Date   : Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:39:26 -0700 (PDT)
From   : flynnjs@... (Jason Flynn G7OCD)
Subject: OT PC architecture

--- On Wed, 21/4/10, Mike Tomlinson <mike@...> wrote:
> There is (or was) an early version of Linux that would run on
> the 8086, though god knows how it managed memory.

IIRC it started off as a bit of a joke, anyway this is probably
what you're thinking about (it looks like abandonware to me):
http://elks.sourceforge.net/

For a more actively maintained low footprint Linux check out
http://www.uclinux.org/ports/
although at a glance all the ports are to micros with MMU.