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by Zuider 1114 days ago
Intel uses a specialized version of Minix 3 for its Intel Management Engine in every CPU it released since 2008, so technically, it is the most installed OS.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/hardware/intels-secret...

1 comments

Not even close.

Even if Minix had been installed on every single management card on every computer Intel made from then to now, that number is utterly dwarfed by the number of systems with an installed Linux kernel. That's because in addition to its use as a server and desktop OS, the Linux kernel is the core of the Android distributions that almost every non apple smart phone uses today. Also set top boxes, tablets, watches, and even many smart TVs and Blu Ray players have a copy of Android.

The Linux kernel is a kernel, not an OS. Even if my set-top-box is running some flavor of Android, it looks nothing like my phone or anything else, thus I would classify it as a different OS -- even if the underlying code is based on Android.
I'd be really curious why there are downvotes, mostly for the discussion.
And Minix 3 is an OS?
Yes, full OS with its own microkernel and NetBSD-forked userland.
What's the point of nitpicking userland if we're concerned with processor build-in management engines?
Minix3 was born as a full OS, not a management engine. What Intel really did with the code, nobody really knows.
Does Intel bundle all the userland tools?
Does it need to?