I am sure you have heard of Linux. It is the operating system that powers the internet as well as a lot of devices we use every day from phones (Android is built on it) to smart TVs and even fridges. That is pretty amazing when it originated with a solo young Finnish programmer who gave it away. I have been using it on my home PC for years as it does all I need and I just prefer it to Windows.
If you want to try it out you can install it on a flash drive to boot on your PC, but here is an even simpler way. The jor1k project implements an emulated computer (with a RISC CPU) in Javascript and you can run it in any modern browser.
You can go straight to the demo.
Doom does actually work, but it barely playable.
On the left is a console where you can type commands. Initially your will see some messages as it boots up and then a prompt. Typing help will bring up a menu of things you can run. Otherwise you can run commands such as ls, cd, top. You can even open a second instance and telnet from one to the other. It seems you cannot connect from the host PC. I tried the text mode lynx browser for fun and could connect to Google.
It can do graphics, but even on a fast PC it may be a little slow. Still impressive when you appreciate what it is doing.
I have seen Spectrum and BBC Micro emulators in Javascript, but this is another level.
Have fun.
The geeky guitarist and facilitator of the 10K Minnows Project.
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