I've always been fascinated by this, but I have never known what it would be useful for. Does anyone know of any practical use cases?

▲ omoikane 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I use bellard.org/jslinux to test compilation of strange code sometimes[1], since it came with compilers that are different versions from what I have installed locally, and it's easier to open up a browser than starting a VM.

[1] For example:

https://www.ioccc.org/2020/yang/index.html#:~:text=tcc%200.9...

https://www.ioccc.org/2018/yang/index.html#:~:text=tcc%200.9...

▲ shirro 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We are a playful species. People enjoy play. If we didn't have to work for a living but still enjoyed food security that is all most of us would do. But we are also a very exploitative species, some more than others. Companies have made billions of dollars on top of Fabrice Bellard's works, qemu, ffmpeg etc.

These companies don't have any imagination. Their management has no vision. They could not create anything new and wonderful if they tried. People like Fabrice do and we are all richer for it. If your asking about the practical use you are likely in the exploitative mindset which is understandable on HN. The hacker/geek mindset enjoys this for what it is.

▲ toast0 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I use a similar emulator (v86) as a way to share my hobby OS. Approximately zero people, even my friends, are going to boot my hobby OS on real hardware; I did manage to convince some of them to run it in qemu, but it's difficult. A browser environment shows the thing quite well; and easy networking is cool too.

My hobby OS itself is not very useful, but it's fun if you're in the right mood.

▲ postalrat 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Some sort of web based archive of applications/etc where you can boot them up in your browser.

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peterburkimsher 3 hours ago | parent [-]

That’s what I’d like to use it for as well, but it’s difficult to do so because there’s no way to edit the disk image.

Any advice on how to create a JSLinux clone with a specific file pre-installed and auto-launching would be much appreciated!

	▲	progrium 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Working with VMs always felt difficult because of this. So authoring was built-in to Docker. Now you can use Apptron to author and embed a Linux system on a web page. This aspect is usable, but it's only going to get better.

▲ s-macke 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Most such emulators have Internet access on the IP level. Therefore, this is a very cheap way to test anything on the Internet.

    apk add nmap
    nmap your.domain.com

However, the speed is heavily throttled. You can even use ssh and login to your own server.

It can also be used as a very cheap way to provide a complete build environment on a single website, for example to teach C/C++. Or to learn the shell. You don't have to install anything.

	▲	Onavo 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You need backend proxies, the browser doesn't allow ignoring CORS by default.

▲ redleader55 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Agentic workloads create and then run code. You don't want to just run that code in a "normal" environment like a container, or even a very well protected VM. There are other options, ofc - eg. gvisor, crossvm, firecracker, etc, but this one is uncommon enough to have a small number of attackers trying to hack it.

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srdjanr 5 hours ago | parent [-]

What's wrong with a well protected VM? Especially compared to something where the security selling point is "no one uses it" (according to your argument; I don't know how secure this actually is)

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g947o 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Nothing, but "there are already working options" does not necessarily mean we shouldn't try new (and sometimes weird) things

	▲	cloudfudge 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		GP says "You don't want to just run that code in ... even a very well protected VM." Why?
	▲	TacticalCoder 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yeah but GP was answering to a comment saying "you don't want to run code in a well protected VM". Which is of course complete non sense to say and GP was right to question it.

▲ varun_ch 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe if you’ve got some ancient software that’s missing source code and only runs with X Y and Z conditions, you could continue to offer it on the web and build around it like that? Not sure if that would be practical at all, but could be interesting

▲ maxloh 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

My college professor used it to teach us the Linux command line

We have Windows PCs in the classroom.

	▲	jgtrosh 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Similarly I've used it for technical interviews.