The compilers generated bytecode, and the CPUs were microcoded.
So the first boot phase was to load the microcode into the CPU, and then boot into Smalltalk, Interlisp-D, Mesa, Cedar environments.
There was a project that tried to be a future Amiga OS replacement that was also bytecode based with JIT,
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9806607
Inferno with Limbo, another example, get wasm to replace disVM role.
Or like ART on Android, and so on.
Ah, IBM i (née AS/400) is also bytecode based with a JIT on the kernel.
Lots of examples out there, UNIX is not the only way.
The compilers generated bytecode, and the CPUs were microcoded.
So the first boot phase was to load the microcode into the CPU, and then boot into Smalltalk, Interlisp-D, Mesa, Cedar environments.
There was a project that tried to be a future Amiga OS replacement that was also bytecode based with JIT,
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9806607
Inferno with Limbo, another example, get wasm to replace disVM role.
Or like ART on Android, and so on.
Ah, IBM i (née AS/400) is also bytecode based with a JIT on the kernel.
Lots of examples out there, UNIX is not the only way.