Not even the more expensive microcontrollers run Linux.
The kind of thing you would see in such a simple device like a dildo are the cheaper smaller ones with RAM sizes and Flash Memory sizes in the KB range and costs less that $1 in bulk.
Mind you, you can squeeze a Linux kernel into a really small amount of memory, but why for a production device pay more for a larger than needed microcontroller and then use most of its storage for a Linux kernel leaving little space for the actual functional code when you don’t need support for things like filesystems or networking?
Microcontrollers are a whole different world from microprocessors.
The only experience I have with those (I’m an EE but don’t practice it professionally so have only have done embedded circuits for fun) is things like the ESP8266 and ESP32 and those come with an RTOS, though at least the latter should be powerful enough to fit Linux. You can actually program for those in C on top of Arduino or on top of the manufacturer libraries which are a bit more high level than for simpler microcontrollers without WiFi support as they come with an IP stack rather than only exposing low level hardware functionality.
(It is actually a lot of fun making a proper web application on one of those to allow remote control of some hardware from an Android app - if you make it a REST interface - or even from a browser - if you make it serve web pages. I believe most “controllable from your mobile phone” lights out there use one of these microcontrollers or similar on the lamp side).
The Nordic nRF51822 somebody else mentioned doesn’t even have WiFi support, only Bluetooth LE and has less memory.
Not even the more expensive microcontrollers run Linux.
The kind of thing you would see in such a simple device like a dildo are the cheaper smaller ones with RAM sizes and Flash Memory sizes in the KB range and costs less that $1 in bulk.
Mind you, you can squeeze a Linux kernel into a really small amount of memory, but why for a production device pay more for a larger than needed microcontroller and then use most of its storage for a Linux kernel leaving little space for the actual functional code when you don’t need support for things like filesystems or networking?
Microcontrollers are a whole different world from microprocessors.
For the lolz probably. There doesn’t have to be a rational reason for everything…
Probably the web api enabled ones though
eh not really, i’ve run a (really simple) web server on esp32 before
The only experience I have with those (I’m an EE but don’t practice it professionally so have only have done embedded circuits for fun) is things like the ESP8266 and ESP32 and those come with an RTOS, though at least the latter should be powerful enough to fit Linux. You can actually program for those in C on top of Arduino or on top of the manufacturer libraries which are a bit more high level than for simpler microcontrollers without WiFi support as they come with an IP stack rather than only exposing low level hardware functionality.
(It is actually a lot of fun making a proper web application on one of those to allow remote control of some hardware from an Android app - if you make it a REST interface - or even from a browser - if you make it serve web pages. I believe most “controllable from your mobile phone” lights out there use one of these microcontrollers or similar on the lamp side).
The Nordic nRF51822 somebody else mentioned doesn’t even have WiFi support, only Bluetooth LE and has less memory.
Most simple consumer electronics run C