this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Something like a thermostat or a smart fridge -- have you seen any? If so, please share with a video or two.

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 year ago (2 children)

On a hard drive. No, not a motherboard connected to a hard drive, a hard drive by itself. Sprite is brilliant.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sorry to hijack, but does someone have a link to the talk? Article mentions it, but link no longer works.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Haven't watched it but could be this: https://piped.video/watch?v=0Da6OARhgXk

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Linux can be run on an Nintendo 64. Mainline Kernel support has been added in v5.12

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

I tried it a few years ago and it kernel panics due to lack of RAM with the expansion card.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk, needs more e-waste :(

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There is actually a way to run Debian on Lego Mindstorms toy robot kit using ev3dev

Tho I never owned one of these kit, it still pretty cool looking

[–] AI_toothbrush 3 points 1 year ago

Actually the os on it by default is also a bare bones linux installation. Another lego brick thats really cool is the rcx which was released in 1998 and someone ported the jvm to it.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

We had a fancy coffee machine at an old job that ran Linux. If I remember correctly it was a top of line cafection or zulay machine. One of the ones with a touch screen. Just booted off an SD card as well iirc so probably would have been pretty easy to hack on.

I still find it weird that managed switches run Linux as I generally would think that at those data rates they'd need something closer to the metal but with the magic of HW offloading that's been a thing in enterprise for a while and OpenWRT even supports some consumer grade ones now.

Some (probably most) ebook readers like the Kindle.

Many newer cars.

TI NSpire calculators.

A slow cooker. https://www.linux.com/news/crock-pot-slow-cooker-wi-fi-smarts-hands/

A cable modem. Specifically the Motorola SB6120 can. Maybe others too.

WiFi enabled SD cards. https://elinux.org/Wifi_SD

A dead badger. http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/installing-linux-on-a-dead-badger-users-notes/

EDIT: Totally forgot about these 2 ham radios. You can run and access Linux on both of these. One is by design as its running on a Pi, the other via mod by R1CBU booting the OS from an SD card.

sBitx v2: https://www.hfsignals.com/index.php/sbitx-v2/

Xiegu x6100: https://r1cbu.ru/index.php/home/radio-software/x6100

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

A dead badger.

🤣

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

managed switches run Linux as I generally would think that at those data rates they'd need something closer to the metal

They might be running userspace networking

https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/userspace-networking-dpdk

Also hard drives. No, not like that.

https://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=1

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The leapfrog leappad used to run linux. People were able to hack them in order to run full on operating systems, by rooting their children's learning toy

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You still can. Not only that, you can install emulators and Retroarch, the thing is capable of running consoles up through PS1 games, though the button mapping for most games is a bit awkward.

Also !sbcgaming if you're into that sort of thing.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

Read an article some years back about someone installing Linux on a hard drive.

Not on a computer with a hard drive. On the embedded ARM core inside the hard drive. One of them anyways, I think this particular hard drive had three CPUs inside it actually.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Sega Dreamcast. Live CD distributions of Linux were really taking off around then, so some enterprising sorts decided to see if they could get Linux running on the Dreamcast. They partially succeeded, though accessing some of the hardware was... dicey. That said, the Dreamcast had a native keyboard adapter and they managed to get support for that going pretty quickly.

Unfortunately the project kind of stagnated, but you can read up on more of it on the sourceforge project page.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Not crazy or exotic, but the Wii runs linux with a DE. Not very performant, but a neat thing to install and tryout.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

The scale at my job that prints labels for price per pound stuff when it boots shows Linux boot stuff.

Once installed Linux on my iPod 5G. Honestly wasn't worth it cuz it cut battery time in half and only added a couple extra codecs it could play. Doom was strange on the scroll wheel.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I once saw someone running Doom on a pregnancy tester, so I'd imagine that it could run Linux as well.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

I saw that too, but it was a bit a bit misleading. The pregnancy tester for some reason had a pretty high resolution monochrome OLED display, so the guy used the tester's display to show the Doom graphics. The actual device running Doom was a more powerful controller external to the tester stick.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

It wasn't even original display. Original display wasn't "pixel based", it just had couple of segments on a LCD which display pregnant/non pregnant texts and some other info. So it was (is) just a doom on a microcontroller+OLED in a pregnancy test case.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing too crazy, bus information table running Linux Mint:

Some of them (run) Windows. You can identify those based on:

error

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                               Unhandled exception               |    X   |          |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                                     |
|  An unhandled exception occured in TFT_LCD.exe                                      |
|                                                                                     |
|  Exception = System.AccessViolationException                                        |
|                                                                                     |
|  Messagr = Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often               |
|  an indication that other memory is corrupt.                                        |
|                                                                                     |
|  FullText = System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write             |
|  protected memory.  This is often an indication that other memeory is               |
|  corrupt.                                                                           |
|  at                                                                                 |
|  ...                                                                                |

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

A PS4 can be jailbroken to run Linux. You can then install Steam and Halo and have Halo on Linux on PS4

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

A hard disk. Not boot from a hard disk, but the hard disk controller is actually made to run Linux: http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=1

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had an old iPod nano that was hacked with a light Linux distro. Could even run doom on it... It ran, but wasn't practical to play it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Rockbox, by any chance? I have fond memories of playing doom with that scroll wheel...

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We have a carbon evaporator that runs linux

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

I assembled a HeaterMeter for my Kamado style charcoal grill/smoker... It's built on top of OpenWRT.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

8-bit micro, for example ATmega: video.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't they get at least the kernel running on a Nintendo 64

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

The PS3 is not crazy, but has an exotic hardware that optionnally runs Linux.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Syringe drivers exist that are on-line devices. I half expect the first IoT murder to be by someone hacking a syringe driver filled with something vital (say insulin) that's plugged into the victim's IV.

I don't know if such devices are capable of being jailbroken and installed with Linux, but why not?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

At the level of microcontrollers there is an entire range with the necessary radio HW and enough computing power and memory to have WiFi and a TCP stack but not enough to fit Linux (stuff like the esp8266, which has only 80KB user data memory).

Those things essentially run just the one application on top of some manufacturer provider libraries (no OS, though if you really want to there's an RT OS) and which can be something that gets commands via the network and activates some hardware via GPIO ports.

For example, smart LED lamps that can be controlled from a smartphone are made with this kind of HW.

Mind you, recently somebody managed to get Linux to run of a top range model of the most recent of these things (an ESP32-S3).

So I wouldn't presume that a syringe driver can be made to run Linux, given that it's functionality is simple enough to be implemented by a simple program that can fit in that kind of microcontroller.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Good work, 47. Now get to an exit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does a MicroVAX count?

It was the late 90s. We booted it on whatever we could.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It's not entirelly Linux, but there's a port of FUZIX for the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Not as impressive but I got a oneplus one that:

  1. Runs lineageOS 20, thanks to UL and someone on xda
  2. Runs kernel 6.3 with postmarketOS, thanks to a whole bunch of people working on the kernel
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Didn't someone get a cuecat working? It's been a while since I've seen it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I haven't done it myself but I own a Pinephone (Linux phone) and that completely isolates the modem to prevent closed source code on the main OS and apparently that runns Linux, not sure if it counts because it's technically Linux already but someone hosted his blog on that and wrote about it!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Back in the day some iPhones could run janky forms of Android/Linux. I don't think it ever got to daily driver status but it was surprisingly feature complete.

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