binsquare

7 ms·

91.
by binsquare 6mo ago
This does that. I'm trying to do away the model of cpu and memory tbh. Virtio- balloon dynamically resizes based on memory consumed. CPU is oversubscribed by default
92.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Yeah it's feasible, I don't have windows to test. Can you help? :D
93.
by binsquare 6mo ago
No special programming tricks were used. Linux was built in the 90s. Hardware improved more than a 1000x. Linux virtual machine startup times stayed relatively the same. Turns out we kept adding junk to the linux kernel + bootup operations
94.
by binsquare 6mo ago
netBSD, I love that focus on a minimal and simple, reproducible binaries. You'll see that philosophy in this project as well (i hope). freeBSD focuses on features, which is great too.
95.
by binsquare 6mo ago
no relation, they build a sandboxing service using firecracker. I build a virtual machine that is an alternative to firecracker and containers.
96.
by binsquare 6mo ago
those images are pulling from the public docker registry.
97.
by binsquare 6mo ago
i run a custom fork of libkrun, libkrunfw (linux kernel), etc etc: https://github.com/orgs/smol-machines/repositories Got a lot of questions on how I spin up linux VM's so quickly Explanation is pretty straig
98.
by binsquare 6mo ago
For myself, I'd estimate ~50% Not useful for things it hadn't been trained on before. But now I have the core functionality in place - it's been of great help.
99.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Security is a broad topic. Here's how my perspective: smolvm operates on the same shared responsibility model as other virtual machines. VM provides VM-level isolation. If the user mounts a directory with the capability of symlinks or
100.
by binsquare 6mo ago
sandboxing is one of the features of virtual machines. I'm building a different virtual machine.
101.
by binsquare 6mo ago
yeah, it's analogous to Electron. Electron ships your web app bundled with a browser. Smol machines ship your software packaged with a linux vm. No need for dependency management or compatibility issues because it is baked in. I think
102.
by binsquare 6mo ago
that was one of my inspirations but I don't think they went far enough in innovation. microvm space is still underserved.
103.
by binsquare 6mo ago
I can support docker - will ship a compatible kernel with the necessary flags in the next release.
104.
by binsquare 6mo ago
would be interested to see how you do it, how can I connect with you - emotionally?
105.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Haven't tried with bubblewrap - but it should. Yes! GPU passthrough is being actively worked on and will land in next major release: https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm/pull/96 Yea just tried piping,
106.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Yeah, it's in my mind. WSL2 runs a linux virtual machine. Need to take some time and care to wire that up, but definitely feasible.
107.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Hello, I'm building a replacement for docker containers with a virtual machine with the ergonomics of containers + subsecond start times. I worked in AWS previously in the container space + with firecracker. I realized the container is
108.
Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines(github.com)
499 points by binsquare 6mo ago|152 comments
109.
by binsquare 6mo ago
firecracker was designed for AWS Lambda and designed to be maintained by multiple AWS teams. You're likely to experience operational + setup hiccups to use it in production. Just look at their setup docs: Setup: https://git
110.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Agents, ai code executions are a very good use case. I think anyone looking to use infra that needs below properties are well served by this project: 1. subsecond vm cold starts 2. kernel isolation (vs containers) 3. consistent local <-&
111.
by binsquare 6mo ago
I am building a virtual machine that starts as fast as containers and can be made portable and easy to use like containers. free, open source -> https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm I worked with firecracker a lo
112.
by binsquare 6mo ago
My mom's funeral was ~23k in Chicago, US. As a reference to how much that is - she made minimum wage her whole life (<44k). It's obscene how much money there is in death.
113.
by binsquare 6mo ago
They also have video games now
114.
by binsquare 6mo ago
Similar experience! It's a very unique and fulfilling experience to be one with the nature. You get to learn that chickens eat almost anything. There's definitely a sense of belonging in nature that I miss
115.
by binsquare 7mo ago
yep! This is exactly the world I'm working towards with packaging tooling with a virtual machine i.e. electron but with virtual machines instead so the isolation aspect comes by default.
116.
by binsquare 7mo ago
I found his story to give my mom hope when her cancer had metastasized to her brain in 2025. Cancer cells in the brain are in a nutrition rich environment for growth and at the same time dangerous for treatment for removal and to prevent gr
117.
by binsquare 7mo ago
First time hearing about it, thanks for sharing! At a glance, it's a matter of compatibility, most software has first class support for linux. But very interesting work and I'm going to follow it closely
118.
by binsquare 7mo ago
Love this feedback, agree with you completely on all of it - I'll be making those changes. 1. In comparison with colima with krunkit, I ship smolvm with custom built kernel + rootfs, with a focus on the virtual machine as opposed to ru
119.
by binsquare 7mo ago
Run locally on macs, much easier to install/use, and designed to be "portable" meaning you can package a VM to preserve statefulness and run it somewhere else. worked in AWS and specifically with firecracker in the container
120.
by binsquare 7mo ago
So... I'm working on an open source technology to make a literal virtual machine shippable i.e. freezing everything inside it, isolated due to vm/hypervisor for sandboxing, with support for containers too since it's a real li

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