MenuetOS

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Fairly Recent 64-bit MenuetOS

MenuetOS (also known as MeOS) is an operating system with a monolithic preemptive, real-time kernel, including video drivers, all written in FASM assembly language, for 64-bit and 32-bit x86 architecture computers, by Ville Mikael Turjanmaa.

MenuetOS development has focused on fast, simple, efficient implementation. It has a graphical desktop, games, and networking abilities (TCP/IP stack), yet still fits on one 1.44MB floppy disk. It also facilitates easy, full-featured assembly language programming. This stands in marked contrast to the (as of 2007) widespread view that assembly languages are useful mainly for old and embedded systems.

MenuetOS was originally written for 32-bit x86 architectures and released under the GPL, thus many of its applications are distributed under the GPL. The 64-bit MenuetOS, often referred to as Menuet 64, remains a platform for learning 64-bit assembly language programming. 64-bit Menuet is distributed as freeware without the source code for core components. Menuet 64 works smoothly in QEMU which can emulate 64-bit machine atop a 32-bit machine.

1 Networking
2 High-level language support
3 Distributions
4 External links
- 4.1 Menuet32 distros

[edit] Networking

MenuetOS has networking abilities, and a working TCP/IP stack. Most of the networking code is written by Mike Hibbett. Currently there are few drivers available and most hardware does not work well with the networking features in MenuetOS.

[edit] High-level language support

The main focus of Menuet has been on making an environment for easy assembly programming, but it is still possible to run software written in high-level languages on the assembler core. The biggest single effort towards high-level language support is Jarek Pelczars work in porting C libraries to Menuet.

[edit] Distributions

The 64-bit main distribution is now proprietary. Several distributions of the 32-bit GPL MenuetOS still exist, including translations in Russian, Chinese, Czech, and Serbian.

The Kolibri distribution is probably the 32-bit distro with most active developer community. Most Kolibri developers are Russian. The most visible change in Kolibri is a file browser; called X-Tree. Some of the programs in Kolibri (X-Tree among them) are also available in English version of Kolibri, while some are available only in the Russian version of the distro.