Developers for 64-bit ARM can be found here!
I followed the same Pi "getting started" instructions and I've now been running a queue manager for a few days on the Pi Zero 2 W without any issue. IBM MQ performance when compared to the older 32-bit Zero and Zero W boards is noticable and substantially better, whilst the increased word size will help, IBM MQ relies on multiple threads and so the quad-core CPU on the Zero 2 W is likely to be the key difference.
As for what I'm now going to do with my older 32-bit Pi Zero boards, I think I can sunset their MQ use - but I already have a project earmarked for at least one. We were lucky enough to have a pair of Bluetits nest in a bird box in our garden this spring and observe the 4 chicks leave on their first flight (fledging?). For next year it would be great to get an infrared camera connected to a Pi Zero setup inside the box and see the eggs hatching!