LinuxMD project has announced the first release of their Linux port for Sega MegaDrive, a popular game console released in 1988. The console, equipped with 72 KB of RAM and two processors – Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z80, can now run Linux thanks to the Mega EverDrive “Core” and “Pro” cartridges which allow running games from an SD card.
The developers achieved the launch of the Linux kernel on the Sega MegaDrive console with limited RAM by utilizing the hardware capabilities of the Mega EverDrive cartridges. By using memory bank switching technique, the consoles were able to utilize 4 MB of cartridge memory as RAM, expanding the capabilities of the device.
Linux on the device interacts with the file system through a data exchange protocol with the Mega EverDrive cartridge, enabling access to data on the inserted SD card. The high-resolution timer in the Linux kernel is provided by the FPGA chip of the EverDrive cartridge.
The port includes Linux kernel 7.2-rc1, u-boot 2026.01, and a rootfs image with a minimal set of utilities. To test the Linux port in an emulator, the developers created a fork of QEMU to emulate the console along with the features of the EverDrive cartridges. The emulator offers faster CPU emulation than the original Motorola 68000 CPU.
