The Sega Mega Drive came out almost 4 decades ago in Japan, 38 years to be precise. So it's wild to think that a console that is 40 years old can ruin the latest Linux Kernel. Linux on a Sega Mega Drive... I bet you never thought you'd see that headline, huh?
So how is this working? Well, I spotted the post on Hackaday and have spent a while looking into Motorola 68000 chips and the early days of Linux. The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, had been working with the 32-bit Motorola 68000 series on his Sinclair QL personal computer, so this chipset has its roots in the creation of Linux in a pretty integral way.
Getting the latest Linux kernel running on a Mega Drive is no mean feat. Admittedly, it needs the Mega EverDrive Pro to get it up and running, but the fact that the console can be used to actually get Linux booted up and running is incredible. Ok, it's not the most reliable or useful way of running Linux, but then again, neither is running Windows NT on a GameCube. Nevertheless, it's a fun way to see how far we can push old tech and an impressive achievement.
On the project's official GitHub page, contributor fifteenhex, real name Daniel Palmer, says that you'll need a USB cable between the EverDrive and your PC and 'time to burn' to get this working. It's a labour of love, clearly, but that's why I love these projects by the Retro Gaming Community. Do we need to watch YouTube games on the Game Boy Color? No, but it's bloomin' cool nonetheless!
