DarqOS is an operating system in the broader sense that includes a user interface and a collection of application and utility programs.
Its goal is to explore, by means of prototyping and daily use, an operating system that moves beyond a 1970's model of a computer with some 1980's GUI pasted on top.
- Single user
- Graphical
- For user terminal devices (not servers)
- For experts
- Willing to be incompatible
- Open source
Some things the might be surprising if you're used to other operating systems:
- It has no files or filesystem
- It doesn't have applications, in the usual sense
- It is not POSIX-compatible
- it is not for everyone; it is not a general-purpose system
- It is incomplete
The goal of DarqOS is, somewhat grandly, to augment human abilities. This is not a new notion for computers, but it's also something that's been more of a marketing ploy than an actual goal, at least for popular, modern systems. That said, it's not a "bicycle for the mind" either: it's much more prosaic.
The system is (very) incomplete. Its development process is experimental, with ideas conceived, implemented, tested, and often discarded or replaced. There are many aspects of the design that are prototyped using cobbled-together bits of other things. It's not currently a clean and efficient instantiation of its own design.
The best way to try it is to use a Raspberry Pi 400 with an HDMI monitor, a USB mouse and keyboard, and a USB "soundcard". Both wired and wireless Ethernet are supported. This is the primary development target.
A Raspberry Pi 4 will also work fine.
It is also intended to work on tablets and mobile phones. Some work has been done on the original PinePhone platform; this will likely not be an ongoing target platform, but it's a useful experimental device for now.
At some point, it will begin to target laptops and desktop PCs. From the DarqOS point of view, these are more-or-less just bigger and faster versions of a Raspberry Pi, with lots of diversity in their I/O devices. It's pretty likely that support will target very specific models and configurations when it happens.
Overview
Services
Tools and Types
Details
At some point, I'll set up something. Until then, email d+darq@0x1.org
Copyright (C) 2022, David Arnold