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Linux on an 8-bit micro (2012)

dmitry.gr

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Re: Linux on an 8-bit micro (2012)

#4

Post by SwellJoe »

That's amazing. I wouldn't even know where to start on something like this:

"As you can see, there is an antique 30-pin SIMM memory module on the board. These were in use for 80286-based PCs. It is interfaced to the ATmega, and I wrote the code to access it as well as refresh it within spec (SDRAM requires constant refreshing to avoid losing data)."

Though 300kb/s is (much) slower than a hard disk, which is hard to imagine...and the result: "It takes about 2 hours to boot to bash prompt"

Re: Linux on an 8-bit micro (2012)

#6

Post by frozenport »

dtech wrote: post #5
frozenport wrote: post #3

>>To conquer this obstacle, I wrote an ARM emulator. So, its still running on an ARM!

No, it's running on a 8-bit microcontroller. Just as a SNES emulator that plays SNES games doesn't magically transform your computer into a SNES.

Tell that to the emulated system :-)

Re: Linux on an 8-bit micro (2012)

#7

Post by duaneb »

This is probably one of the crazier projects I've ever seen. I've often contemplated what running a "true os" on an 8 bit CPU would entail, and TBH the idea of an emulator never struck me.

On top of that, a hand-wired linux computer with hand-written arm emulator? Ridiculous.

Re: Linux on an 8-bit micro (2012)

#9

Post by pant »

Unbelievable proof of concept. It is just genius that this guy made this. But what do you think that we can get out of this? Are there any practical reasons to run Linux on Micro-controller?
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