# nanochess/bootOS

bootOS is a monolithic operating system in 512 bytes of x86 machine code.

Repository: https://github.com/nanochess/bootOS
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/bootos
Language: Assembly
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-01T04:58:00+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 75/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 95, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2592, "days_push": 32, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2136, forks 117 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:17.581211+00:00)

## What it is
bootOS is a monolithic operating system written in x86 assembly that fits entirely within a single 512-byte boot sector. It provides a minimal filesystem and system services (load, save, delete files, keyboard/screen I/O) for 8088-compatible PCs.

## Use cases
- boot a tiny operating system from a floppy disk image
- learn x86 assembly and boot sector programming
- experiment with a minimal filesystem in 512 bytes
- run small programs as boot sectors on emulators like DOSBox or QEMU
- teach operating system fundamentals with a tiny codebase

## When to choose
- you want an educational, minimal OS that fits in one boot sector
- you need a tiny x86 boot-sector demo compatible with the original IBM PC 8088
- you're teaching or learning low-level OS and filesystem concepts

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose operating system with drivers, multitasking, or networking
- you require a modern filesystem with directories, large files, or long filenames
- you want a production-ready OS for real workloads

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: stable
- function: file-system, interpreter
- domain: operating-systems, developer-tools, education
- platform: windows, cross-platform
- tags: boot-sector, 512-bytes, assembly, x86, retro-computing, demo, tiny-os, operating-system, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- nanochess/bootOS (main) score 75

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:17.581211+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:51:53.194899+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nanochess/bootOS (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:17.581211+00:00, sha 2c9d5291461d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.