[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux on a C128???

[Richard Cobbe]

Brian wrote on 3-6-2000:

> Now for something completely different...
> 
> Anybody aware of a Linux port to the lowly Commodore 128?  A quick
> Google search didn't bring up anything meaningful (except a "newsflash"
> from segfault concerning a Linux port to the VIC-20).

I'd be highly surprised.  IIRC, the C128 used an old 65(C?)02 processor,
like the venerable Apple ][ series.  (Remember them?)

Let's see....

* 8-bit word, but a 

* 16-bit address space.  That would be 64K.  Apple got around this for the
  128K Apple //c, but you don't want to know the details.  (And you thought
  the 8086's segmentation scheme was ugly!)

* absolutely *NO* support for different run-levels (no separation between
  kernel and user modes; bad for security).

* no support for virtual memory.  Also bad for security.

So, I'd guess that there's no Linux port; the hardware just isn't
sophisticated enough.  However, I do recall hearing, many years ago, about
an attempt to port Linux all the way back to the 808[68]; they were
planning to do all of the run-level/memory translation in software.  So, it
might be possible, but it would be *very* difficult.

(All that being said, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the 65(C)02
series; it's what I first learned assembly-language programming on.)

Richard