A high school student and programmer who goes by the nickname Ading2210 has successfully emulated Linux on a popular file format. While the performance is limited, the project redefines what is possible with JavaScript tools for PDF.
A high school student and programmer who goes by the nickname Ading2210 has successfully emulated Linux on a popular file format. While the performance is limited, the project redefines what is possible with JavaScript tools for PDF.
Users can try LinuxPDF here using Chromium browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Opera. The source code is available on the developer's GitHub page.
LinuxPDF runs on a RISC-V emulator based on TinyEMU. Users can press virtual keys below the main screen, and can also be controlled directly from the keyboard by interpreting data entered in a text field, TechSpot writes .
Although PDF was designed to display text and images, it can also execute JavaScript code. Adobe Acrobat includes the entire JavaScript specification, enabling features such as 3D rendering, monitor detection, and HTTP requests.
PDFs running in browsers use a more limited version, but it's more than enough to run games and operating systems. Ading2210 discovered that an older version of Emscripten, which targets asm.js rather than WebAssembly, can compile C code to run in the file format.
The kernel takes up to a full minute to load — about 100 times longer than on a traditional Linux system. According to Ading2210, this is unfortunately not fixable because Chromium uses a version of V8 that does not support the JIT compiler.
By default, the file system is 32-bit. However, users can build a 64-bit version from source by cloning the repository on a real Linux system, editing the "BITS" line, and downloading Emscripten version 1.39.20. Unfortunately, running the 64-bit version doubles the performance deficit.
Users interested in a more practical use of Linux on budget hardware can try Ading2210's ChromeOS RMA Shim Bootloader. The collection of scripts allows you to run a full Debian distribution on a Chromebook without modifying the firmware. The project also supports registered corporate devices.
