Redox on desktop.

Who Wants A Rusty Old Smartphone?

If we’re talking about oxidized iron… probably nobody. If we’re talking about Rust the programming language, well, that might be a different story. Google agrees, and is working on bringing the language into Android. That’s not enough for [Paul Sanja], who has the first Redox OS smartphone.

It’s alive!

Redox OS is a Unix-like operating system written entirely in Rust, and somehow we haven’t covered it until now. Unlike Asterinas, a project to recreate the Linux kernel in Rust, Redox has few pretensions of being anything but its own thing, and that’s great! On desktop, Redox has a working windowing system and many utilities, including a basic browser in the form of NetSurf.

It’s claims to be source-compatible with Linux and BSD programs, and partially POSIX compliant. A certain someone around here might want to try it as a daily driver. The header image is a desktop screenshot, because there’s more to see there and it fits our aspect ratio.

On smartphones, it… boots. Some smartphones, anyway. It’s actually a big first step. That booting is possible is actually thanks to the great work put in by the Postmarket OS team to get Uboot working on select android devices. That uboot loader doesn’t need to load the Linux-based Postmarket OS. It can be used for anything compatible. Like, say, Redox OS, as [Paul] shows us.

Of course, Redox OS has no drivers for the touchscreen or anything else, so at the moment that rusty smartphone can only boot to a login screen. But thanks to Rust, you can rest assured that login screen hasn’t got any memory leaks! Jokes aside, this is a great start and we’re hoping to see more.

Redox is a promising project on mobile or desktop, and its development seems a much better use of time and effort than fighting over Rust in the Linux kernel.

The rust language logo being branded onto a microcontroller housing

C++ Encounters Of The Rusty Zig Kind

There comes a time in any software developer’s life when they look at their achievements, the lines of code written and the programming languages they have relied on, before wondering whether there may be more out there. A programming language and its associated toolchains begin to feel like familiar, well-used tools after you use them for years, but that is no excuse to remain rusted in place.

While some developers like to zigzag from one language and toolset to another, others are more conservative. My own journey took me from a childhood with QuickBasic and VisualBasic to C++ with a bit of Java, PHP, JavaScript, D and others along the way. Although I have now for years focused on C++, I’m currently getting the hang of Ada in particular, both of which tickle my inner developer in different ways.

Although Java and D never quite reached their lofty promises, there are always new languages to investigate, with both Rust and Zig in particular getting a lot of attention these days. Might they be the salvation that was promised to us C-afflicted developers, and do they make you want to zigzag or ferrously oxidize?

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