Caution

This project is only experimental for now and I do not plan to fully commit into it since this is just a long-term background task to me. Moreover, there is (at the time I writing this) nothing to show or tests for now (the kernel build, start, display some debug information and wait for a manual reset)

Also note that I am currently rewriting a lot of the code base to unify and clean critical parts. So, a lot of the code (mainly in kernel source) is not currently used.

VxGOS is an operating system designed to provide a "sandbox" for prototyping high-level projects like games or extremely low-level projects like drivers and kernels. This can be achieved by the fact that the operating system provides an exotic hypervisor and interfaces that allow you to execute privileged instructions, perform "hypercalls" (requests to the kernel to perform temporary jobs), draw sprites, handle inputs, ... and more. Also note that this particular kernel is "mono-process" which means that we really are alone with the hardware during the execution of your homebrew !

block-beta
  columns 3
  block:group0:3
    vxGOS game1 game2 game3 ["..."]
  end
  block:group1:3
    columns 1
    hypervisor["hypervisor (type-2)"]
    kernel
  end
  block:group2:3
    TMU DMA KEYSC RTC _AAA ["..."]
  end

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Above is a representation of the operating system's architecture. Extremely simple, as we don't care about security. The kernel only provides drivers, the hypervisor, and game primitives (including drawing, input handling, etc.) do whatever you want with it!

roadmap | releases

Supported devices

For now, mainly Casio calculators are supported. Mainly because I have some years of reverse engineering experience on these devices, and because I can quickly test the project on real hardware.

Name	Description	Status
fxcg50	Casio color calculator	🟢
fx9860	Casio monochrom calculator	🟢
fxcp400	Casio touch-screen calculator	🟢
raspi3b	RaspberryPi 3b	🔴

Some tests have been performed on the RaspBerryPi 3b device, but since this device is badly documented and relies on proprietary firmware in its GPU, I probably will never support this device (maybe committing to BananaPi, which is a clone using a documented ARMv7 processor). However, these experiences have confirmed that the kernel can support other architectures than the 32-bit, outdated SuperH family.

Also note that the fxcp400 uses my own custom firmware that allows me to load my kernel in memory. This custom firmware will not be released for legal reasons, but I am currently working on an exploit that will allow to run it without modifying the original firmware (not a promise here).

How to build

A lot of magic will be involved in building the project (e.g., all CMakefiles will be generated on-the-fly). So, you'll need to install the SDK, which is written in Python and requires Poetry (and Python 3.10).

# create a virtual environment
# note that this step can be skipped if you know how to handle virtual
# environment in python
poetry shell

# install the SDK
poetry install

# check that the SDK is installed
vxsdk --help

Now that the SDK is installed, you can select and build the kernel to the device you want to:

# list all available boards
# @note
# the output can look like this:
#   S- fxcg50
#   -C fx9860
#   -- fxcp400
# the two dashes that can be "S" for Selected and "C" Configured
vxsdk board list

# initialise the device
# @note
# > If you perform the previous step, you will notify that the "S" has been
#   moved to the "fxcg50" board line, which indicate that the board is
#   selected
vxsdk board select fxcg50

# build the kernel (it will build the current selected board)
# @note
# > Some external binaries are needed, like `CMake`. If an error is
#   displayed, you can manually install the missing binary.
# > You may encounter an error during the building step, which is probably
#   due to the missing toolchain binary. For example, the boards `fxcp400`,
#   `fxcg50`, and `fx9860` require a special `sh-elf-vhex-gcc` toolchain
#   that can be found at https://github.com/YannMagnin/sh-elf-vhex.
vxsdk build

Some other commands exist, but mainly for debugging reasons (such as displaying asset information and analyzing asset conversions, etc.), but I will not cover these parts here.

Special thanks

A big thanks to Lephenixnoir who helped me a lot and allowing me to use its kmalloc implementation !