someone suggested the possibility of getting a Pi to run something like windows 10 and running Picaxe Editor 6 and the AXE027 cable through it. Has anyone had any success trying this?
I doubt anyone has tried it. While it may be possible I imagine the experience will be less than satisfactory. I am not sure the AXE027 drivers would work and I suspect not.
The main problem is the Pi is an ARM architecture and, while there is a Windows 10 for ARM, it uses emulation to run X86 code which would impact on PE6 performance. Then there are licensing issues.
Some say Windows on ARM will run on a Pi 2 upwards but most say a Pi 4B with 4GB or 8GB of memory which will set you back around £65 or £85 each including PSU and case. At that price you can get second-hand 64-bit PC systems with huge hard disks and Windows 10 pre-installed, and it's not much more for a new system.
Note that Windows 10 IoT for a Pi is obsoleted, is not a Windows 10 Desktop OS, is not a solution here.
The problem is getting Picaxe Editor 6 and the AXE027 cable driver (this is the real problem) on the pupil's surfaces is proving really tricky....
I presume that is the AXE027 drivers refusing to run once installed. I recall there were a couple of issues reported with Microsoft Surface Pro 3 before the pandemic but am not sure anyone got to the bottom of that, why it only affected the 3 and not earlier versions.
If you could detail what the problem is, what hardware you have, that might help towards resolving the issue.