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Dmitry Grinberg
dmitry.gr · Personal blog · on HN since 2013
Dmitry Grinberg is an embedded engineer who documents hardware hacks, such as running Linux on an 8-bit microcontroller and Palm OS on other devices.
What HN saysCommenters call his projects amazing and very cool, and praise the pages as a good source of information on small microcontrollers and emulation.
120HN people shared it
69linked it in comments
83stories submitted
6.2Kstory points
3 months agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Linux on an 8-Bit Micro? (2012)22 people · 457 points · first shared 2017 · 60 comments on HN
- 2Linux on an 8-bit micro19 people · 596 points · first shared 2013 · 74 comments on HN
- 3PalmOS on FisherPrice Pixter Toy14 people · 504 points · first shared 2019 · 37 comments on HN
- 4My business card runs Linux9 people · 638 points · first shared 2022 · 133 comments on HN
- 5Linux/4004: booting Linux on Intel 4004 for fun, art, and no profit6 people · 573 points · first shared 2024 · 162 comments on HN
- 6Hacking eInk Price Tags (2021)5 people · 139 points · first shared 2021 · 25 comments on HN
- 7Sega VMU hacks (&C-M23 emulator)5 people · 31 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
- 8Linux on an 8-bit micro?5 people · 3 points · first shared 2014 · 2 comments on HN
- 9PokéWalker hacking: A complete device takeover and ROM dump using infrared4 people · 160 points · first shared 2020 · 16 comments on HN
- 10Dmitry.gr: Projects4 people · 1 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 11Linux on an 8-bit micro (2012)3 people · 125 points · first shared 2014 · 44 comments on HN
- 12Romram: Using QSPI RAM with RP2040's SSI in read-write mode3 people · 65 points · first shared 2023 · 21 comments on HN
- 13Transcend violates GPL3 people · 48 points · first shared 2013 · 24 comments on HN
- 14Using RP2040 PIO to drive a poorly-designed display3 people · 21 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 15Exploiting PSoC4 for fun and profit3 people · 13 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
kragen · 2025-04-05
Aside from the project itself being very cool, this page is a great source for information about small microcontrollers, even if it does omit the WLCSP ones. And it links to the MIPS emulator page for ARM at https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=33.%20LinuxCard which seems very interesting.
yjftsjthsd-h · 2025-02-25
From https://www.tech-pubs.net/wiki/IRIX_101 -
> Why are machines that run IRIX expensive?
> There are no new machines being produced, and high-end machines are in short supply. Less expensive machines can be had. We do not recommend using eBay to search, as the prices are usually extremely inflated.
Less expensive machines can be had on the non-eBay used market, or have we hit the point where the cheapest way to have such a machine is dedicated emulation like https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=33.%20LinuxCard ?
nxobject · 2025-02-20
There's also an 8-bit architecture designed for emulating 32-bit architectures: AVR!
(https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bit ... and, yes, that's the joke, it's still an amazing hack more than a decade later!)
romwell · 2024-08-10
This is Dmitry Grinberg[1] some of whose absolutely amazing projects (like, running Palm OS on other devices) have recently gotten some traction here on HN.
(In particular, he managed to get Palm OS running on the badges in question).
If there's one person whose credibility I wouldn't doubt on those matters, it's him.
[1] https://dmitry.gr
anyfoo · 2024-07-18
I was thinking "this looks awfully familiar", and was going to link http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=33.%20LinuxCard, but it turns out that the code is directly based on that!
For anyone interested, it's still very worth visiting that link, as it describes the whole journey and technical details about how the original DECstation emulation code came to be.
peterburkimsher · 2021-07-08
Making a PoC is usually only the beginning. Firmware upgrades for microcontrollers may be difficult to do in the field, without UART and JTAG debugging. If clients expect that pretty demos will continue working, they might be quite disappointed. It's better to follow good design patterns (Active Objects, state machines [1]) from the start when possible.
dmitrygr is a legendary embedded hacker [2]: his Transcend WiFi SD card reverse-engineering is what led to me having a PQI Air Card in my pocket, and he's also written a bit-banged Bluetooth Low Energy driver. Great for a demo or when there's nothing else available, but far from a finished product.
Writing a MISRA-compliant BLE driver would make me MISRA BLE.
[1] https://embeddedgurus.com/state-space/2016/04/beyond-the-rtos-a-better…
[2] http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects
MarioMan · 2021-02-23
It’s a good read. Here’s a link to the write up: https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=28.%20pokewalker
dmitrygr · 2026-07-28
> no one will visit your website. It's as simple as that.
I am not convinced. My traffic counter spins quite rapidly, and I only publish on http://dmitry.gr
coldtea · 2026-07-28
That's because it's a tech vlog with posts that also serve as technical reference and tutorials and such like: https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=27.%20rePalm
There's a big audience for that that's actively search for such keywords.
Not the same with essays or fiction writing
LawZoldyck · 2026-06-22
That's "Preserving Pixter" by Dmitry Grinberg. The console is the Fisher-Price Pixter.
HN thread from May: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48091812
The post itself: https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=37.+Pixter
ink_13 · 2026-04-22
Hey, wait a minute, you're the guy who got Linux to run on a 4004 by writing a MIPS emulator[1]! If there's anyone who's been down a similar path before it'd have to be you.
[1] - https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=35.%20Linux4004
zeckalpha · 2026-01-11
Hoping rePalm ends up there, too! https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=27.%20rePalm
PunchyHamster · 2026-01-09
after https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=35.%20Linux4004 nothing's really impressive when it comes to making it run linux, doubly so that it runs just normal Debian userspace
johndoe0815 · 2024-12-24
A open source MIPS emulator that can run Linux and Ultrix (and even runs on an Arm-based microcontroller) is part of Dmitry Grinberg's LinuxCard project: https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=33.%20LinuxCard
ColinWright · 2024-09-29
The write-up:
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=35.+Linux4004
Previous discussion of the text, but not the video:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41600756
ChrisArchitect · 2024-09-24
[dupe]
Actual article and submission from the dev: https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=35.%20Linux4004
(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41600756)
kalleboo · 2024-09-12
There is a guy who has gotten Palm OS running on modern ARM hardware http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=27.%20rePalm
ssl-3 · 2024-08-10
Man. I've never been to defcon, but it's been more than a passing curiosity ever since the first real announcement[0] crossed my BBS in '93.
And recently I've had a string of bad, unalterable, and irrevocably-permanent events occur in my life. And yet, I'm very pleased to say that your write-up on your experiences with the RP2350[1] presented a small but meaningfully-positive thing for me to look forward to.
Please be well -- and don't take any guff from these swine[2].
[0] https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%201/DEF%20CON%201%20announce.txt
[1] https://dmitry.gr/?r=06.%20Thoughts&proj=11.%20RP2350
[2] https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas-hunter…
sitkack · 2024-06-17
Using QSPI RAM with RP2040's SSI in read-write mode http://dmitry.gr/?r=06.%20Thoughts&proj=10.%20RomRam
duskwuff · 2024-04-07
Also possibly of interest: rePalm, a project to run PalmOS on ARM microcontrollers like the RP2040 - http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=27.%20rePalm
squarefoot · 2024-01-04
I knew that someone did that (not the link you posted though) but I meant real world usable applications. Someone also managed to run Linux on a 8bit AVR microcontroller by writing a 32bit ARM emulator then adding an old SIMM memory module and a SD card for storage. Not real world usable as well, but that one brings the "because we can" concept to new levels:)
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.+Linux+on+8bit
tyingq · 2023-10-13
The "Linux on an 8 bit micro" experiment came to mind for me:
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bit
2 hours to boot to a shell :)
_Microft · 2023-09-20
I guess it‘s part of this project (can‘t/don‘t want to go to that network to check):
http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=27.%20rePalm
mynegation · 2023-09-20
Several pages into the document at http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=27.%20rePalm
"I ended up writing my own kernel"
If you ever need a definition of system software engineering "tour de force", that is it.
LoganDark · 2023-06-05
Are you kidding me? Even 8-bit microcontrollers can run Linux just fine. https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bit
stevekemp · 2023-05-12
Maybe some kind of 8-bit processor?
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bit
Nice and cheap, portable, but does require an external I/O device.
fl7305 · 2023-04-07
> "They are the output of non-deterministic matrix multiplication operations"
Just a nit-pick: Aren't neural networks and LLMs perfectly deterministic?
I think you can reproduce GPT-4 perfectly if you have access to the same source code, training data, and the seeds for the random number generators that they used?
As a side note, I think it'd be theoretically possible to do this on a small 8-bit microcontroller given enough time and external storage. That's the beauty of Turing machines.
This would not be practical in the least. But it sure was cool seeing a guy boot Linux in just 3.5 hours on a small 8-bit AVR microcontroller.
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bit
emptyparadise · 2022-08-26
I like silly artisan business cards. It would certainly be cool for them to survive if only for the demo scene aspect:
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=33.%20LinuxCard
https://mitxela.com/projects/stylocard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIZMiCK1-oM
abbeyj · 2022-07-24
Possibly you are thinking of https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=07.%20Linux%20on%208bit but this is on an 8-bit AVR microcontroller, not a 32-bit Propeller.
cogburnd02 · 2021-12-02
Yeah when somebody says something like 'deeply embedded' the platform that comes to my mind is the Dreamcast VMU, which has a cpu that doesn't (AFAICT) yet even have a C compiler. ("C compiler....the idea was abandoned."--https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=25.%20VMU%20Hacking) I doubt something written in Rust would be adequate for such a CPU.