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Operating Systems

Table of Contents

  1. Operating System Interface Standardization
  2. GNU / Linux based Operating Systems
  3. Other Operating Systems - GNU GPL Licensed
  4. Other Operating Systems - BSD-style Licensed
  5. Other Operating Systems - Other Licenses
  6. Hardware / OS Emulation

Operating System Interface Standardization

  • PASC ("Portable Application
    Standards Committee". Official IEEE development group for the POSIX
    standards.)
    (ml)
  • Open POSIX Test Suite

    (Free test suite for the POSIX 2001 API's)
    (cvs)
    (ml)

  • OpenGroup CSRG
    ("Common Standards Revision Group". Working group established to
    consider the common revision of:
    ISO/IEC 9945-1, ISO/IEC 9945-2, IEEE Std 1003.1, IEEE Std 1003.2
    and the appropriate parts of the Single Un*x Specification.)
    (ml)
  • Single UN*X Specification (A
    specification part in the OS specification puzzle. Free registration is required.)
  • OpenIPMI
    (Initiative to develop and promote free software implementing
    the IPMI
    interface standard, to remotely control and monitor servers)
    See also:
    Out-of-band System Management Projects
    (from the System Management section)
  • FHS ("Filesystem Hierarchy
    Standard". Reference guide on how to setup and manage a Un*x file/directory
    layout)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • ELF
    ("Executable and Linking Format". File format specification for
    dynamic linking and loading of programs and libraries.)
  • OpenI18N.org
    (Initiative to develop and promote free standards for
    software internationalization)
  • FreeDesktop.org
    (Community support site for developing and improving
    interoperability for free desktop environments)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (blog)
  • Free Standards Accessibility Workgroup
    (Initiative to develop and promote free and open accessibility standards)
  • LSB
    ("Linux Standard Base". GNU/Linux specific OS interface
    specification for installing and running binary-only applications
    and a minimal environment for the support of installation scripts
    for these applications.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • OpenPrinting.org

    (Working group for developing and promoting standards for desktop printing systems)
    (ml)

  • CGL
    ("Carrier Grade Linux". Requirements specification for GNU/Linux distros
    used in in telecommunication systems.)
    (ml)
    (cglinux CGL test suite)
    (cvs)

GNU / Linux based Operating Systems

Other Operating Systems - GNU GPL Licensed

  • FreeDOS (Complete M$-DOS compatible OS)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (TextOS

    FreeDOS based textual application framework)

  • Debian GnuMach/GNU Hurd (OS with an
    experimental/innovative kernel and system-level services architecture)
    (ml)
    (Hurd project)
    (Hurd ml)
    (Hurd cvs)
  • Debian L4/GNU Hurd (OS with an
    experimental/innovative kernel and system-level services architecture)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • Syllable
    (Desktop OS based on an advanced C kernel and a C++ GUI framework.
    Syllable is mostly POSIX compliant.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (wp)
    (AtheOS inactive OS project from
    which Syllable was forked)
  • Menuet

    (Desktop OS written in 32-bit x86 ISA assembler, which fits on a
    single floppy)
    (forums)
    (wp)

  • L4 µ-Kernel
    (Micro kernel interface description and a family of implementations of this
    interface written in assembly, C and C++.)
  • FreeVMS
    (Free "Virtual Memory System OS" implementation)
    (ml)
  • AdaOS (OS written in the Ada language)
  • ReactOS (OS compatible with Windows NT
    applications and drivers)
    (ml)
  • MIR-OS
    (32-bit, multi-tasking, OS for x86 compatible computers.)
    (cvs)
  • Visopsys

    ("Visual Operating System". 32-bit OS for x86 compatible computers.)

  • Erika (Kernel and tools for developing
    realtime automotive programs)
  • Allos (Alliance OS. Corba based communication)
  • Gem (One of the first GUI OS's for the PC)
  • Chaos (Desktop OS. License: GPL and LGPL)
  • PedroM

    (OS for Ti-68k calculators)

Other Operating Systems - BSD-style Licensed

  • FreeBSD (Network services
    and source focussed OS)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (TrustedBSD Set of "Common Criteria"
    security extensions to FreeBSD)
    (PicoBSD single floppy FreeBSD version)
    (ClosedBSD FreeBSD based single floppy firewall OS
    with a ncurses based administration interface)
  • OpenBSD
    (Security and source focussed OS)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (EmBSD Stripped down version of OpenBSD
    aimed at usage with compact flash cards)
  • NetBSD (Portability and source focussed OS)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • DragonFly BSD
    (Experimentation and re-design focussed OS. DragonFly is a code-fork of FreeBSD.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • Xmach
    (BSD based OS based on the Mach microkernel)
    (cvs)
  • TinyOS
    (Small operating system for wireless data-gathering computers)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • Unununium (Experimental
    realtime OS in which any component can be reloaded or replaced
    at any time)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • NewOS (Experimental OS,
    with an emphasis on design flexibility and portability)
    (ml)
  • Minix
    (Educational, un*x inspired, micro kernel project)
  • RadiOS
    (Micro kernel based OS written entirely in x86 NASM assembly language)
    (ml)

Other Operating Systems - Other Licenses

  • eCos ("embedded Configurable
    operating system". Flexible, real-time OS, which uses much less memory than an
    embedded Linux kernel based OS. License:
    modified GNU GPL)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (eCosCentric eCos support company)
  • Aros (Amiga Research OS. Portable and AmigaOS
    compatible OS. License: Aros Public License)
  • BrickOS
    (Software environment for the LEGO Mindstorms Robotic Invention System
    License: MPL)
    (cvs)
    (ml)

Hardware / OS Emulation

  • Xen
    (Portable, high-performance, x86 hardware emulator)
    (ml)
  • Bochs (Portable x86 hardware
    emulator written in C++. Bochs includes emulation of various x86 ISA CPU's,
    common I/O devices, memory, and a VGA BIOS.
    Bochs can be compiled to emulate a 386, 486, Penti*m, Penti*m Pro or AMD64 CPU.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • Plex86 (Similar to
    Bochs, but only
    runs on Int*l x86 or compatible architectures)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • Savannah Plex86
    (Similar to Bochs, but only runs on Int*l x86 or compatible architectures.
    Code-fork of the Plex86 project.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • VGABIOS (Video BIOS
    used by the Bochs and Plex86 project)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • QEMU
    (Portable processor emulation framework, currently supporting
    x86, PowerPC, ARM and Sparc processors)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • i386 Abstraction Library
  • UML
    ("User Mode Linux".
    UML lets you run GNU/Linux operating systems in user-space.
    UML uses a modified Linux kernel with its own scheduler and VM system.
    The UML host Linux kernel is used only for the equivalent of hardware
    support.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (UMLd daemon to control
    and manage UML instances)
    (usermodelinux.org UML news site)
  • FAUmachine
    (Portable x86 hardware emulator based on the
    UML project)
  • Wine
    (Free re-implementation of the API's of the various
    M$ Windows OS variants for Un*x systems running X)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
    (WineTools

    menu-driven installer tool)

  • coLinux
    ("Cooperative Linux". Port of the Linux kernel
    to the M$ OS family, running as a native w32 process.)
    (ml)
  • Topologilinux
    (Slackware based GNU/Linux
    distribution for the M$ OS family, running as a native w32 process.)
    (ml)
  • MacOnLinux
    (MOL lets you run the MacOS as a GNU/Linux process at near native speeds)
  • Basilisk II
    (Motorola 68000 Macintosh emulator)
    (cvs)
  • DosEmu
    (Framework for letting the GNU/Linux OS run M$ DOS applications)
    (cvs)
  • DOSBox (Simple PC emulator
    with a builtin M$-DOS compatible OS. DOSBox primary function is to run
    graphical M$-DOS games.)
    (cvs)
    (forum)
  • mips64emul
    (MIPS machine emulation system. License: BSD-style)
  • VMIPS
    ("Virtual MIPS". MIPS R3000 processor emulation system.)
    (cvs)
    (ml)
  • Console Emulators
    (from the Games section)