Fabrice Bellard has demonstrated a Javascript PC Emulator, Linux OS 2.6.20 kernel emulated in a browser. The emulator is written purely in Javascript using Typed Arrays which are available in recent browser. It was tested in Firefox 4 and Chrome 11 on Windows, Mac and Linux. It may run in any recent browsers as long as it supports a fast Javascript engine.
The emulated hardware consists in:
- a 32 bit x86 compatible CPU
- a 8259 Programmble Interrupt Controller
- a 8254 Programmble Interrupt Timer
- a 16450 UART.
You can try yourself to run the Linux OS in a browser via this emulator http://bellard.org/jslinux/