I don’t mean to brag, but I have two of those.
In this economy?!
Not quite just a transistor but maybe something like this (an SOC with 32MB ram which costs about $5 in bulk) though it does require quite a bit of additional electronics to work.
Also somebody also made an embedded Linux for the ESP32-S3 (which is even cheaper and doesn’t require anywhere as much auxiliary electronics).
PS: Yeah, I got the joke. Just pointing out that the reality itself is quite impressive.
Some crazy fucker got the OG Tomb Raider to run on an ESP chip.
Although the ESP is significantly more powerful than the original console.
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.+Linux+on+8bit
This guy ran linux on 8-bit microcontroller by emulating a hogher end processor on an 8 bit computer. He also emulated the ram on an SD card.
Slow as heck, but can be done.
look at you with your fancy semiconductor, all i need are some rocks in a desert
This made me look up if you could somehow run it on vacuum tubes, sadly not
9 day boot time on a 4004!
I’m sure someone could figure out how to boot Linux on a vacuum tube computer. The problem is there just aren’t that many around that are still operational.
OMG!
I booted Debian Linux on a 4-bit intel microprocessor from 1971 - the first microprocessor in the world - the 4004. It is not fast, but it is a real Linux kernel with a Debian rootfs on a real board whose only CPU is a real intel 4004 from the 1970s. The video is sped up at variable rates to demonstrate this without boring you. The clock and calendar in the video are accurate. A constant-rate video is linked below.
Of course you can run it on tubes, in principal, since they do the same as transistors at the end of the day
I guess I more wondered if some madlad had actually done it
Someone has done this with relays so I don’t blame you for asking.
Requirements are one resistor. Gold band for optimal performance.
I code by laying out gravel patterns for crickets to run through.
I know a guy who got Linux running on a diode.
The 2N3904 isn’t “minimum requirements for Linux” - it’s one bipolar transistor, and a Linux-capable computer still needs a CPU made from vastly more transistors, plus RAM, storage, clocking, buses, and supporting hardware. Not funny.
I will probably be hated for this.
NetBSD’s slogan is “Of course it runs NetBSD”, and with good cause.
I will probably be hated for this
Why?
BSD isn’t Linux.
GNU/Linux Copypasta
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!
It’s funny but it’s not true
Plot twist: it’s actually a whole SoC packaged to look like a single transistor, with the pins being for +V, ground, and a 1-Wire data bus.
I don’t know that such a thing exists, but these days I bet it could.
You’re right. A lightbulb plugged into a potato is the real minimum system requirement.
Linux requires at least 32 bit machine words, and it always has. Linux was originally written for Intel 80386.
Linux requires a hardware MMU to support virtual memory. There are patches that can make a no-MMU kernel, but it drastically changes the experience to do so.
Well it is kinda cheating but Linux does “run” on a intel 4004 running a MIPS emulator
I think you could cook something like a 4-bit turing complete computer with around 100 transistors or so. And i guess turing completeness basically means “it will run with enough elbow grease” in this case
(if we exclude memory from the transistor count…)
But could it run doom?!
Not with that attitude!
Holy crap, I know FOR SURE now that most of you are no fun at parties. Good luck out there lol.
We’re in a Linux meme community on Lemmy. There was no need for further confirmation lol
Damn I hate when they increase the minimum requirements
