Operating Systems

SvarDOS is an open-source project that is meant to integrate the best out of the currently available DOS tools, drivers and games. DOS development has been abandoned by commercial players a long time ago, mostly during early nineties. Nowadays it survives solely through the efforts of hobbyists and retro-enthusiasts, but this is a highly sparse and unorganized ecosystem. SvarDOS aims to collect available DOS software and make it easy to find and install applications using a network-enabled package manager (like apt-get, but for DOS and able to run on a 8086 PC).

Despite continuous rumors to the contrary, Oracle is still actively developing Solaris, and it’s been more active than ever lately. Yesterday, the company pushed out another release for customers with the proper support contracts: Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU90. Aside from the various package updates to bring them up to speed with the latest releases, this new Solaris version also comes with a slew of improvements for ZFS.

Apologies if self-promo is not allowed.

This is a project I've been hacking on-and-off on for some years. The main point of intrigue is that the kernel doesn't use traditional message passing for inter-process communication (IPC), instead allowing threads to be moved between processes. Compared to a typical synchronous message passing implementation, thread migration can be more parallel (several threads can enter the same process at the same time versus messages having to wait in a mailbox to be read) while being roughly as performant single-thread. I've benchmarked my kernel on real RISC-V hardware to roughly be on par with seL4. Thread migration could potentially also be significantly sped up with hardware: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3064176.3064197

Personally, I also find that thread migration has some soft benefits, like easy userspace scheduling, being easy to implement and arguably allowing better resource distribution, that are more difficult to demonstrate but are probably worth bringing up. The major downside is that some of the flexibility of message passing is lost, message passing between networked computers is straightforward and asynchronous messages can allow the sender thread to do other things while it waits, which both require extra effort with thread migration (but are at least doable).

The idea itself is not exactly new, the first implementation of thread migration I could find is from 1994, in an experimental PA-RISC port of the Mach kernel, where the migrating thread model was retrofitted to a remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism that was previously built on message passing: https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenix-winter-1994-technical-conference/evolving-mach-30-migrating-thread-model

According to the article, thread migration made the RPC mechanism ~5x faster while requiring only about half the source lines of code. Unfortunately, the port never really went anywhere and Mach as a whole kind of disappeared. A form of it still lives on in GNU Hurd, but only the message passing parts.

Beyond that, I could really only find one other semi-active project using migrating threads, the COMPOSITE project: https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~gparmer/publications/ospert10.pdf COMPOSITE was designed for thread migration, but targets a more niche use-case of predictable systems, which it argues thread migration is better suited for than message passing. Some design decisions place limitations on how the kernel can be used, for example each process is required to allocate execution stacks for however many threads the process is willing to host at the same time, which is not really an issue if you have full control over the system but can cause slowdowns and extra resource usage if you're trying to use it as a general-purpose operating system.

I have a blog post which is something of a technical overview if anyone is curious: https://metanimi.dy.fi/blog/kmi/

The kernel itself is in fairly good shape, but I don't really have a proper userspace for it quite yet, sorry. That's something I'm semi-actively working on.

I downloaded the CommodoreOS3-20250422_0209.iso when it was released. The file is 37 GB. HyperV didn't recognize it as an ISO, and I just didn't put any further work into getting it going. I still have this monster ISO just sitting there, almost a year later.

Did anyone get it installed? They do have video about the initial experience right there on the download page. It sounds pretty unique.

https://www.commodoreos.net/CommodoreOS.aspx

Maybe I'll sneakernet that 40gb file to my server or something.

Haiku published their January 2026 status report to highlight the improvements they made to their open-source OS over the past month. Some of the January highlights for Haiku include:

• Completing the work around new touchpad functionality for Haiku. This work now allows for two-finger scrolling, edge motion, software button areas, and click finger support. Newer Elantech touchpads are now supported too.

• The Realtek rtl8125 driver has been synced with upstream OpenBSD for improving support for some newer networking hardware.

• Haiku has implemented more functionality mandated by the POSIX 2024 specification.

• Fixing some missing locking in the file panel constructor to fix broken open/save panel appearances throughout various apps.

• A disk image menu is finally added to DriveSetup so that disk images can be worked from that GUI without resorting to the command line.

• IPv6 support for telnet as well netstat.

The first release candidate of the big NetBSD 11.0 release is now available for testing.

NetBSD 11.0 is headlined by better RISC-V support and improved Linux binary emulation. There are also various new drivers for hardware sensors and fan controls, PVH boot support is now supported on x86 non-Xen platforms like QEMU and Firecracker, and a wealth of package updates. There is GCC 12.5, GDB 15.1, OpenSSH 10.0, and many other upgrades.

Presented today at FOSDEM in Brussels was the state of gaming on FreeBSD by Thibault Payet. Besides various open-source games able to be compiled natively for FreeBSD, this BSD can get in on the Steam Play gaming scene thanks to the "linuxulator-steam-utils" project as a set of workarounds for the Steam Linux client on FreeBSD 14 and newer. Linuxulator-steam-utils builds off FreeBSD's Linuxulator support for running Linux binaries to enjoy the likes of Steam and even Steam Play (Proton) Windows games running on this translation layer for Linux and in turn running on FreeBSD.

9front, a fork of Plan 9, blends eccentric design with a quirky community to preserve one of Unix’s strangest legacies.

Xous is a microkernel operating system designed for medium embedded systems with clear separation of processes. Nearly everything is implemented in userspace, where message passing forms the basic communications primitive.

A new BSD on the block is ChaosBSD that intends to serve as a testing distribution for unfinished and broken drivers not suitable for upstreaming to FreeBSD proper.

ChaosBSD is a downstream fork of FreeBSD that is self-described as:

"A Driver Proving Ground  

ChaosBSD is a fork of FreeBSD. It exists because upstream cannot, and should not, accept broken drivers, half-working hardware, vendor trash, or speculative hacks.  

We can."  

ReactOS began 2026 with another "major step" towards Windows NT 6 compatibility with updating its MSVCRT implementation from Wine for the Microsoft C Runtime DLL library. That improved support for a number of Windows applications running on this open-source OS. ReactOS is taking another step-forward now with addressing a very annoying usability issue where up until now you may need to refresh the file manager for seeing folder changes.

The BeOS-inspired Haiku open-source operating system project just published a new status report to detail how they ended out the year.

During the month of December they updated their FreeBSD driver compatibility layer against FreeBSD 15.0 that released at the start of the month. With that the Haiku OS developers then updated all of their Ethernet and WiFi drivers from FreeBSD to align with the FreeBSD 15.0 release.

I would prefer to find an operating system I can support that is developed by people who are generally kind, however I find the behavior of many of the top Linux/*BSD devs to be... abhorrent.

Are there any real alternatives that are led by nicer people?

Invidious: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=r3XLQMsQGGk

YouTube: https://youtu.be/r3XLQMsQGGk

Video description:

Episode 86: You all told us what you hated about Windows 11, and we fully agreed. So in this episode we go through all our grievances with the current state of Windows.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
06:21 - Unnecessary Microsoft accounts
10:39 - Search is broken
15:49 - Splash screens and ads
20:52 - The right click context menu
26:53 - Pre-installed bloatware
33:21 - Windows updates hurting performance
38:41 - Telemetry capture and data mining
42:28 - Copilot AI integration
45:45 - Updates breaking things
48:14 - Inability to dismiss pop-ups and updates
50:25 - Janky monitor issues
58:21 - Removing useful customization options
1:01:06 - Driver updates via Windows Update breaking things
1:05:17 - Microsoft Store
1:09:21 - Is Linux an alternative for gaming PCs?
1:14:36 - Summary of the current state of Windows
1:17:44 - Updates from our boring lives

I came across the post about Milk-V Titan, and there was a comment asking about the lack of the V extension would hinder running Ubuntu 25.10 which was targetting a particular RISC-V configuration, and it made me wonder if there were an opportunity for micro kernels to exploit.

Now, up-front: it's been literally decades since I had an OS design class, and my knowledge of OS design is superficial; and while I've always been interested in RISC architectures, the depth of my knowledge of that also dates back to the 90's. In particular (my knowledge of) RISC-V's extension design approach is really, really shallow. It's all at a lower level than I've concerned myself with for years and years. So I'm hoping for an ELI-16 conversation.

What I was thinking was that a challenge of RISC-V's design is that operating systems can't rely on extensions being available, which (in my mind) means either a lot of really specific kernel builds -- like, potentially an exponential number -- or a similar number of code paths in the kernel code, making for more complicated and consequently more buggy kernels (per the McConnell rule). It made me wonder if this is not, then, an opportunity for micro kernels to shine, by exploiting an ability to load extension-specific modules based on a given CPU capability set.

As I see it, the practicality of this depends on whether the extensions would be isolatable to kernel modules, or whether (like the FP extension) it'd just be so intrinsic that even the core kernel would need to vary. Even so, wouldn't having a permutation of core kernel builds be smaller, more manageable, and less bug-prone than permutations of monolithic kernels?

Given the number of different possible RISC-V combinations, would a micro kernel design not have an intrinsic advantage over monolithic kernels, and be able to exploit the more modular nature of their design?

edit clarification

Personally I use Bazzite and I think it is great.

I operate four PCs in my day-to-day, which may seem excessive, but I choose to solve most computing problems with PCs (no smart TV). My HTPC, which I drive with Bazzite, primarily serves as a fireplace/ light media/ light gaming setup. Bazzite is uniquely well configured for this purpose. It brings the stability of a Fedora-based, Atomic OS, but leaves behind the codec and media issues Fedora can introduce. The tinkering one would generally need to do with Steam comes pre-configured, like you may be used to with SteamOS on Steam Deck. ExpressVPN works, but requires terminal in my configuration (I believe I could operate it through a GUI if I were so inclined). Bazzite does a great job of being configurable to serve TVs that need scaling and safe zones.

Fireplace PC Specs for the Nebby:

Ryzen 5700g

beQuiet! cooler

A320MH motherboard (bios flashed for Cezanne compat)

16 GB DDR4 3200

2 TB SSD

1 TB HDD

beQuiet! 500W PSU

Today I needed to add outlook to the auto start programs on a corporate computer, so I searched how to do it and found an official step by step manual (see link) that read more like a linux help document.

In comparison to my linux mint, it appears more difficult to add a software to autostart on windows.

I recently decided to reinstall linux mint 21.3 Cinnamon to clean any extra packages I installed over time so I didnt have to manually look for and uninstall packages that I no longer use. Though when I tried to run lutris it would no longer run so instead of trying to get it to work I thought I would try pop os. First thing I noticed when installing Pop OS was the different layout. I was use to the linux mint layout since I went from windows to Mint. I never used Mac so this layout might seem normal for mac users. So far I have reinstalled Lutris and got lord of the rings the battle for middle earth 2 to run. This is part2 of my first post from a few months ago. 1 month of Linux Mint and some thoughts.

Like the title says i need an os for a x86 tablet.

I already tested various different linux distros, (mint, ubuntu, debian etc.) with various de's (gnome, xfce, plasma, plasma mobile) but nothing really suits a tablet. I tried android x86 but that wouldn't install.

Basically my problem is that apps etc. Are made with mouse and keyboard in mind making me unable to for example easily scroll as i have to drag the scroll bar manually.

Anyone got ANY recommendation? The default os was mint btw.

I didn't realize this community existed and posted my other thread about linux distros in another community, so I'll try rectifying that here.

I'm trying to learn as much about linux as a desktop system as I can before I dive in to installing a distro on my computer. I do have a tiny bit of familiarity with the terminal from having servers running Debian, but those I get a lot of help with. the distro I've chosen is Bazzite, which is based(?) on Fedora if I recall right. I liked the stuff it comes with (I love video games) built in and I like the idea of the atomic desktop setup.

so, what are your tips and tricks for a new linux user? what about outside resources? I've been doing as much digging for articles and videos as I can, but I thought asking the community might be a good idea too. I'm trying to compile these resources for myself and my partner, so that we have stuff to learn from and reference.

as a final question, what got you into using linux over windows or mac?

thanks in advance!

New EasyOS 6

@operating_systems@beehaw.org

Trying the new #Easyos on a 13 year old Lenovo laptop and so far everything's going smooth. It's a wonder to see it coming back to life.

Release Note

@privacyfoss@venera.social

@operating_systems@beehaw.org
@distrohopping@lemmy.world