Booting the live image
The ISO is a complete system. Nothing is installed unless you ask for it, and no second drive is needed — the root filesystem is…
Documentation
Running AnotherOS, and writing software for it.
Everything here describes what the system actually does today. Where something is implemented but only proven under emulation, or works on one machine and not another, the page says so — a documentation set that overstates is worse than a short one, because you are deciding whether to spend an afternoon on it.
The pages below fall into three groups.
Using it — getting a live image onto a machine, installing it, and managing software.
The platform — how it boots, what the system call surface is, what hardware is supported, and the firmware interfaces underneath.
Writing software for it — the toolkit most applications should use, the graphics API, the display protocol beneath both, and the subsystems an application talks to: audio, notifications, the file manager and the pasteboard.
If you are writing a native application, start with the AO toolkit. If you are porting one, start with the syscall ABI and ports and packaging. If you want to run a Windows program, start with the Win32 subsystem.
Installing to disk
Installation is optional. The live image is the same system that gets installed, by construction — the installer copies the…
Packages and the filesystem
The layout AnotherOS does not use a flat FHS root as its source of truth. Every package lives at its own version…
How it boots
One kernel image, two boot protocols, and what is running by the time you see a desktop.
The syscall ABI
A Linux-faithful system call surface — which is what lets unmodified musl, BusyBox and Go binaries run.
Hardware support
What drivers exist, what has been run on real machines, and what is still only proven in emulation.
ACPI
Batteries, the lid, the power button, screen brightness — and why running firmware code is unavoidable.
UEFI boot entries
Runtime variable services, efivarfs, and making an installed disk the firmware's default.
NetBooting a Mac
Why a Mac needs a protocol no other machine uses, and how AnotherOS network-boots one.
The AO toolkit
The native application framework — an AppKit-shaped C API, callable from C, C++ and Go.
Grafika — the graphics API
One Metal-shaped C API that every 2D and 3D path draws through, with software and GPU backends.
The display protocol
How a client talks to the Fasadas compositor — surfaces, buffers, input and the pasteboard.
Desktop effects
What the compositor animates, what each effect costs, and how to give time back.
The level bezel
The on-screen display for brightness, keyboard light and volume keys.
Notifications
Banners, alerts, action buttons and the Notification Centre — from a shell, from C, or from the toolkit.
Rastinis — the file manager
The Finder, the desktop, and how an application declares the documents it opens.
File operations
One copy, move, trash and undo engine, shared by the Finder and the desktop.
Audio — Garsas
The sound stack: one server, per-application volume, and a client API that keeps working when there is no sound card.
Hardware video decode
What the GPU's decoder can do, what it cannot, and how to find out on your machine.
Networking — Tinklas
Wi-Fi and wired configuration, the radio switch, and why an empty scan list has four meanings.
Network shares — SMB and NFS
Mounting a Windows or Samba share with the in-kernel SMB2 client.
Remote control
A VNC server built into the compositor — see and drive the live desktop over the network.
The Win32 subsystem
Running native Windows 32-bit executables as first-class, crash-isolated desktop applications.
DirectX and OpenGL for Win32 programs
How a Windows program's 3D reaches the GPU — Direct3D 7 through 11, DirectDraw, DirectInput and WGL.
Ports and packaging
The toolchain, the on-device compiler, how to write a port, and how packages are installed.