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Tube❄️Time

a friend of mine just booted Linux on an Intel 4004! (yes, the first microprocessor)

dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=

22 comments
Mx Autumn :blobcatpumpkin:

@tubetime I had just finished reading that when I opened mastodon to see your message first in my feed :blobaww:

It's very impressive, I remember back when I found Ryo Mukai's write up of their Intel 8080 emulator running on a 4004 (github.com/ryomuk/emu8080on400) I wondered if it were possible to emulate something that could run a modern operating system and Dmitry answered that question in the most thorough way possible :amaze:

Alexa Fontanilla

@carbontwelve
#PostOfTheWeek (season 1):
It 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.

Ancients

@tubetime I am still sad his signature rubbed off my DC32 badge.

Coaster

@tubetime

I love how the circuits are so easy to read on older computers.

gnate

@Crusaide @tubetime
I'm assuming this is a a custom PCB for the project (SD card socket, project name on the board, etc.)

drevil

@tubetime what an absolute gem of a blogpost, I will finish reading it later today, but I had no idea of just how limited the 4004 was, and I am even more amazed this project is even a thing

Brie Mmm
Check Dmitri's other projects. The guy was a legend already back in Palm age.
Tube❄️Time

@brie yep, i used to sit next to him at work.

Roswell :mycomputer:

@tubetime this is awesome! I've always wanted to build a 4004-based computer, but the design and support chipset are so heckin' different and odd compared to stuff like the Z80 that it breaks my brain x.x o1 and o2 clock signals, what the heck are those!!!

polprog68k
@tubetime no he did not.

he booted a mips emulator that booted Mips debian, which is 1000x cooler :D

Dimitry never fails to disappoint!
maarten brouwers

@tubetime crazy, an operating system that started off as an OS designed to use the then cutting edge features of the i386...

Attie Grande

@tubetime Seeing things like this always gives me chills (massive congrats to them!)... the sheer amount of "stuff" that has to happen for a single line of console output in modern systems is significant, but doing just that "tiny" bit of work on older / slower / smaller equipment is an impressive feat by itself, let alone everything else! 🤓

Jeff Haluska

@tubetime It's equally useless as it is awesome. Seeing it take minutes to display each character and hours to run uptime had me grinning. I loved it.

DosFox

@tubetime damn. I've read through the entire documentation and I'm thoroughly impressed.

I'm also tempted to build one if I can find a 4040 or a 4004 for a good price!

Anthony, of course

@DosFox @tubetime if only someone recently showed us that they had a tray of second-source 4004s 🤔

Eric Carroll

@tubetime
Is this not the very definition of virtuoso?

Wow.

Using a 2.5MB yes MB Linux kernel. I didn't think you could config Linux down that small.

Wow.

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