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DannyB [soylentnews.org] writes:

Linux boots in 4.76 days on the Intel 4004 [arstechnica.com]

Historic 4-bit microprocessor from 1971 can execute Linux commands over days or weeks.

Hardware hacker Dmitry Grinberg recently achieved what might sound impossible: booting Linux on the Intel 4004, [dmitry.gr] the world's first commercial microprocessor. With just 2,300 transistors and an original clock speed of 740 kHz, the 1971 CPU is incredibly primitive by modern standards. And it's slow—it takes about 4.76 days for the Linux kernel to boot.

Initially designed for a Japanese calculator called the Busicom 141-PF, the 4-bit 4004 found limited use [technologizer.com] in commercial products of the 1970s [...]

[....] If you're skeptical that this feat is possible with a raw 4004, you're right: The 4004 itself is far too limited to run Linux directly. Instead, Grinberg created a solution that is equally impressive: an emulator that runs on the 4004 and emulates a MIPS R3000 processor—the architecture used in the DECstation 2100 [gunkies.org] workstation that Linux was originally ported to.

If it can run a C compiler, it can probably run DOOM.

See Also:

• the YouTube video [youtube.com]

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