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I agree. What I like about TempleOS is that Terry wasn't afraid to make something new and unique, even though it was completely incompatible with everything el

I agree. What I like about TempleOS is that Terry wasn't afraid to make something new and unique, even though it was completely incompatible with everything else. DolDoc is such a cool idea. Not a unique one, but you don't find many operating systems which have a shell based on that. Since the command output is in DolDoc, you can type `DIR` at the command line and get a list which expands into the whole file tree when you click on it. DolDoc also means that his games have all the images and models embedded in the code, and you can just go there and edit them. And there are a lot of these. Sure it's clunky and weird and sort of unusable, but I appreciate it for what it is. And I think it's really awesome. Take a look at a random person's osdev project and you'll see mostly the same thing — a unix-like that tries to be compatible with POSIX and port all the utilities. TempleOS is as far from that as you can get (though definitely not unique either). (Also, a minor correction: TempleOS is not real mode, it runs in full 64-bit mode with symmetric multiprocessing and everything. The text UI isn't the VGA text mode, it's a framebuffer that also displays graphics).

YPPH 2y ago
You're right, it's not real mode. I think I should have said ring zero.
- ropejumper 2y ago
  That would be correct, and it also has a couple of interesting consequences. He liked to brag about how he can do however many millions of context switches per second; not entirely sure how valuable that is but it's fun. I think this also touches on the other thing that makes TempleOS cool. It was designed as a modern C64, and a lot of the weird design decisions come directly from that. It's a hacker's operating system and it shows. I seem to remember seeing a different take on hackable operating systems, something written in Scheme with a PreScheme core I think? I remember thinking it was pretty cool. The dynamic nature of Scheme allowed you to have access to pretty much anything you want, but also run programs with less privileges. Of course there's also DuskOS. It's written in Forth which I like, but I'm not the biggest fan of their dialect. I'd like to attempt something in a more classical Forth, but I never get to it. One of these days...
  - YPPH 2y ago
    I think he analogised it to riding a motorcycle while Windows/Linux was driving a car or something. Dangerous but fun.

YPPH 2y ago

You're right, it's not real mode. I think I should have said ring zero.

ropejumper 2y ago
That would be correct, and it also has a couple of interesting consequences. He liked to brag about how he can do however many millions of context switches per second; not entirely sure how valuable that is but it's fun. I think this also touches on the other thing that makes TempleOS cool. It was designed as a modern C64, and a lot of the weird design decisions come directly from that. It's a hacker's operating system and it shows. I seem to remember seeing a different take on hackable operating systems, something written in Scheme with a PreScheme core I think? I remember thinking it was pretty cool. The dynamic nature of Scheme allowed you to have access to pretty much anything you want, but also run programs with less privileges. Of course there's also DuskOS. It's written in Forth which I like, but I'm not the biggest fan of their dialect. I'd like to attempt something in a more classical Forth, but I never get to it. One of these days...
- YPPH 2y ago
  I think he analogised it to riding a motorcycle while Windows/Linux was driving a car or something. Dangerous but fun.