While most operating systems are written in C and C++, KolibriOS is written in pure x86 assembly and as a result small and lightweight enough to run off a standard 1.44 MB floppy disk, as demonstrated in a recent video by [Michael].
As a fork of 32-bit MenuetOS back in 2004, KolibriOS has since followed its own course, sticking to the x86 codebase and requiring only a modest system with an i586-compatible CPU, 8 MB of RAM and VESA-compatible videocard. Unlike MenuetOS’ proprietary x86_64 version, there’s no 64-bit in KolibriOS, but at this level you probably won’t miss it.
In the video by [Michael], the OS boots incredibly fast off both a 3.5″ floppy and a CD-ROM, with the CD-ROM version having the advantage of more software being provided with it, including shareware versions of DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D.
Although web browsers (e.g. Netsurf) are also provided, [Michael] did not get Ethernet working, though he doesn’t say whether he checked the hardware compatibility list. Quite a few common 3Com, Intel and Realtek NICs are supported out of the box.
For audio it was a similar story, with the hardware compatibility left unverified after audio was found to be not working. Despite this, the OS was fast, stable, runs DOOM smoothly and overall seems to be a great small OS for x86 platforms that could give an old system a new lease on life.
I was just thinking about menuet today after I took the new BeOS for a test spin.
AROS is also worth a try, I would say.
It’s a modern implementation of AmigaOS, which can run 68k applications, even.
Here’s a video review (not by me): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtDiXhjSIfs
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/kolibrios.html
Impressive! I’m always in favor of greater efficiency, and against bloatware.
Win95 could run without problem on a 386SX+DX with just 6MB RAM….
Any one remember QNX on a disk?
Sure. https://winworldpc.com/product/qnx/144mb-demo
Yes, I used QNX to record large datasets doing my masters research in early 90th
Yes!
I remember when Ms windows 1.0 ran from a floppy. I used it with drawing app to knock up cable layouts for networks.
I used to run QNX as a desktop OS at home, and carried the 1.44 demo on a floppy to testboot dumpster finds with.
In fact my kids used the QNX computer as their first computer, and they made friends with the staff and users on the QNX irc channel, all suprised that some kid in Sweden was using QNX to do their homework…
Ah, but will it run, oh, wait, yes it will.
Hi, also notable are ports of OpenGL Gears (Tiny GL Gears), CHIP-8, DOSBox, FAR Manager (Norton Commander replica), ScummVM, FCE (NES/Famicom emu), gngb (GB emu), 8086 Tiny, psx4all, DGEN (Sega Genesis emu), ZSNES..
In short, KolibriOS has many ports or implementations of things that people remember from 16-Bit and 32-Bit era.
Not bad for such a small system, really.
Especially SDL based projects can be ported over, I think.
DOSBox (20y old port): https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=9510
FCE Ultra screenshot: https://tinyurl.com/2aae6ech
KolibriOS stored on DNA: https://www.osnews.com/story/29697/kolibrios-stored-on-dna/
Are they all rewritten to assembler too? if not, does it prove how pointless is writing whole OS in it too?
1)
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20090831#feature
(note that this review was written in 2009)
2)
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kolibri
(2024 update; ≈120 hits/day on Distrowatch)
(“KolibriOS is a tiny open-source operating system with a monolithic preemptive kernel and video drivers for 32-bit x86 architecture computers. KolibriOS is a fork of MenuetOS, written entirely in FASM (assembly language). However, C, C++, Free Pascal, Forth, among other high-level languages and compilers, can also be used in application development. KolibriOS features a rich set of applications that include a word processor, image viewer, graphical editor, web browser, and over 30 games.“)
The mention of Geoworks took me back. Phenomenal set of applications in only 10 mb.
I’ve tried this on modern(ISH) hardware.
On a thin client booting from USB Flash this boots in 3 seconds it’s BLAZING fast, unfortunately it’s not quite up to many websites I’m guessing it will be able eventually? Installing DOOM wasn’t easy and I didn’t actually get it to run after several attempts,
I’ll be watching this as it matures
thank god for usb sticks
And Goteks with Flash Floppy firmware! :D
Is there IPFS on KolibriOS? Or a wiki-reader?
I went with MenuetOS, because it seems that KolibriOS was more stolen than forked. People took 32-bit MenuetOS and slapped licenses on certain modules and then the MenuetOS creator created an x64 version of MenuetOS, and it is closed source because of this. Or that is what I gathered from forum involving both sides.