
MenuetOS: Written in Assembly, fits on a floppy, has GUI - rw
http://www.menuetos.net/
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rw
An interview with two of the developers:

[http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/315421/we_talk_devel...](http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/315421/we_talk_developers_behind_menuetos_an_operating_system_written_entirely_assembly_language?pp=1)

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zokier
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KolibriOS> deserves a mention too, GPL fork of
MenuetOS.

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apotheon
That's not just a GUI -- it looks like it supports alpha transparency. That's
certainly more than I expected out of a floppy disk.

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vidarh
Adding alpha transparency for a framebuffer based GUI need not take more than
a few hundred bytes.

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apotheon
A few hundred bytes is precious space on a floppy.

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yangyang
Interesting and impressive.

The 64 bit floppy image runs fine under VirtualBox if you select a 64 bit OS.

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stinkytaco
Virtual Box? It's great that people can try it out and see what it's capable
of, but doesn't that sort of defeat the point? I mean, if its real claim to
fame is that it's written in assembler than it seems that running it inside a
C (is VB C?) application on top of a C operating system would seem to miss its
best qualities.

Now if I could only find a floppy around here...

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yangyang
Well if you want to try it out for a few minutes, as I guess most people on
here will, it beats rebooting your PC (or figuring out how to even make it
boot on a MacBook). It's not like it's full featured enough for daily use
anyway.

I can't really see your point to be honest.

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hyperbovine
What's a floppy?

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profquail
Something that's not to be copied, IIRC.

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gcopenhaver
D-D-Do-Do-Don't...Don't copy.. Don't copy that floppy!

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profquail
Linkage: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWf_jbrpn4o>

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Pistos2
I have to admit, that's some of the friendliest looking assembly source code
I've seen. <http://www.menuetos.net/e64.asm> Granted, I haven't looked at
assembly in over 15 years...

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Locke1689
Decent -- nothing special (if you consider decent as being good code written
by smart people). FASM was an interesting choice and I'd like to see their
justification for that.

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zokier
I think this kind of projects are good reminders that modern computers have
incredible amounts of processing power and storage capacity. If only all that
power could be harnessed efficiently....

I also think that legacy cruft is hindering development in computers. One
reason why (GNU/)Linux was able to advance so quickly was that it had much
less legacy than other systems, allowing more freedom for developers to do
stuff better way.

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Sapient
Reading the changelog belies the complexity of that project... I would dearly
love to have the time to take a look at the code for it.

Well done!

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kragen
Is this _belie_ definition 2, "To tell lies about, esp. to calumniate by false
statements", definition 4, "To give a false representation or account of, to
misrepresent; to present in a false character", definition 6, "To call (a
thing) false practically, to treat it as false by speaking or acting at
variance with it; to be false or faithless to", or definition 7, "To show to
be false, prove false or mistaken; to falsify (expectations, etc.)"? I don't
see how any of those makes sense, given that it's an _action_ by some _person_
being said to belie an _attribute_ of something. (Maybe that would make sense
if you were one of the developers and reading the changelog demonstrated that
the project's complexity were somehow "false"?)

(OED 1ed. vol. 1 p.782, 806 of 1270 in the PDF)

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gdp
"belie" can also just mean "to be in contradiction with".

Which I assume was the definition being used. As in, "the simplicity of the
changelog is in contradiction with the actual complexity of the project".

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julsonl
In that case, definition 4 should fit the bill. Reading the changelog gives a
"false representation" on the complexity of the project.

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eleitl
I would rather see a hand-optimized version of L4, packaged with a kernel for
Debian.

Or an OS written in Forth.

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Kw2987
"ForthOS is a complete, standalone operating system for the PC. It includes
command line, compiler, debugger, editor, and filesystem."

<http://www.forthos.org/>

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krying_krab
Implement a Forth on the OS. If the rest of the OS is in ASM anyway, you can
do high-level work in Forth.

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srwh
I remember similar projects many years ago: \- QNX \- SqueakOS \- SqueakNOS

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kragen
Linux, ColorForth, GEM, Kontiki, Oberon, the Macintosh System, Microsoft
Standalone BASIC, Microsoft Windows, etcetcetc.

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Novash
Amazing. The hardest part probably was to find a floppy drive to read / write
the floppy. I don't think I have installed one on my last 2 rigs.

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hexley
So does having all the labels in UPPERCASE save that much space?

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firefoxman1
Wow it's improved since I tried it about a year ago

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krying_krab
Which one is more active, KolibriOS or MenuetOS?

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cubicle67
Cool, but can I run Erlang on it?

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dejan
Seemed like a good idea when they first got it out. It seems now like it was
soo long ago.

Maybe it is interesting for embedded devices, but seems they've lost their
purpose. It was never meant for business, but again, what's the point?

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hvs
You're reading this on a site called "Hacker News" and you have to ask that?
How about: the challenge.

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dejan
There is a difference between a challenge that is of use for this world, and a
challenge just because.

I don't see technological, logical, or knowledge progress in the attempt to
write complete OS in assembly (anymore). I've done it myself, in high school,
just for fun, a 16bit. That is also when MenuetOS came out. Now I spend my
time more wisely. I've actually went on doing things that benefit the society
the technology and the users.

Not that menuetOS is bad, but I suggest they reorient them selves so that
there is that usable part. And I can see space for it, in embedding computing
f.i. Far from having no respect for their work, which I have my hands in from
day one.

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jacquesm
So, essentially your point is that because you have already done something
others should be spending their time more productive ?

To some the challenge really is all there is. I'm _very_ happy to see some
counterculture to the bloatware that is the norm.

This is an amazingly compact and neat hack, it incorporates a very fast and
lightweight GUI that can be used for general purpose computers just as easily
as for embedded systems.

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dejan
Hmm. I don't think I am making my self very clear. I think it is a great
challenge, and I know what it takes to do so.

However, as Novash says - a reason: "that was faster", "couldn't find a good
one in this language", "friendly enough", that seems to be missing. It was
there long time ago when they started (for those of you who remember), but
today everything shifted. I don't go building theories anymore on the
statement that the world is flat?

So stop attacking me because I gave an opposing opinion and suggestion for
improvement. It is great what they do, but I am sure like any other
programmer, they too would like their code and idea used, not forgotten.

This was not about productivity or stupidity of projects, so reread my
comments before you burst. I also do stuff all the time just to see if it can
be done. Don't all of us? But again, "if it can be done" solves a problem.
Redoing _same_ things just because, now that's something worth discussing.

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jacquesm
ok I get it now. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

