On 11/04/2023 11.34, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
As you say, Linux doesn't run on an ESP32. But there is a youtube video of someone who has built a PDP-11 emulator with an ESP32 and runs 2.11 BSD UNIX on it. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtmNOZVrz98> So cute! Ah, Sprite_tm's project: Sprites mods - Tiny PDP11 - Intro — https://spritesmods.com/?art=minipdp11
It's a little hard to find the exact EP32 module used for that simulation. That's part of the problem: there are many different chips called ESP32 /something/, but many of them are incompatible. Some have one core, most have two. Some have the ability to take a few megabytes of extra external (slow-ish) RAM, many don't. Some are even RISC V in disguise (the new ESP32-C6 is fully RISC V) , or have a tiny RISC V acting as an Ultra Low Power Processor that can do basic electronic logic and while the main processor is asleep.
I wonder if uClinux could be ported to ESP32. But not enough to try! It's not clear to me that it would be very useful. Apparently it can — https://www.cnx-software.com/2021/07/18/linux-5-0-esp32-processor/ - but it's doing it via RISC V emulation. I can't see how it would be useful at all, though
cheers, Stewart