You can if you emulate a CPU that does have an MMU. Someone has actually done this to get Linux booting on an Intel 4004. Another one got Linux to boot on a Commodore 64.
They tried running Linux on their ENIAC, but someone accidentally tipped over one of the crates of punch cards which has unfortunately set the project back a few months.
I used to have one of those! Well before I ever knew about Linux, but it was great fun making little stuff in BASIC and playing with actually floppy disks.
Very funny, but I actually used to own a computer that didn’t meet the minimum requirements for Linux.
(Not my pic, but the same model.)
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/include/math-emu/double.h#L29
#if _FP_W_TYPE_SIZE < 32 #error "Here's a nickel kid. Go buy yourself a real computer." #endifLOL!
That isn’t the same limitation I was thinking of, though.
I wasn’t confident which requirement you were missing, but I love that error
I was under the impression that the main impediment to running Linux on a 286 was the lack of an MMU. I might be wrong about that, though.
What was it, the ENIAC?
Linux doesn’t run on anything below a 386 because it requires a MMU.
(Some people have made forks that can run on 286s etc., but those changes have never been part of the mainline kernel.)
You can if you emulate a CPU that does have an MMU. Someone has actually done this to get Linux booting on an Intel 4004. Another one got Linux to boot on a Commodore 64.
386 support was dropped years ago.
What can I run on a Transmeta Crusoe?
They tried running Linux on their ENIAC, but someone accidentally tipped over one of the crates of punch cards which has unfortunately set the project back a few months.
We are Tandy buddies!
Still looking for an original monitor.
I used to have one of those! Well before I ever knew about Linux, but it was great fun making little stuff in BASIC and playing with actually floppy disks.
I’m sad that my parents eventually forced me to get rid of it. At least I kept the keyboard, though.
What we had that couldn’t: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PS/2_Model_30
Work was getting rid of them so my dad bought it. Great machine, learned a ton.