Dmitry is back again with another minimal computer. Last time he managed to boot #Linux on an #Intel4004¹. Now he wants to run #vi, #gcc, and #make, ends up doing it on a tiny #STM #microcontroller with a luxurious 32K of flash and 8K of RAM. The 4004-based machine took a *week* to boot, this one takes just a minute!
It's again made possible w/ #MIPS #emulation. The overclocked host CPU emulates a MIPS #R3000 at 1.65MHz with FPU disabled.
This is crazy. Someone managed to run #Linux (v4.4) on an #Intel 4004 #CPU from 1971, one of the first commercially available microprocessors ever.
The craziest part: It became possible by writing a #MIPS #R3000 #emulator in 4004 #assembler that fits into the 4096 bytes¹ of addressable memory. The emulator then runs the kernel. My mind is blown.
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=35.%20Linux4004
¹) The memory was eventually expanded to 8192 bytes via some bank switching trickery as the article explains
BEA
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