4 ms·

BootOS: Monolithic operating system in 512 bytes of x86 machine code

87 points by a_imho 5y ago

jonjacky 5y ago
There is a fascinating story behind this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569438
pabs3 5y ago
Some notes about BootOS: https://dercuano.github.io/notes/bootos-notes.html https://dercuano.github.io/notes/bootos-notes.html
- mftb 5y ago
  Cool link. I like your notes, I learned some stuff about the Toledo's and generating IDs for use in IMGUIs too
  - pabs3 5y ago
    Those aren't my notes, but someone elses.
jart 5y ago
See also: - https://github.com/cesarblum/sectorforth https://github.com/cesarblum/sectorforth - https://github.com/jart/sectorlisp https://github.com/jart/sectorlisp
Snelius 5y ago
Nice clickbait
- ScaleneTriangle 5y ago
  For something to be considered clickbait it generally needs to be significantly deceptive.
  - CodeWriter23 5y ago
    Well, it’s own doc says the OS occupies 2 sectors, IOW > 512 bytes. Doing all those system calls in less than 1K is still impressive though.
    - WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
      Says 512 bytes of machine code, not "fits in the MBR". You can only cram 355 or so bytes of code into MBR area designated for that.
      - FreeFull 5y ago
        If you're fine with overwriting the partition table, you can go up to 510 bytes of code, followed by 2 bytes for the mandatory MBR boot signature
      - CodeWriter23 5y ago
        No partition table on floppy disks.
LordRishav 5y ago
I don't quite like an operating system as minimal as this to be licensed under a non-copyleft license. Operating systems like Minix have already been exploited by Intel for their Management Engine, which some call a 'backdoor' in their machines. And Minix was licensed under the BSD License as well, so Intel could get away not releasing the source code for IME easily.
- retrac 5y ago
  This is a terribly impressive project for fitting in 512 bytes. It's charmingly packed full of features for its size and it taught me a couple x86 tricks. So I don't mean to sound harsh here. But it's an OS for the 16 bit IBM PC. Its strategic value to Intel in the FLOSS wars is probably only slightly greater than CP/M's.
- bilekas 5y ago
  With this project being so small.. impressively of course. Does this licencing type interfere if someone can separately come up with some similar methods and processes, legitimately without referring to this project. If it was the be enforced, it seems it would be extremely hard to enforce given the limited methods such an os And features COULD be implemented within such a small space.. Or have I misunderstood completely. As an analogy.. Being able to license the most efficient way electrons and protons can vibrate at a certain frequency seems unenforceable..
marcodiego 5y ago
I would love a libc that allowed me to compile C programs to run as a bootloader... in the 90's. These days, I'd just hack grub.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

87 points by a_imho 5y ago

There is a fascinating story behind this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569438

pabs3 5y ago

Some notes about BootOS: https://dercuano.github.io/notes/bootos-notes.html https://dercuano.github.io/notes/bootos-notes.html

mftb 5y ago
Cool link. I like your notes, I learned some stuff about the Toledo's and generating IDs for use in IMGUIs too
- pabs3 5y ago
  Those aren't my notes, but someone elses.

jart 5y ago

See also: - https://github.com/cesarblum/sectorforth https://github.com/cesarblum/sectorforth - https://github.com/jart/sectorlisp https://github.com/jart/sectorlisp

Snelius 5y ago

Nice clickbait

ScaleneTriangle 5y ago
For something to be considered clickbait it generally needs to be significantly deceptive.
- CodeWriter23 5y ago
  Well, it’s own doc says the OS occupies 2 sectors, IOW > 512 bytes. Doing all those system calls in less than 1K is still impressive though.
  - WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
    Says 512 bytes of machine code, not "fits in the MBR". You can only cram 355 or so bytes of code into MBR area designated for that.
    - FreeFull 5y ago
      If you're fine with overwriting the partition table, you can go up to 510 bytes of code, followed by 2 bytes for the mandatory MBR boot signature
    - CodeWriter23 5y ago
      No partition table on floppy disks.

LordRishav 5y ago

I don't quite like an operating system as minimal as this to be licensed under a non-copyleft license. Operating systems like Minix have already been exploited by Intel for their Management Engine, which some call a 'backdoor' in their machines. And Minix was licensed under the BSD License as well, so Intel could get away not releasing the source code for IME easily.

retrac 5y ago
This is a terribly impressive project for fitting in 512 bytes. It's charmingly packed full of features for its size and it taught me a couple x86 tricks. So I don't mean to sound harsh here. But it's an OS for the 16 bit IBM PC. Its strategic value to Intel in the FLOSS wars is probably only slightly greater than CP/M's.
bilekas 5y ago
With this project being so small.. impressively of course. Does this licencing type interfere if someone can separately come up with some similar methods and processes, legitimately without referring to this project. If it was the be enforced, it seems it would be extremely hard to enforce given the limited methods such an os And features COULD be implemented within such a small space.. Or have I misunderstood completely. As an analogy.. Being able to license the most efficient way electrons and protons can vibrate at a certain frequency seems unenforceable..

marcodiego 5y ago

I would love a libc that allowed me to compile C programs to run as a bootloader... in the 90's. These days, I'd just hack grub.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]