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x86 operating system

MikeOS Main MenuMikeOS is an operating system for x86 PCs, written in assembly language. It is a learning tool to show how simple 16-bit, real-mode OSes work, with well-commented code and extensive documentation. Features:

The code is completely open source (under a BSD-like license), and is written by Mike Saunders and other developers.



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News



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Downloads

The link below contains the source code (see the source and programs directories), along with disk images for floppies/USB keys and CD-Rs in the disk_images folder.

You can write the images to a floppy disk, USB key or CD-R and boot your PC from them to test -- or use a PC emulator such as QEMU, VirtualBox or VMware. See the User Handbook below for a guide. System requirements: minimum 386 PC with a keyboard and 1MB of RAM.

Here are some contributed add-on programs:

And projects that use (or are for) MikeOS:



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Images

Click on the thumbnails below to see full-size versions.

MikeOS main menu    MikeOS hangman    MikeOS command line   

MikeOS text editor MikeOS file manager    Cosmic Flight   


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Handbooks

These four Handbooks provide the complete documentation for MikeOS:

Note that the Handbooks are also included with MikeOS, in the doc directory. If you're new to the world of OS development, see our guide: write a simple assembly language operating system from scratch (Serbo-Croat translation).



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Discussion

To discuss MikeOS and similar 16-bit real mode operating systems, join us on Google Groups.



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Credits

Project admin

Development

Website, docs and artwork

Some website artwork from the Tango icon set.



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Links

Projects based on or inspired by MikeOS:

Resources: