Look Ma, No Linux
Dev tools
embedded shell and app installer
SHOW HN2026
327points
40comments
#119of 4,366 in 2026
Top 3%of 2026 by points
How HN took it
LovedMost comments that take a side are positive
12 positive, 11 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 2 critical, out of 25 comments about the project. Thread score +0.42.
Idea: 4 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Instant-on and DOS-era feel are appealing.
From 3 comments
Being instant-on is so, so cool. I really like seeing projects like this and Adafruit's Fruit Jam as they really show "Yeah, by having all this junk in the way, we do lose some…
vegadw on HNJust like MS-DOS and CP/M did great with such hardware constraints. I still think many don't understand how much is possible with a plain ESP32.
pjmlp on HNThis seems like magic. I know it’s not, but it goes against everything I knew about ESP! Nice work.
quietsegfault on HN
Impressive that it runs on an MCU at all.
From 2 comments
This seems like magic. I know it’s not, but it goes against everything I knew about ESP! Nice work.
quietsegfault on HNJust like MS-DOS and CP/M did great with such hardware constraints. I still think many don't understand how much is possible with a plain ESP32.
pjmlp on HN
Objections
No memory protection, so a general OS is hard on this hardware.
From 2 comments
Doesn't the lack of a flat memory model make a genral os difficult? The amiga1000 had far less processing power and about the same memory, with no mmu, but that memory model was…
galangalalgol on HNWhat makes general OS difficult on a SoC is usually the lack of hardware virtual<->real RAM address translation accelerator, the MMU. I guess it's not that important if…
numpad0 on HN
Requests
Port to RP2350 or other boards like Cardputer.
From 2 comments
Would it be possible to port it to run on the rp2350?
mrlonglong on HNVery cool! We need to get this on M5Stack Cardputer ASAP
inflam52 on HN
Zig support.
From 1 comment
Would love this with Zig installed
pmarreck on HN
Questions
Can it run on C3 or other RISC-V chips?
From 1 comment
Bit of a noob question: is this limited to the S3 or can I try running it on a C3 too?
ssiddharth on HN
Is it free of binary blobs?
From 1 comment
Sorry to noob here but is this free of blobs? When I tried an ESP a few years ago, running it involved binaries.
tosti on HN
Alternatives named
FabGL
From 1 comment
Right, people were asking about the shell used in the xcc700 demo, so that is released now too, and I tried to make it convenient to reuse as a component. Esp32-s3 can do so much…
isitcontent on HN
Fuzix
From 1 comment
ok, I can run fuzix, why using this?
Western0 on HN