🔧Ox64 Runs Linux for $8 Using Three RISC-V Cores

Linux on an $8 board, but bring a serial dongle

The Ox64 can run Linux for $8, and it has three RISC-V cores to do it. That's a wild price for a Linux-capable board, but it comes with strings attached. If you want to play with embedded Linux or RISC-V without buying a dev board that costs more than a dinner out, this is your target. The catch? Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and SD card don't work yet at time of writing, so you're getting a bare-bones machine. Flashing is also not plug-and-play. There's no USB programming. You talk to it through UART TX/RX pins, usually via a CH340G dongle or an RP2040 board like a Pico acting as a serial bridge. Expect friction. Dev Cube, the flashing tool, crashes on launch under Ubuntu Wayland and needs Xorg. The bflb-mcu-tool also needs modification before it works. After flashing low_load_bl808_m0.bin, you should see dynamic memory init and heap size messages, plus mtimer and psram clock init confirmations. Then come the extra steps to actually boot Linux. Worth it for tinkering, not for production.