Kolibri Operating System
TL;DR
Minimalistic system — by design has a tiny attack surface Lacks multi-user accounts or advanced permissions
🧩 1. Basic Information
Field —>Description
OS Name —>KolibriOS
Developer —>KolibriOS Project Team (open source community)
First Released —>~2004 (forked from MenuetOS)
Latest Version —>Rolling development (small updates on SourceForge & GitHub)
License Type —>GPL v2 (Free and open source)
Supported Platforms —>x86 (32-bit), experimental x86_64
Still Active? —>✅ Yes (actively developed by hobbyist community)
⚙️ 2. Kernel & Architecture
Kernel Type: Monolithic
Based On: Fork of MenuetOS (which is also entirely in FASM assembly)
Architecture Support: Primarily x86 32-bit; early work on 64-bit
Written Entirely In: FASM (Flat Assembler) — entire OS written in x86 assembly
File System Support: FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 native; can read NTFS/ext2/ext3 with drivers
🌟 3. Key Features
Extremely small footprint: ~1.44 MB fits on a floppy, ~10 MB installed on disk
Ultra-fast boot: Boots in ~1-2 seconds on modern hardware
Fully graphical GUI (no text mode boot) with windows, themes, icons
Includes text editor, image viewer, web browser (kiv), media player, games
Multitasking & multithreading, even though under 10 MB
Network stack with TCP/IP, HTTP client & FTP support
Can run from a floppy, CD, USB, or inside virtual machines easily
📈 4. Version History & Important Milestones ✅
Milestone / Version —>Year —>Description
MenuetOS 0.7± –>Early 2000s —>Kolibri forked from MenuetOS to pursue independent direction
KolibriOS 0.7.xx —>~2004± –>First stable standalone GUI OS on floppy
Ongoing small builds —>2010s± –>Added networking, browser, FAT32 support
GitHub mirror created —>~2020 —>Easier contributions, translations, localization efforts
Today —>2025 —>Maintained by hobbyists; demos at OSDev forums, retro computing events
🎯 5. Target Audience & Use Cases
Hobbyists & OS developers: Studying how a full OS can be built in pure assembly
Legacy PCs: Reviving very old x86 machines that can’t run modern OSes
Embedded or kiosk-like scenarios: Ultra-fast boot for a single app or demo
Retro computing fans: Fascinated by minimalist, low-level control
✅ 6. Pros & Cons
Pros —>Cons
Boots instantly, ultra-lightweight footprint —>Limited hardware drivers (especially modern GPUs, WiFi)
Entire source code fits on a USB stick —>No POSIX layer, limited to Kolibri-native apps
Written fully in assembly — great for learning low-level OS concepts —>Small community, few mainstream apps
Surprisingly functional (browser, player, games) —>Not a general-purpose OS replacement
🎨 7. UI Demo & Visuals
Colorful desktop with taskbar & icons right after boot
File manager browsing local FAT drives
Text editor editing ASM or TXT files
Built-in browser visiting lightweight sites
Kolibri’s little graphical games (Tetris, minesweeper clones)
Network panel showing IP config & pings
📦 8. Ecosystem & App Support
Native apps: Compiled in FASM or Kolibri-specific toolchains
Comes with a suite of small utilities: disk viewers, calculators, hex editors
Networking tools like FTP, basic IRC client, simple HTTP browser
Some efforts to port SDL-style or tiny graphical apps
🔐 9. Security & Updates
Minimalistic system — by design has a tiny attack surface
Lacks multi-user accounts or advanced permissions (single-user OS)
Updates handled by downloading new floppy or ISO images from project site
Community typically shares patched builds for new hardware experiments
🌍 10. Community, License & Development
License: GPL v2 — entire source freely available on SourceForge & GitHub
Global hobbyist community; active threads on OSDev.net and Russian developer forums
Frequently showcased in lightweight OS contests & embedded demos
Used in education to teach x86 assembly, low-level drivers, and file system code
