A tiny and mighty boot sector OS.
osle-demo.mov
OSle is a real-mode OS that fits in a boot sector.
It's written in x86 assembly and, despite its tiny size (only 510 bytes), it packs essential features like:
- Shell: Run commands and builtins.
- File System: Read, write, and find files on the system.
- Process Management: Cooperatively spawn child processes.
- Userland Software: Comes with pre-built software and an SDK to write your own.
Check out the online demo to see it in action!
OSle includes a tiny Software Development Kit (SDK) that includes definitions and a toolchain to create your own OSle programs.
Follow the step-by-step tutorial to write your first program!
To develop OSle and OSle programs you will need the following tools:
Installation instructions
Install dependencies using Homebrew:
brew install nasm
brew install bochsInstall dependencies using your local package manager, e.g., on Debian:
apt install nasm bochsThese recipes will compile OSle and use the SDK to compile and bundle
all the pre-built programs. Using start will also run bochs right away.
# build and run osle on bochs
make start
# or
# build osle
make osle
# use QEMU to run it
qemu-system-i386 -fda osle.img# ensure you have a working OSle image at osle.img
make osle
# compile your source to generate my_file.bin
sdk/build my_file.s
# bundle my_file.bin into the osle.img image
sdk/pack my_file.bin
# run it!
qemu-system-i386 -fda osle.imgWrite the built image to a device using dd:
Warning
The following action can damage your hardware. We take no responsibility for any damage OSle might cause.
# generate an OSle image at osle.img
make osle
# write it on a device
sudo dd if=osle.img of=/dev/YOUR_DEVICE bs=512 count=1Feel free to explore the issues and pull requests to contribute or request features.