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Linux, Outside the (x86) BoxBy Peter Seebach2005-06-29 
New life for old hardware
Another reason people keep porting Linux to old hardware is that Linux often runs on hardware that the vendor has mostly abandoned. Mac OS X won't run on a lot of older PowerPC systems, but Linux is just fine on them. A friend of mine is still running a 90-MHz Pentium® as a Web server under a light load -- I wouldn't want to try to load Windows® XP on that. The same issues apply to other platforms. Mac OS X is virtually unusable with less than 256 MB of memory, but an old Power Macintosh with 32 MB of memory can be a wonderfully functional Linux workstation or server. Non-x86 Linux serves the same function that x86 Linux does when it comes to rescuing old servers from the junk heap. On the extreme end, ports like uClinux and ELKS target processors that are "too small" for regular Linux; in particular, systems without a memory-management unit that can support virtual memory. Of course, not every tiny system is old. Modern embedded systems are often small and Linux can run on them too. Some devices, such as simple routers, are being built based on Linux distributions, especially around BusyBox (BusyBox, the "Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux," combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable). This results in a lot of users working out ways to reflash the chips in routers to update software support, add features, and otherwise update them. In some cases, a company will encourage this experimentation and adaptation instead of trying to prohibit it -- one result, the Kuro Box, is probably the cheapest PowerPC system out there (the Kuro Box is a customizable embedded Linux development kit that allows users to create a customized embedded Linux solution via a root access shell session and lets users install an internal IDE hard drive of any size). This brings us back to the specialized capabilities question. My old Sharp Zaurus isn't actively supported by the vendor now, but I can still update it with other Linux versions and software and get some extra mileage out of it. Similarly, those tiny little router/NAT boxes are pretty cool specialized hardware; they're generally fanless and silent with multiple Ethernet ports and sometimes a wireless port. It's pretty hard to build a box like that from parts you can buy retail. Tutorial Pages: » What is it about Linux that makes it so attractive for non-x86 platforms? » Early days » Big iron » Hardware capabilities » New life for old hardware » Just playing around » Resources First published by IBM DeveloperWorks
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