This is a project to write a Linux-like OS for systems based on the Intel IA16 architecture (16 bits processors: 8088, 8086, 80188, 80186, 80286, Nec V20, V30 and compatibles).
Such systems are ancient computers (IBM-PC XT / AT and clones), or more recent SBC / SoC / FPGA that reuse the huge hardware & software legacy from that popular platform.
Watch ELKS in action (thanks @xrayer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rwlqmdebxk
To build ELKS, you need a GNU development environment, including:
- flex
- bison
- texinfo
- libncurses5-dev
A script is provided to automate the whole build process (cross toool chain, configuration, kernel, user land and target image), and make it easier for ELKS newbies:
./build.sh
Note: all the scripts must be executed within the top folder of the ELKS repository as the current one (= TOPDIR).
If you want to clean everything up afterwards (except the cross tool chain):
./clean.sh
1- Create a cross subfolder:
mkdir cross
2- Build the cross tool chain, mainly based on a recent GCC-IA16 (DEV86 including BCC was used for previous versions, but has been dropped because it was obsolete and no more maintained):
tools/build.sh
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS users: as this step is quite long, you can download an already built cross folder from here: https://github.com/elks-org/elks/actions?query=workflow%3Across
3- Set up your environment (PATH, TOPDIR and CROSSDIR):
. ./env.sh (note the '.' before the script)
4- Configure the kernel, the user land and the target image format:
make menuconfig
5- Build the kernel, the user land and the target image:
make all
The target root folder is built in target', and depending on your
configuration, that folder is packed as either a floppy disk image
(fd360, fd720, fd1440), a hard disk image (hd, without MBR),
or a file image (ROM, TAR), into the image folder.
6- Before writting that image on the real medium, you can test it first on QEMU:
./qemu.sh
7- You can then modify the configuration or the sources and repeat from the step 4 after cleaning only the kernel, the user land and the image:
make clean
Questions? Problems? Patches? Open an issue in this project!
You can also join and email the 'Linux-8086' list at linux-8086@vger.kernel.org.
More information in the Documentation folder: Documentation/index.html