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View Full Version : GNU/Linux Running On An 8-Bit Processor



wraggster
April 2nd, 2012, 21:25
Dmitry Grinberg has successfully booted Ubuntu 9.04 on an 8 bit micro machine with 6.5 KHz CPU and 16 MB RAM (http://dmitry.co/index.php?p=./04.Thoughts/07.%20Linux%20on%208bit). Grinberg didthis experiment (http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/04/ubuntu-running-on-computer-with-65khz.html) on a ATmega1284p, 8-bit RISC microcontroller clocked at 24MHz and equipped with 16KB of SRAM and 128KB of flash storage. Since the RAM was too low, he added 30-pin 16MB SIMM to the machine and a 1 GB SD card to host Ubuntu image. ... To get the world's slowest Linux Computer running, he had to write an ARMv5 emulator which supports a 32bit processor and MMU. A similar machine can be made very easily and everything should come in about $20."There is source code (http://dmitry.co/images/uARM.zip) available, but it's under a non-commercial use only license. Just how slow is it? "It takes about 2 hours to boot to bash prompt ('init=/bin/bash' kernel command line). Then 4 more hours to boot up the entire Ubuntu ('exec init' and then login). Starting X takes a lot longer. The effective emulated CPU speed is about 6.5KHz, which is on par with what you'd expect emulating a 32-bit CPU & MMU on a measly 8-bit micro. Curiously enough, once booted, the system is somewhat usable. You can type a command and get a reply within a minute." If you like watching a whole lot of nothing, there's a video of the boot process below the fold.

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/04/02/191203/gnulinux-running-on-an-8-bit-processor