Submitted by This is a project providing a Linux-like OS for systems based on the Intel IA16 architecture (16-bit processors: 8086, 8088, 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.
Definitely an interesting and impressive project.
Maybe I should skip trying to set up DOS / Win3.1 on my Atari PC4 (286) and install this!
I have tested it on Amstrad 1640, Oliveti M24, IBM 5160 and it works. If your BIOS is not something exotic, it should work!
Just a standard Amitrend one, like so very many of them out there. Though it is one that is old enough that you kind of need one of the old amidiags programs to translate some of the settings to human….
It runs on 8086, it supports multitasking, has fat16/fat32 support and networking. An installation is possible using the sys command. Alternatively you can dd an image to your hdd or XT-IDE. The documentation is in the Githubs’s wiki page. There are also some graphical demos using nano-x project. If you have a supported network card you can telnet to another computer and download files.
Nice, the XT-IDE is a sweet device, my only issue with it so far is that for some weird reason they don’t support IDE CD-ROM drives on the ones with an IDE interface. ATAPI support seems like it’d be required for such a device… I ended up having to install a SB Awe64 with an IDE interface onboard so I could get CD-ROM support.
Definitely want to play with this though.