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- # Collapse OS
-
- *Bootstrap post-collapse technology*
-
- Collapse OS is a Forth operating system and a collection of tools and
- documentation with a single purpose: preserve the ability to program micro-
- controllers through civilizational collapse.
-
- It it designed to:
-
- 1. Run on minimal and improvised machines.
- 2. Interface through improvised means (serial, keyboard, display).
- 3. Edit text files.
- 4. Compile assembler source files for a wide range of MCUs and CPUs.
- 5. Read and write from a wide range of storage devices.
- 6. Assemble itself and deploy to another machine.
-
- Additionally, the goal of this project is to be as self-contained as possible.
- With a copy of this project, a capable and creative person should be able to
- manage to build and install Collapse OS without external resources (i.e.
- internet) on a machine of her design, built from scavenged parts with low-tech
- tools.
-
- ## Getting started
-
- Documentation is in text files in `doc/`. Begin with `intro.txt`.
-
- Collapse OS can run on any POSIX platform and builds easily.
- See `/cvm/README.md` for instructions.
-
- Alternatively, there's also [Michael Schierl's JS Collapse OS emulator][jsemul]
- which is awesome and allows you to run Collapse OS from your browser, but it
- isn't always up to date. The "Javascript Forth" version is especially awesome:
- it's not a z80 emulator, but a *javascript port of Collapse OS*!
-
- ## Organisation of this repository
-
- * `blk.fs`: Collapse OS filesystem's content. See below.
- * `cvm`: A C implementation of Collapse OS, allowing it to run natively on any
- POSIX platform.
- * `doc`: Documentation.
- * `arch`: collection of makefiles that assemble Collapse OS on different
- machines.
- * `tools`: Tools for working with Collapse OS from "modern" environments. For
- example, tools for facilitating data upload to a Collapse OS machine
- through a serial port.
- * `emul`: Tools for running Collapse OS in an emulated environment.
- * `tests`: Automated test suite for the whole project.
-
- ## blk.fs
-
- This file is a big text file containing the "real deal", that is, the contents
- of Collapse OS' filesystem. That filesystem contains everything that a
- post-collapse computer would manage, that is, all Forth and assembler source
- code for the tools it needs to fulfill its goals.
-
- The Collapse OS filesystem is a simple sequence of 1024 bytes blocks. That is
- not very workable in the text editor of a modern system. `blk.fs` represents an
- "unpacked" view of that block system. Each block (16 lines max per block, 64
- chars max per line) begins with a marker indicating the block number of the
- contents that follow.
-
- Blocks must be in ascending order.
-
- That file can be "packed" to a real blkfs with `/tools/blkpack`. A real blkfs
- can be "unpacked" to its text file form with `/tools/blkunpack`.
-
- ## Status
-
- The project unfinished but is progressing well! See [Collapse OS' website][web]
- for more information.
-
- ## Looking for the assembler version?
-
- The Forth-based Collapse OS is the second incarnation of the concept. The first
- one was entirely written in z80 assembly. If you're interested in that
- incarnation, checkout the `z80asm` branch.
-
- [web]: https://collapseos.org
- [jsemul]: https://schierlm.github.io/CollapseOS-Web-Emulator/
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