6 ms·

It seems that this more than a OS is a minimal file system with a obvious limited feature set that relay on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INT_13H https://en

It seems that this more than a OS is a minimal file system with a obvious limited feature set that relay on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INT_13H https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INT_13H - It assumes that a BIOS that contains a lot more machine code is available. For the new generations this will seem not to have any real applications beyond code golfing. But from a nostalgic point of view, it brings me back to the demoscene era. I still fell a wistful longing for the old days thinking to fr-041:debris ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq2llbP52Zo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq2llbP52Zo ) 7:20 minutes of awesomeness in less than 199 Kb. BTW, I just google it and apparently there is plenty of events going on... Coming very soon: https://www.assembly.org/summer19/ https://www.assembly.org/summer19/

kragen 7y ago
A filesystem, a shell, a program loader, and a hex editor! Well, maybe "editor" is overselling it. But from my point of view, it's as much an "OS" as MS-DOS was. MS-DOS also depended on the ROM BIOS. I agree that it's probably not practically useful. But it's a brilliant hack!
- devnulloverflow 7y ago
  Yes, BootOS very much in the same space as MS-DOS, although leaning even further on the "less-is-more" axis. It does the same basic things (though I suppose it doesn't do the BASIC thing). Interestingly, there is modern OS in the same space. That's UEFI. Unti I played with it a few months ago, I thought it was some mysterious firmware-adjacent black-box. But actually it's just an OS, very similar to DOS (though it runs in protected mode). It has a shell and some basic built-in commands including text editors and such. And most importantly it lets you run executables that a stored on a FAT (well, FAT32) filesystem. The name BootOS could very well describe UEFI. And equally, a slightly more capable version of BootOS could serve as (very underpowered) UEFI replacement.
  - kragen 7y ago
    I may be confused here, but I don't think UEFI includes a shell — although there's a shell called UEFI-Shell which you can install on your hard disk and run under UEFI — and I think UEFI doesn't have any way to enter machine code from the keyboard. In fact, I think even UEFI-Shell doesn't have any way to enter machine code from the keyboard; is that true? Also, am I mistaken about the status of UEFI-Shell? So, although I am not planning to switch my laptop to running BootOS, I think there are some significant things BootOS can do that UEFI can't.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - acqq 7y ago
    > though I suppose it doesn't do the BASIC thing What's this then? bootOS programs: (Oh yes! we have software support) fbird https://github.com/nanochess/fbird Pillman https://github.com/nanochess/pillman invaders https://github.com/nanochess/invaders bootBASIC https://github.com/nanochess/bootBASIC And one can test the image: "find a pre-designed disk image along this Git with the name osall.img"
    - devnulloverflow 7y ago
      I meant that UEFI doesn't have a BASIC interpreter (though probably someone has written one). I did not know that bootOS had one, but it does not surprise me given everything else I read on this thread.
      - acqq 7y ago
        > I meant that UEFI doesn't have a BASIC interpreter (though probably someone has written one). You wrote something else: > Yes, BootOS very much in the same space as MS-DOS, although leaning even further on the "less-is-more" axis. It does the same basic things (though I suppose it doesn't do the BASIC thing).
caf 7y ago
For me the nostalgia this brought back was a memory of boot sector viruses, particularly the way the 'format' command propagates itself onto the new disk.

kragen 7y ago

A filesystem, a shell, a program loader, and a hex editor! Well, maybe "editor" is overselling it. But from my point of view, it's as much an "OS" as MS-DOS was. MS-DOS also depended on the ROM BIOS. I agree that it's probably not practically useful. But it's a brilliant hack!

devnulloverflow 7y ago
Yes, BootOS very much in the same space as MS-DOS, although leaning even further on the "less-is-more" axis. It does the same basic things (though I suppose it doesn't do the BASIC thing). Interestingly, there is modern OS in the same space. That's UEFI. Unti I played with it a few months ago, I thought it was some mysterious firmware-adjacent black-box. But actually it's just an OS, very similar to DOS (though it runs in protected mode). It has a shell and some basic built-in commands including text editors and such. And most importantly it lets you run executables that a stored on a FAT (well, FAT32) filesystem. The name BootOS could very well describe UEFI. And equally, a slightly more capable version of BootOS could serve as (very underpowered) UEFI replacement.
- kragen 7y ago
  I may be confused here, but I don't think UEFI includes a shell — although there's a shell called UEFI-Shell which you can install on your hard disk and run under UEFI — and I think UEFI doesn't have any way to enter machine code from the keyboard. In fact, I think even UEFI-Shell doesn't have any way to enter machine code from the keyboard; is that true? Also, am I mistaken about the status of UEFI-Shell? So, although I am not planning to switch my laptop to running BootOS, I think there are some significant things BootOS can do that UEFI can't.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- acqq 7y ago
  > though I suppose it doesn't do the BASIC thing What's this then? bootOS programs: (Oh yes! we have software support) fbird https://github.com/nanochess/fbird Pillman https://github.com/nanochess/pillman invaders https://github.com/nanochess/invaders bootBASIC https://github.com/nanochess/bootBASIC And one can test the image: "find a pre-designed disk image along this Git with the name osall.img"
  - devnulloverflow 7y ago
    I meant that UEFI doesn't have a BASIC interpreter (though probably someone has written one). I did not know that bootOS had one, but it does not surprise me given everything else I read on this thread.
    - acqq 7y ago
      > I meant that UEFI doesn't have a BASIC interpreter (though probably someone has written one). You wrote something else: > Yes, BootOS very much in the same space as MS-DOS, although leaning even further on the "less-is-more" axis. It does the same basic things (though I suppose it doesn't do the BASIC thing).

caf 7y ago

For me the nostalgia this brought back was a memory of boot sector viruses, particularly the way the 'format' command propagates itself onto the new disk.