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The newest ESP32 can run Linux and it's getting close to a Raspberry Pi

237 points · 123 comments · adunk

  1. rbanffy · · focus · HN ↗
    With all the capabilities, video and audio output, it might be an excellent platform for software emulation of older devices. There is plenty of GPIO that can be driven by the 40 MHz core while the other two work on nobler things.
    1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
      It is a great platform for this, considering the cost. There have been several decent ESP based emulators already, including many consoles, a ZX Spectrum emulator, and even a 386 emulator.

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;foky26&#x2F;Retro-Gamer" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;foky26&#x2F;Retro-Gamer

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;EremusOne&#x2F;ESPectrum" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;EremusOne&#x2F;ESPectrum

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;hchunhui&#x2F;tiny386" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;hchunhui&#x2F;tiny386

      New chips like the one in the article should be even more capable. 486 won’t be out of reach for long.

      One of the big problems has been handling peripheral emulation, multiple controllers, etc. USB plus the other cores should help with this.

      1. rbanffy · · focus · HN ↗
        I&#x27;m thinking of building something that emulates a VT-340 terminal. I can take MAME&#x27;s emulation of the 80186, the ROM dumps, and have something that just translates the 80186 ROM code into a compilable program, with the hardware behavior informed by MAME&#x27;s description (which is incomplete for the 3xx series).
        1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
          That would be useful in the retro scene. I once was gifted a terminal from Tindie or Kickstarter or something that was built using custom PCBs and I think a PIC32. It was OK, but it only did VT100 and had some kinks that made it less useful than I hoped.
          1. rbanffy · · focus · HN ↗
            You can probably transpile the 8080 code of the VT-100 ROM and make a very accurate replica, if you figure out the video generator - you’ll need to translate all the MOVs to VRAM and whatever CRTC the terminal used. Or just read the memory and spit 30 frames per second to your video output.
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