A very impressive feat (Linux created in Javascript)

Griatch · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 3:19 pm **(#1)**

Check this out - an emulated x86 computer running Linux - created in Javascript! I'm not kidding.

http://bellard.org/jslinux/

You need Firefox4 or Chrome11 to run it properly. It has emacs and VI, and you can use tcc to compile C-programs. Damndest thing I've seen.
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Griatch

mahvin · **Joined:** Oct 06, 2010 **Posts:** 4050

I managed to view it in Chrome. I've been playing with Emacs, but not versed enough to write home about. I would love to see a video of it in action to give me a feel of how it looks outside the terminal.

Griatch · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 5:20 pm **(#3)**

@mahvin

There is no "outside the terminal"

It's a frigging full running computer hardware emulation with a fully installed Linux distro, written in Javascript! - I'd say that's impressive enough, also without an X-server.

I keep on reloading the page just for the thrill of seeing Linux rebooting in my browser cache.

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Griatch

Jolie · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 5:52 pm **(#4)**

Ha ha . Have fun. All I managed to do was type in emacs and then some random text.

At first I said hi, but it didn't say hi back. Linux is a bit anti social.

mahvin · **Joined:** Oct 06, 2010 **Posts:** 4050

I was impressed, Griatch. I was saying my emacs knowledge was limited (nothing to write home about). It would be cool to learn how to take advantage of tcc for compiling C.

mikethedj4 · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 9:59 pm **(#6)**

This is a really good find!!! How'd you find it???

Griatch · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 12:16 am **(#7)**

@mahvin

Aha, you wanted more info about emacs? I misunderstood you. I use emacs a lot for all my development; it is (together with VI) probably the mother of all editors.

Guided tours (not videos):
http://www.go4expert.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20234
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/tour/

You can also enter "emacs" in Youtube and get plenty of demos of it in use.

In the JLinux terminal, you can write "tcc hello.c" to compile the example Hello-world C-program. This will produce an output file "a.out" that you can execute with "./a.out".

@mikethedj4

As usual with things like this, I got the link over IRC from someone else. Not sure how they found it.
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Griatch

paynekj · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 8:54 am **(#8)**

mikethedj4 wrote:

This is a really good find!!! How'd you find it???

It turned up on Slashdot yesterday: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/05/1 ... ur-Browser

and on The Register today: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/18 ... _emulator/

Just to see if I could, I used vi to edit the hello.c file:

Code: Select all

/* This C source can be compiled with:                                          
   tcc -o hello hello.c                                                         
*/                                                                              
#include <tcclib.h>                                                             
                                                                                
int main(int argc, char **argv)                                                 
{                                                                               
    int i;                                                                      
    for (i=0; i<10; i++)                                                        
    {                                                                           
      printf("Hello World\n");                                                  
    }                                                                           
    return 0;          

I then compiled it: tcc hello.c
It made a.out
I ran a.out: ./a.out
it produced:

Code: Select all

Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
Hello World                                                                     
~ #                                                                             

Kevin

mahvin · **Joined:** Oct 06, 2010 **Posts:** 4050

It's still up and running, too! Imagine that! LOL