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.
But could it run doom?!
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…)
There’s an ESP32 with MMU running Linux now
looks at the community name
reads at the comment
Smhdeleted by creator
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.
Tomb Raider… not Doom, I’m shocked
I think someone already did that one
figures
Well, the full realtime 3D aspect does make it significantly more impressive
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.
Ok, but with emulation and enough time, you can run any software on as much as a light switch.
Yes, as long as you have enough memory. That’s the point.
There are some not practical, but workable as proof of concept examples that go even lower:
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/28/building-the-worst-linux-pc-ever/
88 pins, that’s way too many!
Is there a 32 pin DIP-32 chip that can run Linux?
Well, as two people already pointed out, turns out somebody got Linux to run on the 8-bit ATMega1284p microcontroller which comes in a DIP package, though it’s 44 pin rather than 32.
>Not quite
>has about 1.5 million gates in the CPU alone
>each gate is multiple transistors
I don’t mean to brag, but I have two of those.
In this economy?!
This made me look up if you could somehow run it on vacuum tubes, sadly not
9 day boot time on a 4004!
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.
omg that was a hilarious read. painful, but insightful.
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.
He eventually got it down to under 5 days!
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.
(Optional)
You may not like it, but if your distro can’t run on this, it’s bloated.
When someone complains about flatpak being bloated I always assume this is what their system is.
You are allowed to notice things are less efficient than they could be even with plenty of resources
I wonder how they’d make the shared runtimes and whatnot work without using extra space. Soon you’d be back at the original repo model with the issues that come with that.
I had an old Chromebook I converted to a Linux machine. It only had 16gb of disk space. It filled up surprisingly fast.
While I agree this is funny, if you even just install one flatpack like steam that is like 15+ gb by itself. A fairly comprehensive system with kde, gimp, blender office and more take up much less space.
that is like 15+ gb by itself.
Well, yeah. But once you install more, they reuse parts you already have. Looking at a single programs space use alone is pretty meaningless.
It’s like complaining that a calculator app takes 15 gigs because I installed a whole OS for it. Of course that’d be insane. But the next program you’re installing, you are using that already installed 15 gigs. Then more you install, the less it is using per program, thanks to deduplication and shared runtimes.
Shows image of a common NPN bipolar low power transistor
You’re telling me that a Japanese (Nippon) person with wild mood swings and low self esteem who identifies as a trans sister, also runs Linux? How is this news.
wait till you hear about igbt trans sisters
I run arch btw
same
look at you with your fancy semiconductor, all i need are some rocks in a desert
Damn I hate when they increase the minimum requirements
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
Oh I am aware. Just hoping to prompt some self awareness in these young nerds.
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.
This is the funniest comment
I just knew there would be at least one comment like this when I opened this thread.
Normal Person: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”
bnn1: “WELL, ACTUALLY, thats a lie because the average human stomach can only hold a maximum of about 4 liters of equivalent content, and a horses edible components break down into a far greater volume than 4 liters, as you should well know, making it fundamentally impossible for a human beings stomach, much less body, to be able to consume even a fraction of a horse before suffering egregious emergency harm. Not Funny”
I didn’t say in one sitting!
You are technically correct
The best kind of correct
I think humor should still be truthful, because plenty of people will believe whatever they read online and then repeat it as fact.
Honestly, this could even be a Chinese campaign to make Americans stupider. They’d benefit from that.
The previous paragraph is a completely made-up misinformation - exactly the kind of thing people can easily believe and spread. Which helps nobody. Except China.
Just in: Humor makes you stupid!
This contradicts all previous research linking humor to intellect.
More batshit news at 11
I think humor should still be truthful
It is truthful. The transistor is a metaphor for Linux’ low system requirements and plays with the running gag (and fact!) that you could run Linux on almost any computer system, regardless how shitty it is. This meme here is another hyperbole in the series of jokes that evolved around these low requirements.
Apart from that, I don’t think humor must be truthful. You can set up a fictional setting and still make it humorous. Otherwise we wouldn’t have all those ghost jokes for example. Just because ghosts don’t exist, doesn’t mean it can’t be humorous to pretend such scenarios.
Don’t get it twisted
