Context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKzRf8B-oDk

Would it be possible to run mpv and a browser directly on hardware somehow? Perhaps in an environment that doesn’t classify as an operating system according to the definition in those California codes?

I know that an operating system distributes workloads and facilitates communication between various hardware components, but would it be possible to build a Linux kernel that is “only” an interface to the CPU, a GPU, a sound card and a keyboard? One that can take commands to run for instance a browser[1] and mpv? Having the user manually - through commands of physical switches - handle the inter component communication? Or perhaps by being a kernel it already falls under the definition of an OS?

I’m just spitballing here. Barely know what I’m talking about, so please enlighten me! :D

  1. Nowadays, a browser feels like a container that can run most things a physical computer would: stream media, serve as a word processor, play simple games, what have you. ↩︎

  • Thwompthwomp@lemmy.world
    2·
    11 hours ago

    I was use the pre-virtual machine usage of bare metal to actually mean “No OS.” You are just raw-dog running code on the machine.

    • Oinks@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      1·
      9 hours ago

      Yeah I understand that’s what you meant, but it’s not what people think when they hear “bare-metal server” (anymore… not saying you’re wrong!) or what the commenter I was responding to was talking about.

      I’m not sure anyone is really deploying servers without an OS, even though I’m sure the concept has a lot of merit. Unfortunately there’s a strong trend of putting the absolute minimum possible effort into deployment at the expense of basically everything (which is how you end up with really stupid ideas like “serverless computing”).