What is HelenOS, and Should You Use It?

Do you miss the times of Home windows 3.1 and Home windows 95/98? Do you want there was a microkernel-based OS with retro aesthetics? In that case, HelenOS is an oddly particular OS that you could be need to try.

What Is HelenOS?

HelenOS is an experimental working system that’s meant to function a car for analysis into microkernels. A kernel is the central a part of an working system. That is the a part of an OS that really runs the pc, directing the visitors of enter and output and letting the pc run easily.

Because the title suggests, a “microkernel” is an try to construct a smaller kernel. OS builders do that by shifting sure capabilities out of the kernel and into servers that deal with these duties. A microkernel may need a servers for the graphics system, one other for networking, and so forth. That is in distinction to the Linux kernel, which is commonly thought-about a “monolithic” kernel as a result of it handles so many capabilities. Different microkernel OSes embody Minix and GNU Hurd.

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The benefit of constructing an OS this fashion is that if a server just like the desktop person interface crashes, it may well simply be restarted as a substitute of rebooting the entire system, which makes it extra steady.

Whereas microkernels are theoretically elegant, they have been troublesome to implement in apply, or at the least as “pure” microkernel techniques. Nonetheless, microkernels are an lively space of analysis in laptop science. They’ve influenced the event of mainstream working techniques like macOS and fashionable Home windows that use “hybrid kernels” that mix components of each the microkernel and monolithic approaches to create extra manageable kernels whereas nonetheless having good efficiency. The Linux kernel, with its loadable and unloadable modules, will be thought-about a hybrid kernel in apply as effectively.

What’s Distinctive About HelenOS?

HelenOS goals to create a brand new open supply OS from scratch based mostly round a microkernel. Because of this it is not based mostly on Linux or any of the BSDs, but it surely goals to grow to be its personal OS.

What’s most noticeable for customers is its aesthetics. The system makes use of a graphical desktop that emulates the look of Windows 3.1. I can really feel the pang of nostalgia on booting HelenOS up, as the mixture of MS-DOS and Home windows 3.1 have been what I reduce my computing enamel on as a ’90s child.

I believe that that is what is going to seize most individuals who need to try HelenOS as effectively. Microkernels and working system design are summary ideas, however the person interface can be the very first thing they discover.

Putting in HelenOS (Or Making an attempt To)

To take HelenOS for a spin, I downloaded a disk picture from the download page and created a VirtualBox digital machine. HelenOS runs with decrease specs than different working techniques, true to its retro nature. HelenOS helps a lot of architectures, not simply Intel and AMD.

HelenOS got here up in a stay setting, much like different stay Linux distributions.

I may run the included apps. The primary that comes up is a terminal window working bdsh, or the “Mind-dead shell.” That is much like different Linux terminals.

I needed to see if I may set up it to my digital drive. The system has an set up utility. I attempted working it from the taskbar, but it surely complained that the system wasn’t parititioned. HelenOS comes with an fdisk partitioning utility that is much like the one for Linux. I attempted working that but it surely could not see my digital laborious drive in any respect, solely the stay disk picture.

So it appears that evidently set up could be a bust, so I must type my impression of the system solely from its stay model.

What’s It Wish to Use HelenOS?

HelenOS, as talked about, has a nostalgic look to it that can attraction to anybody keen on the Home windows 3.x or 9x eras. The window decorations are clearly influenced by Home windows 3.1, whereas it has a taskbar much like Home windows 95.

There are a number of included apps. There is a calculator. You can too browse the file system with Navigator, a text-based file supervisor much like Norton Commander or Midnight Commander. There’s additionally a Tetris recreation. There does not appear to be an online browser, although there’s a ping command. I may ping a number of hosts, so at the least networking was up.

There are additionally a number of graphics demos.

Below the Hood of HelenOS

It is apparent that the system continues to be in growth. The present model is 0.14.1, which appears comparatively early. One uncommon person interface quirk was that I used to be unable to maximise any home windows.

Whereas HelenOS’ shell is superficially Unix-like, the system has some attention-grabbing concepts underneath the hood, as talked about on the project’s official wiki. It does not use the usual Unix “fork-and-exec” methodology to launch a program, the place the shell makes a replica of itself after which replaces it with the specified program, handing management again to the unique shell when completed. The system as a substitute simply creates a brand new job to run this system.

HelenOS additionally omits a lot of the luggage of earlier Unix-like techniques, together with Linux. There isn’t a assist for serial terminals, in addition to no X11 assist.

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There’s additionally a pkg utility to put in extra software program, however I could not get it to work.

Ought to You Use HelenOS?

HelenOS will probably attraction to those that like retro interfaces. There is not a complete lot to do with the system in the intervening time besides take a look at it. Primarily based on my expertise, it looks like it’s miles from having the ability to be used as a day by day driver, one thing that HelenOS acknowldeges in its own FAQ. This could be enjoyable besides up in a VM or to indicate off to associates. And maybe the odd recreation of Tetris.

In order for you a light-weight OS for day by day use, your finest wager would nonetheless be a lightweight Linux distribution.

I would need to see how HelenOS develops sooner or later, however microkernels are inclined to have slower growth occasions, maybe as a result of issue of getting them working in apply.

Regardless of the system being tough across the edges, I’ve had enjoyable exploring HelenOS. It is refreshing to seek out an open-source OS that is not simply one other Linux distro however tries to do one thing completely different.