JSLinux
Hacker ApprovedBrowser Linux emulator in Developer tools
People recommend JSLinux for running a real Linux system in any browser with no install, and for its stable, fast performance.
People recommend JSLinux for running a real Linux system in any browser with no install, and for its stable, fast performance.
23 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs in any browser, no install
“For a classroom with Windows PCs this is close to ideal - zero install, no admin rights, works in any browser.”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64” “it's easier to open up a browser than starting a VM”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64” Runs full existing Linux builds
“I'd rather run a 10MB WASM bundle with a full existing Linux build in then reimplement it all in TypeScript”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64” “The x86_64 support opens up so many possibilities for running modern Linux distributions in the browser.”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64” “JSLinux supports a lot more than CLI Linux userspace on x86-64”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64” Stable with impressive performance
“it is rock solid - worked perfectly and is stable”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64” “The performance is pretty amazing.”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “JSLinux Now Supports x86_64”
What people said
20 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Or maybe https://bellard.org/jslinux/”
“I recently reverse engineered a binary in a system image of Fabrice Bellard's JSLinux”
“Except jslinux running actual thing.”
“if you don't want to risk it running locally”
“Bellard did multiple breakthroughs: ffmpeg, qemu, tcc, jslinux.”
“There seems to be an issue with DNS.”
“I'd rather run a 10MB WASM bundle with a full existing Linux build in then reimplement it all in TypeScript”
“The performance is pretty amazing.”
“The x86_64 support opens up so many possibilities for running modern Linux distributions in the browser.”
“If that's the case, it should be in his FAQ.”
“~20x slower for a naive recursive Fibonacci implementation in Python”
“it is rock solid - worked perfectly and is stable”
“For a classroom with Windows PCs this is close to ideal - zero install, no admin rights, works in any browser.”
“exactly what v86 was missing”
“JSLinux supports a lot more than CLI Linux userspace on x86-64”
“it's easier to open up a browser than starting a VM”
“Unfortunately, he didn't attach the source code for the 64-bit x86 emulation layer”
“already had a working VM of Windows 2000 in the browser around a decade ago”
“jslinux was much more impressive when it came out. It actually still is”
“nearly every browser-based Linux emulator, including JSLinux and copy.sh, uses my 9p-virtio- filesystem approach”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.