Dmitry Grinberg has created what he describes as the smallest Linux computer in the world after discovering how to run the operating system on just eight pins.
The system runs on an STM32G0 series microcontroller chip and includes a USB-to-serial converter and an SPI RAM chip.
Grinberg used a MIPS emulator to run Debian Linux on the chip, with the system clock running at 148MHz, the equivalent of a MIPS processor running at 1.4MHz.
To create the tiny machine, Grinberg had to find ways to reduce the number of pins required for serial communications, memory and an SD card, with the SD and serial channels sharing the same pins.
He has yet to reveal what use the tiny computer can be put to, but described the project as “impressive”.
