KyronOS Alpha 2

KyronOS Alpha 2

KyronOS Alpha 2 is a text-only live operating system for x86 PCs. It boots from a GRUB Multiboot2 ISO and provides a VGA console, PS/2 keyboard input, an interactive shell, directory navigation, users, and a RAM-backed filesystem.

Highlights

• RAM-only live shell with no persistent command history.
• Improved ls handling for subdirectories.
• Nested tab completion with / appended to completed directories.
• Default user starts in /home/kyron.
• Prompt format: [user@hostname]{directory}#.
• Formatted command help and [command] help support.
• Alpha 2 branding throughout the live OS.
• Seeded root layout with editable command stubs under /usr/bin and source/config notes under /system and /etc.
• PCI configuration-space scanning.
• IDE/ATA PIO block-device prototype for future storage work.
• BIOS and preliminary UEFI boot entries in the generated ISO.
• Windows development documentation for WSL2 and VirtualBox workflows.

Build

Build from Ubuntu WSL2:

cd /mnt/c/Users/<WindowsUser>/OneDrive/Documents/KyronOS
make clean
make kernel
make test
make iso

The generated live image is build/kyronos.iso.

Boot status

BIOS boot is the primary supported path for Alpha 2. The ISO also contains a GRUB UEFI El Torito entry and can be selected in VirtualBox with EFI enabled, but native EFI kernel services and a native EFI kernel entry are not complete or fully validated.

Known limitations

• The live OS is RAM-only; files and shell changes disappear on reboot.
• There is no disk installer or live-only setup command.
• SATA/AHCI, NVMe, SCSI, eMMC, SD, and USB mass-storage drivers are not implemented.
• Partition discovery and installed-disk mounting are not implemented.
• The IDE/ATA PIO prototype is not yet connected to the live shell.
• The kernel remains a 32-bit Multiboot2 bootstrap.
• EFI support is preliminary and should be treated as experimental.

KyronOS 27 Alpha 1

KyronOS 27 Alpha 1

Release status

KyronOS 27 Alpha 1 is an experimental, text-only operating system release for x86 PCs. It boots through GRUB Multiboot2 and presents a VGA terminal shell.

This release is intended for QEMU testing and early real-hardware experiments. It is not production-ready and should not be used as a primary operating system.

Included

• Bootable hybrid ISO for optical media and USB boot
• GRUB Multiboot2 kernel bootstrap
• VGA text console with cursor tracking and line scrolling
• PS/2-compatible keyboard input
• Shifted uppercase letters and symbols
• Tab path completion using the longest matching prefix
• Directory-aware ls and cd
• Root filesystem layout with /boot, /dev, /etc, /home, /system, /tmp, /bin, and /kyron
• User creation and switching with per-user home directories
• Home-relative prompts using ~
• Shell navigation commands go back, go home, and go root
• RAM-backed shell file operations
• KSFS block-device and superblock validation foundations
• USB HID boot-report decoding layer
• Host-side KSFS test

Shell commands

help clear version about echo
ls cd pwd go back go home go root
 touch mkdir rmdir write append cat rm
add user <name>
switch user <name>
devices mem reboot shutdown

A typical prompt looks like:

[kyron]:/#
[kyron]:~#
[alice]:~/projects#

Build and run

Verify dependencies:

./setup.sh

Build the kernel and ISO:

make iso

Run in QEMU with a graphical window:

make run

The generated ISO is:

build/kyronos-alpha1.iso

Download

Download the latest KyronOS ISO from the GitHub Releases page.

The downloadable image is named kyronos-alpha1.iso.

Debugging

Start QEMU paused with a GDB stub:

make debug

Connect from another terminal:

gdb build/kyronos.kernel
(gdb) target remote :1234

Known limitations

• The kernel is currently a freestanding 32-bit ELF bootstrap loaded by GRUB.
• Native EHCI/xHCI controller enumeration and USB interrupt transfers are not complete.
• USB HID report decoding exists, but native USB keyboard input is not yet wired to hardware transport.
• Storage is RAM-backed; SATA, AHCI, NVMe, IDE, and general internal-disk drivers are not included.
• KSFS directory and file persistence is still under development.
• The terminal editor, optical read support, networking, and graphical environment are not included.
• Hardware support and behavior may vary on physical machines.

Verification

The release ISO was generated successfully with grub2-mkrescue and verified as a bootable ISO9660 image. The host-side KSFS test passes with make test.