MikeOS

MikeOS is an open source, freely distributed and independent computer operating system for x86 (16-bit) personal computers, written entirely in the assembly language, intended to be used as a learning tool for those who want to learn how real-mode operating systems work.

Runs in 16-bit mode

The OS runs in 16-bit mode (for BIOS access) and doesn't require high-end hardware components. Current features include a command-line interface, menu-based program selector, numerous system calls, and rudimentary DOS compatibility.

Includes a BASIC interpreter with 46 instructions

It also includes an API for developers, a BASIC interpreter with 46 instructions, as well as example programs. To run MikeOS, just download the compressed archive from our downloads section above, extract it and write it to a floppy, CD or USB media.

Distributed as a source package

The MikeOS operating system is distributed only as a source package, which means that you will have to compile the source code in order to build executables for a specific platform. It can be build for GNU/Linux, OpenBSD, Microsoft Windows, or Mac OS X.

Getting started with MikeOS

To build MikeOS using the source package, begin by downloading the latest release from Softoware or the project’s website, save the ZIP archive on a location of your choice, preferably your Home directory, and use an archive manager utility to extract its contents.

After extracting the contents of the archive, open a terminal emulator program, use the ‘cd’ command to navigate to the location where you’ve extracted that archive file (e.g. cd /home/softoware/mikeos-4.5) and run the ‘sh build-linux.sh’ command as root (system administrator).

The ISO image of MikeOS will be generated in the “disk_images” folder and can be written to a CD or USB media using either a CD/DVD burning software or a tool for writing ISO images to USB disks.

What is new in this release:

• New program: Forth interpreter (FORTH.BIN) from Walt Nagel; source code is programs/forth.asm
• New program: Mega Archiver (ARCHIVE.BAS) from Joshua Beck
• New game: FISHER.BIN from Jasper Ziller
• Updated MikeBASIC Plus Plus (MBPP.BAS) to version 3.2.3
• Updated Memory Manipulator (MEMEDIT.BAS) to 3.1.1
• Updated Calculator (CALC.BAS) to version 2.0.1
• Updated Cosmic Flight (CF.BAS) to 2.0.2
• Updated ASCII Artist (DRAW.BAS) to 3.0.1
• Updated KEYBOARD.BIN with accidentals (from Robert Looney)
• Updated build-openbsd.sh (from Takayoshi Sasano)
• Updated build-osx.sh (from Caleb Xu)
• Fix: always show cursor when returning from BASIC in EDIT.BIN
• source/features/basic.asm: do_cls: change "int 10" to "int 10h"
• Changed "kigalo" to "kigali" in HANGMAN.BAS
• Changed "bueno saires" to "buenos aires" in HANGMAN.BAS
• Changed "qemu" to "qemu-system-i386" in test-linux.sh
• Updated URL for Windows QEMU in doc/handbook-sysdev.html
• Handbook fixes

What is new in version 4.4:

• Two new games, Sudoku and Cosmic Flight, have been added.
• Many improvements have been made to the BASIC interpreter, which now also shows line numbers in error messages.
• The Calculator program and MikeBASIC Plus Plus library have been updated to the latest versions.

What is new in version 4.3.1:

• A number of small bugs were fixed in the BASIC interpreter, MB++ library, and ASCII Artist programs.

What is new in version 4.3:

• Lots of new instructions in the BASIC interpreter, plus new programs and other changes. See the mailing list for all the details.

What is new in version 4.2:

• New BASIC programs including a memory editor, calculator, and ASCII art designer have been included.
• The text editor has been enhanced with new features, while file management commands have been added to the command line interface.
• Programs can also retrieve the command line string, if one was provided.

What is new in version 4.1.2:

• The build scripts now disable auto-optimization in newer versions of NASM, which caused problems.

What is new in version 4.1.1:

• The list dialog is now scrollable, while the pause system call has been rewritten to be compatible with more BIOSes.
• There have also been several small bugfixes and documentation updates.

What is new in version 4.1:

• New port routines, new commands in BASIC, better random number generation, and more.

What is new in version 3.3:

• A new full-screen text editor was added, while the command line interface can output text files using 'cat'.
• The music keyboard interface was updated, and small updates were made to the disk driver API.

What is new in version 3.2:

• New system calls were added to convert signed integers to strings and reverse strings.
• The disk driver calls no longer need FAT12-style filenames, as they do the conversion internally.
• The OpenBSD build script was updated.

What is new in version 3.1:

• A hangman game and text file viewer were added, and the file manager can now display file sizes.
• Two new system calls were also included, and a few small bugs have been fixed.

What is new in version 3.0:

• Major code cleanup; DOS and mouse support removed (to be continued in TomOS); better documentation and comments; new system calls.

What is new in version 2.0.0:

• This release includes FAT12 file writing support, a new mouse driver, a C library, and new system calls.
• Additionally, many bugfixes and documentation updates were made.