MenuetOS

MenuetOS
Company / developer	Ville Mikael Turjanmaa
Programmed in	FASM assembly language
OS family	Real-time operating systems
Working state	Beta
Source model	Open source (32-bit version) /; Freeware (64-bit version)
Latest stable release	0.90I / 2009-03-28; 4 days ago
Available language(s)	English, Russian, Chinese, Czech, Serbian
Available programming languages(s)	assembly language
Supported platforms	64-bit and 32-bit x86 architecture
Kernel type	Monolithic
Default user interface	Graphical user interface
License	Menuet license (proprietary)
Website	www.menuetos.net

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Meos (disambiguation).

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 it 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.^{[citation needed]}

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]

[edit] Networking

MenuetOS has networking abilities, and a working TCP/IP stack. Most of the networking code is written by Mike Hibbett.

[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 programming languages on the assembler core. The biggest single effort towards high-level language support is Jarek Pelczar's 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.