9
Run browser and/or mpv directly on hardware? (programming.dev)
submitted 2 months ago by emotional_soup_88@programming.dev to c/linux@lemmy.ml
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKzRf8B-oDk

Would it be possible to run mpv and a browser directly on hardware somehow? Perhaps in an environment that doesn't classify as an operating system according to the definition in those California codes?

I know that an operating system distributes workloads and facilitates communication between various hardware components, but would it be possible to build a Linux kernel that is "only" an interface to the CPU, a GPU, a sound card and a keyboard? One that can take commands to run for instance a browser^[Nowadays, a browser feels like a container that can run most things a physical computer would: stream media, serve as a word processor, play simple games, what have you.] and mpv? Having the user manually - through commands of physical switches - handle the inter component communication? Or perhaps by being a kernel it already falls under the definition of an OS?

I'm just spitballing here. Barely know what I'm talking about, so please enlighten me! :D

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] SteveTech@aussie.zone 1 points 2 months ago

There was a really interesting talk at USENIX a few years ago (Usenix 21 keynote with Timothy Roscoe

Thanks for this!

So you are not wrong about what you are calling bare metal, but that usage is more popular at the moment, but the older meaning of bare metal actually just means "no OS." It's still very common in embedded world.

Oh yeah I'm aware and I wasn't disputing you, I just wanted to point out that in the context of servers that definition is quite ambiguous. But I did know what you meant.

For servers, it seems the papers are calling it "Bare PC" Example: https://doi.org/10.1109/HPCC.2009.34

This was also quite interesting and I'm actually surprised IIS did as well as it did. I'm actually looking for thesis ideas so I'll add this to my list and potentially see how much things have changed 17 years later.

this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
9 points (73.7% liked)

Linux

65445 readers
200 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz