What are some interesting devices powered by Linux?

StorageB@lemmy.one to Linux@lemmy.ml – 151 points –

Here's a few that I know of. What other things are commonly running Linux that most people may but be aware of?

  • Ingenuity (helicopter drone on Mars)
  • Smart TVs and streaming devices (Samsung's TizenOS and Roku devices)
  • Smart appliances (Samsung's smart refrigerator)
  • Digital signs and billboards
  • My car stereo (Sony XAV-AX6000)
  • The Large Hadron Collider
  • FAA Air traffic control and radar systems
  • Self driving cars
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All 3 billion Android devices in the world. It's pretty crazy when you think about it. Also 96% of the top 1 million web servers and all of the 500 fastest super computers (excluding quantum) in the world.

Quantum computers aren't fast, they're very slow.

Eventually, if things keep progressing, they'll be able to do certain things like factoring primes faster than conventional computers. But, the clock rate will probably always be abysmal.

What are the quantum computers running? Also, please tell me they can run Doom.

afaik quantum computers don't run operative systems, they are programmed to do exactly one thing.

And no, they can't run Doom.

Are they really computers then?

Think of them like graphics cards. They are more of a component to do calculations that the cpu either can’t do, or would take too long to do. So calling something (the whole shebang) a quantum computer is like calling a computer training AI an ML Server.

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Remarkable eink tablets. Buried deep in the settings they actually give you the root password so you can SSH in. Also, it comes with an epic .vimrc file.

THEY DO?!? NO WAY!

Yup. Have been running an FTP server on my Kobo Touch over its WiFi. Kinda neat.

I was referring specifically to Remarkable-brand devices... but Kobos are nice too, with that company also being indifferent to aftermarket hacks.

Ah, "Remarkable" is a brand, never heard of them and never would have guessed as the "R" is uppercase at the start of a sentence

Oh, good point. If I was being brand-proper I'd spell it "reMarkable"... but, lol, not doing that.

https://github.com/reMarkable/linux At that, there are ways to hack it of course (Fairly certain it “ruins” some returns/warranty policies, but if you can in those cases, you can easily revert the modified bits if needed)

tl;dr : if you want to try to hack it safely, heads up to : https://remarkable.guide/

If you would like to run a pre-made Debian chroot on it. Saw other distros from other users https://github.com/Eeems-Org/remarkable-debian-chroot

If you would like to use (Not fully replace for stability/recovery concerns) another launcher which is MIT licensed https://github.com/Eeems-Org/oxide

You can install the “vanilla” (minus extra bits) kernel via Toltec https://toltec-dev.org/stable/#section-launchers

Aaaand, if you want to go the full libre way, there's a port of parabola on it sold here http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/ Article here https://hackaday.com/2020/09/06/a-free-software-os-for-the-remarkable-e-paper-tablet/

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Kindles too. You can jailbreak them and get a shell. They're so much more useful when they're jailbroken. They can read multiple other formats, they can get books from a fileserver on your local network, the jailbroken reader app is better, etc.

Yeah, I've made a custom lock screen picture and uploaded it. I unfortunately have to redo it every update.

Also what is a .vimrc file?

Settings/customizations file for legendary text editor vim. Remarkable's comes with a lot of stuff built-in.

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Robot vacuums. Some of them you can root and install the opensource Valetudo.

Yes!! I can SSH into mine! Just fuggin wild that they run Ubuntu =⁠-D

The handheld gaming console - valve steam deck

Really it's the backbone of the modern tech world.

Yeah, it used to be just web servers in a data center. Bigger systems used mainframes. Consumer electronics used custom RTOSes or other custom boards. Now it's everywhere. It's used in the biggest systems, like the computers that power virtually every Google product, and the smallest systems. It's almost not worth it not to use Linux when building a tiny device because it makes the dev cycle so much shorter.

Jesus I've been using Linux for years and your comment just made this really click for me. Do you think Linus is protected by governments and stuff? Like I know he didn't make all of it, and there's lots of forks, but he's defacto in charge... That's gotta be a lot of soft power

The lego mindstorms ev3 robot

Cars. Either entertainment system or navigation or more..

BMW has quite the list of licences for opensource libraries and Linux in the about section of the car-menu.

And more and more network equipment.

So we can download the sources?

BMW requires you to go the written notice path and they send you a DVD with the sources

is this a joke? please tell me this is a joke

Its one of the oldest ways people disribute linux sources, and while it seems dumb, its actually good because regions with poor or no internet can also be served.

Poor global south nations graciously appreciating the source code for their BMWs. This seems closer to malicious compliance.

It’s not super horrible, and they’re meeting the requirements for GPLv2

I’d rather a git repo with history that can be cloned with physical media as a backup option

If you’re looking for a real bad one, Qualcomm has been trying to claim that their devicetree, which is equivalent to ACPI, and 100% necessary to boot anything is somehow “proprietary”

Passenger information systems in public transport. Some might run some kind of embedded windows, but most run on Linux. Certainly here in Czechia, but I believe it's common at east throughout the Central Europe.

Pretty much everything that's running on a microprocessor (i.e. larger than a microcontroller) and not from Microsoft or Apple.

Passenger Entertainment Systems in Boeing 737 MAX.

Parrot's older consumer drones. They took really long to power up, and ran very hot.

I believe you could telnet into them too, although that was later discovered to be a bug and not a feature

I was product manager at a company that made PTZ cameras based on Linux. The company was acquired a few times but still actually manufactures them in Minnetonka MN. Kind of fun working at a place the had development, manufacturing, support and engineering in one building.

https://www.legrandav.com/Products/Cameras/Videoconferencing%20PTZ%20Camera/RoboSHOT-12E-USB/

How do you rate these cameras against the competition?

Well, it turns out only a handful of companies actually make image modules. I would say it is better in terms of US based support, firmware, hardware design, and the fact it meets TAA and buy America compliance. I've seen these cameras in the DoD and even in the oval office. If you want a camera that is absolutely not spying on you I can vouch for these because I have watched the firmware get built on these.

I know at least few components in the power grid that run on top of linux