
"It is common to see newbies asking in microcontroller forums if they can run Linux on their puny little 8-bit micro. The results are usually laughter. It is also common to see, in Linux forums, asked what the minimum specs for Linux are. The common answer is that it requires a 32-bit architecture and an MMU and at least a megabyte of ram to fit the kernel.
This project aims to (and succeeds in) shatter(ing) these notions. The board you see on the right is based on an ATmega1284p. I've made one with an ATmega644a as well, with equal success. This board features no other processor and boots Linux 2.6.34. In fact, it can even bring up a full Ubuntu stack, including (if you have the time) X and gnome."
Member since:
2011-01-28
I suspect that adding a real MMU (with external memory) would be both easier and more efficient than emulation.
As an academic exercise, I congratulate him on the accomplishment. But honestly the project would have had more potential had it gone the route of adding an MMU to the AtMega and creating a bona-fide linux port. Obviously nobody is going to seriously run an ARM emulator on an AtMega there's just no use case for that.