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Genode OS Framework
- Antibabelic 1y ago> The framework aligns the construction principles of L4 with Unix philosophy. In line with Unix philosophy, Genode is a collection of small building blocks, out of which sophisticated systems can be composed. But unlike Unix, those building blocks include not only applications but also all classical OS functionalities including kernels, device drivers, file systems, and protocol stacks. That's very interesting, but does it actually work in practice?
- johnwayne666 1y agohttps://genode.org/download/sculpt https://genode.org/download/sculpt > Sculpt is an open-source general-purpose OS. It combines Genode's microkernel architecture, capability-based security, sandboxed device drivers, and virtual machines in a novel operating system for commodity PC hardware and the PinePhone. _Sculpt is used as day-to-day OS by the Genode developers_.
- iamnothere 1y agoYes, I recommend putting Sculpt on USB and trying it on a few years old x86 machine (one with decent Linux support). It’s a vision into a completely different computing paradigm, as distinct as Plan 9 or Qubes. If you are interested in OSdev you will be shocked.
- justinclift 1y agoThere are Youtube video's of it for a few years now, so you can watch it's progress over time. Or to see something recent, there's a developer talk about it (~2 weeks ago) that's pretty informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=N624i4X1UDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=N624i4X1UDw
- chelmuth 1y agoA list of Genode videos can be found at https://genode.discourse.group/t/collection-of-genode-video-urls/144?u=chelmuth https://genode.discourse.group/t/collection-of-genode-video-...
- nfeske 1y agoGenode developer here. Surprised seeing the project at HN, I'm very happy about the interest. My colleagues and me are indeed using the system on a daily basis. Personally, I'm running it on an Intel-based Gen12 Framework laptop and on an i.MX8-based MNT-Reform laptop. Earlier this year, I recorded a casual walk-through of the Genode-based Sculpt OS. https://genodians.org/nfeske/2025-01-30-sculpt-os-walkthrough https://genodians.org/nfeske/2025-01-30-sculpt-os-walkthroug...
- awkwardpotato 1y agoDo you have any articles about setting it up/running it on your Framework? Sounds really neat
- iamnothere 1y agoThis isn’t specific to Framework but should be similar on more or less all supported devices: https://genodians.org/nfeske/2025-01-30-sculpt-os-walkthrough https://genodians.org/nfeske/2025-01-30-sculpt-os-walkthroug... The Sculpt OS articles on genode.org also provide a thorough overview: https://genode.org/documentation/articles/index https://genode.org/documentation/articles/index
- unquietwiki 1y agoHey there. Came across this a while ago, but glad to see it alive & kicking. Two questions... 1. Is there going to be a disk image/installer for 25.08, or is that supposed to be self-compiled? 2. Does the OS download missing components on its own or something? The 25.04 image on the website is only 30+ MB. Thanks!
- iamnothere 1y agoThe core OS (including GUI) is surprisingly small. It will download software like the browser when you first enable it.
- ConanRus 1y ago[dead]
- blauditore 1y agoHas "genode" any meaning in English, or is it just an artistic blend of "generic" and "node" or similar? I'm asking because my brain read "Genocide OS" at the first pass, which seems a bit unfortunate.
- iamnothere 1y agoPlease don’t make insubstantial comments about project names. There is a plague of this kind of comment here.
- dvh 1y agoWell op has 3x more karma then you which means he's 3x more likely to understand the hn vibe then you. Secondly, the famous joke says that there are 2 hard problems in computer science - cache invalidation and naming things, so names of the computer projects are legitimate topic.
- iamnothere 1y agoI rarely comment hence the low karma, which isn’t a reliable indicator anyway (plus this is not Reddit). And besides, this is my fourth or fifth account. Naming comments are too frequently used to derail conversations here, particularly threads on FOSS projects. These threads never lead to a productive conversation and I fail to see any purpose other than trolling or “joking around” (if you can even call it that).
- hundchenkatze 1y agoThen just downvote/flag and move on. Commenting just to complain furthers the derailment, here were are 4 layers in... imo there's nothing wrong with discussing project names.
- iamnothere 1y agoFrankly I’d be happy to see a formal rule against it, or at least a community norm, but only frequent complaint is likely to drive things in that direction. I see these comments almost daily, it’s a true plague. And never once have I seen it lead to an actual real-world change. Name-related comments most often serve as a sort of drive-by “dunking” for indirectly hating on projects. Do we really need a hundredth person commenting on a thread about Mastodon that there is also a band with the same name? What does that add to the conversation? I recognize that I’m tilting at windmills, but someone has to speak up about it.
- gunalx 1y agoIt is soo cool. Had the opportunity to see a demo at last year fossdem, and it blew me away with the level of configurability and seemingly compatibility.
- pkphilip 1y agoVery interesting OS but it is a bit difficult to get my mind around this one as it is so different from any other OS out there. Is there a default option within Sculpt where you can easily get access to a desktop with a app launch option, editors, a browser etc without having to click through a lot of very obscure menus to add components one at a time?
- iamnothere 1y agoI believe this can be done (clumsily) by setting up presets for different groups of apps, one preset per use case: https://genode.org/documentation/articles/sculpt-25-04#Custom_presets https://genode.org/documentation/articles/sculpt-25-04#Custo... Not ideal, but the Sculpt “desktop” is still immature. Genode is primarily a framework for building secure OSes, with Sculpt being a kind of demonstration piece to help devs understand how it works. It’s only recently that the project has had the resources to expand and grow Sculpt usability. I’m hoping they continue this work, as Sculpt has a lot of potential to be a usable and secure desktop OS. The backend is mostly ready, but it lacks UX investment.
- nfeske 1y agoSculpt OS features a couple of presets, which are examples of several components wired-up for you. For a quick test, enable the "Use" button in the RAM-fs component (so everything will be deployed into RAM) and find the default presets in the "System" menu at the upper left screen corner. The "Window manager" preset gives you a suitable starting point for a desktop scenario. Or the "Falkon web browser" preset gives you a disposable web browser. Upon selecting a preset, all the needed components will be downloaded and deployed automatically. Even though the presets are a convenient starting point, to actually make use of the system, I'm afraid there is no way around studying the documentation: https://genode.org/documentation/articles/sculpt-25-04 https://genode.org/documentation/articles/sculpt-25-04
- initramfs 1y agodoes it work on 4MB RAM with a GUI?
- nfeske 1y agoNo. The 4 MiB mentioned on the website refer to a rudimentary artificial scenario without driver components.
- olivia-banks 1y agoI remember seeing this a while ago when I was on an OS kick, I thought it died!
- fgbarben 1y agoIs there a preferred CI pipeline for Genode?
- justinclift 1y agoOh, that's an interesting idea that could unlock a bunch of potential use cases. If it's fairly easy to get working as part of a CI pipeline, that would let people and projects automate building their software for it. That'd be super useful for enabling adoption. :)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- joshu 1y agogetting a machine running to try out sculpt/genome has been in my todo list forever.
- metalforever 1y agoHi Sculpt team, I have been watching this project for a long time. I have tried the OS on my MNT Reform. I had some confusions about how to navigate and set specific options . I was thinking a similar interface to a traditional desktop could be helpful in wrapping my head around the features . However, I did not want to impose on your vision if the Sculpt team felt strongly about their current interface. What are your thoughts ?
- dpc_01234 1y agoHuh. This project is still going strong. I remember playing with it ... 15 years ago, when (IIRC) for some time it was supporting microkernel I was part of the team developing (Codezero). The Base Platform https://genode.org/documentation/platforms/index https://genode.org/documentation/platforms/index mentions mostly microkernels even older than Genode. I wonder how does the microkernel landspace looking now? Is it just done or do people still release interesting new projects nowadays? Do real deployments of Genode use typically Linux due to HW support anyway? How is RISV support anyway? Makes me wonder if something like Nix and Genode could be combined for some interesting properties. Reproducible, flexibly nested OSes, etc.
- iamnothere 1y agoAs an observer and occasional Genode user, not a Genode developer, the non-Linux option with the highest development focus is the NOVA microkernel (default for Sculpt OS), with seL4 also receiving a lot of attention. Genode on Linux is most often used for development. I am not clear on the tradeoffs between different kernels but you may ask in the forums if interested. I suspect that the (formally verified) seL4 fully works, but at a performance cost.
- checking23 1y agoDid work with it a bit. But It does not make practical sense. It might arouse some interest in hobbiests and hardcore geeks, but for real value stuff, no space. Trying to accomplish something with minimal value on top of it was a total nightmare. Only cons, no pros. I checked the codee, you are talented guys, move on, stop wasting time.