24 ms·

Machine code varies depending on the platform, and Linux is meant to be distributed to a _ton_ of platforms.

by kbr 9y ago

PrimHelios 9y ago
That's the joke. The kernel is already distributed as compiled machine code.
- kbr 9y ago
  Whoops haha didn't catch that :)
function_seven 9y ago
True, but we can just use the subset of machine code that works on all of them. Us web developers figured this out with JS, when IE supported different methods than WebKit and Mozilla. If we can do it, I’m sure you can assemble something that’s universal as well.
- DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
  > True, but we can just use the subset of machine code that works on all of them. All you need to be Turing-complete is `add`, `jne`, and that's pretty much it - and every mainstream instruction set today supports at least those 2 operations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_instruction_set_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_instruction_set_computer Of course the computer would run terribly - so I hope you're joking there. A a web-dev analogy, it's like saying we should abandon CSS and use <table>-for-layout because you don't want Internet Explorer 4.0 users to be left out.
  - function_seven 9y ago
    > Of course the computer would run terribly - so I hope you're joking there. I thought RISC was the future? (Yes, I’m joking)
    - DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
      In all seriousness - I think you're on to something with a minimal-instruction-set program that only uses operations common to as many ISAs as possible - that way all that needs to be done is reassembly of the program in O(n) time by remapping opcodes to their correct binary representation for a given ISA. I wonder if it might have application for portable binary libraries in industries that love trade-secrets, or something like C--.
  - Retr0spectrum 9y ago
    There's a slightly crazy guy on osdev who wrote an entire graphical OS for a simulated SUBLEQ architecture: http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31420 http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31420
  - Vendan 9y ago
    Technically, x86(and probably others) are turing complete with just MOV: https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscator https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscator

Machine code varies depending on the platform, and Linux is meant to be distributed to a _ton_ of platforms.

by kbr 9y ago

Machine code varies depending on the platform, and Linux is meant to be distributed to a _ton_ of platforms.

PrimHelios 9y ago

That's the joke. The kernel is already distributed as compiled machine code.

kbr 9y ago
Whoops haha didn't catch that :)

function_seven 9y ago

True, but we can just use the subset of machine code that works on all of them. Us web developers figured this out with JS, when IE supported different methods than WebKit and Mozilla. If we can do it, I’m sure you can assemble something that’s universal as well.

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
> True, but we can just use the subset of machine code that works on all of them. All you need to be Turing-complete is `add`, `jne`, and that's pretty much it - and every mainstream instruction set today supports at least those 2 operations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_instruction_set_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_instruction_set_computer Of course the computer would run terribly - so I hope you're joking there. A a web-dev analogy, it's like saying we should abandon CSS and use <table>-for-layout because you don't want Internet Explorer 4.0 users to be left out.
- function_seven 9y ago
  > Of course the computer would run terribly - so I hope you're joking there. I thought RISC was the future? (Yes, I’m joking)
  - DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
    In all seriousness - I think you're on to something with a minimal-instruction-set program that only uses operations common to as many ISAs as possible - that way all that needs to be done is reassembly of the program in O(n) time by remapping opcodes to their correct binary representation for a given ISA. I wonder if it might have application for portable binary libraries in industries that love trade-secrets, or something like C--.
- Retr0spectrum 9y ago
  There's a slightly crazy guy on osdev who wrote an entire graphical OS for a simulated SUBLEQ architecture: http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31420 http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31420
- Vendan 9y ago
  Technically, x86(and probably others) are turing complete with just MOV: https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscator https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscator