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Collapse OS
Bootstrap post-collapse technology
Collapse OS is a collection of programs, tools and documentation that allows you to assemble an OS that can:
- Run on an extremely minimal and improvised architecture.
- Communicate through a improvised serial interface linked to some kind of improvised terminal.
- Edit text files.
- Compile assembler source files for a wide range of MCUs and CPUs.
- Write files to a wide range of flash ICs and MCUs.
- Access data storage from improvised systems.
- Replicate itself.
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.
See the “Goals” section below for details.
Why?
I expect our global supply chain to collapse before we reach 2030. With this collapse, we won't be able to produce most of our electronics because it depends on a very complex supply chain that we won't be able to achieve again for decades (ever?).
The fast rate of progress we've seen since the advent of electronics happened in very specific conditions that won't be there post-collapse, so we can't hope to be able to bootstrap new electronic technology as fast we did without a good “starter kit” to help us do so.
Electronics yield enormous power, a power that will give significant advantages to communities that manage to continue mastering it. This will usher a new age of scavenger electronics: parts can't be manufactured any more, but we have billions of parts lying around. Those who can manage to create new designs from those parts with low-tech tools will be very powerful.
Among these scavenged parts are microcontrollers, which are especially powerful but need complex tools (often computers) to program them. Computers, after a couple of decades, will break down beyond repair and we won't be able to program microcontrollers any more.
To avoid this fate, we need to have a system that can be designed from scavenged parts and program microcontrollers. We also need the generation of engineers that will follow us to be able to create new designs instead of inheriting a legacy of machines that they can't recreate and barely maintain.
This is where Collapse OS comes in.
Goals
On face value, goals outlined in the introduction don't seem very ambitious, that is, until we take the time to think about what kind of machines we are likely to be able to build from scavenged parts without access to (functional) modern technology.
By “minimal machine” I mean Grant Searle's minimal z80 computer. This (admirably minimal and elegant) machine runs on 8k of ROM and 56k of RAM. Anything bigger starts being much more complex because you need memory paging, and if you need paging, then you need a kernel that helps you manage that, etc.. Of course, I don't mean that these more complex computers can't be built post-collapse, but that if we don't have a low-enough bar, we reduce the likeliness for a given community to bootstrap itself using Collape OS.
Of course, with this kind of specs, a C compiler is out of the question. Even full-fledged assembler is beginning to stretch the machine's ressources. The assembler having to be written in assembler (to be self-replicating), we need to design a watered-down version of our modern full-fledged assembler languages.
But with assemblers, a text editor and a way to write data to flash, you have enough to steadily improve your technological situation, build more sophisticated machines from more sophisticated scavenged parts and, who knows, in a couple of decades, build a new IC fab (or bring an old one back to life).
Futile?
For now, this is nothing more than an idea, and a fragile one. This project is only relevant if the collapse is of a specific magnitude. A weak-enough collapse and it's useless (just a few fabs that close down, a few wars here and there, hunger, disease, but people are nevertheless able to maintain current technology levels). A big enough collapse and it's even more useless (who needs microcontrollers when you're running away from cannibals).
But if the collapse magnitude is right, then this project will change the course of our history, which makes it worth trying.
This idea is also fragile because it might not be feasible. It's also difficult to predict post-collapse conditions, so the “self-contained” part might fail and prove useless to many post-collapse communities.
But nevertheless, this idea seems too powerful to not try it. And even if it proves futile, it sounds like a lot of fun to try.
Roadmap
I'm still fiddling with things, honing my skills and knowledge, so the project's roadmap is still hazy.
Initially, I wanted to start the implementation in AVR because that's the only MCU I know and because I like it, but AVR's architecture doesn't fit well with the idea of an OS. Very limited RAM and no reasonable way of running programs from RAM.
I've been looking at z80 and it's very interesting. There's a good amount of great z80-related hacks all around the internet, and the z80 CPU is very scavenge-friendly: it's been (and is) included in tons of devices.
KnightOS is a very good starting point. Of course, it can't be directly used in the context of Collapse OS because it's an OS for a specific set of machines rather than improvised designs, but there are many interesting bits and pieces of assembly in there that can be used.
The first question that needs answering is: how feasible is it to write a self-assembling z80 assembler that runs on 56K of RAM and compiles an OS? Once that question is answered positively, then the project becomes much more solid.
After a good proof of concept is done in z80, then more architectures can be added into the mix. I have the intuition that we can mix AVR and z80 in a very elegant minimal and powerful machine and it would be great if a Collapse OS spawn could be built for such machine.
Of course, there are so many PIC chips around that the project would be much more useful with a way to program some of them, so there's also that to do.
Then comes the thinking about how to anticipate the need for ad-hoc terminals and storage devices. Modern computer screens are rather fragile and will be hard to repair. Post-collapse engineers will need to hack their way around scavenged display devices. What kind of tools will they need? Same question for storage.
32-bit? 16-bit?
Why go as far as 8-bit machines? There are some 32-bit ARM chips around that are protoboard-friendly.
First, because I think there are more scavenge-friendly 8-bit chips around than scavenge-friendly 16-bit or 32-bit chips.
Second, because those chips will be easier to replicate in a post-collapse fab. If the first chips we're able to create post-collapse are low-powered, we might as well design a system that works well on low-powered chips.
That being said, nothing stops the project from including the capability of programming an ARM or RISC-V chip.
That being said, the MSP430 seems like a really nice and widely used chip...
Risking ridicule
Why publish this hazy roadmap now and risk ridicule? Because I'm confident enough that I want to pour significant efforts into this in the next few years and because I have the intuition that it's feasible. I'm looking for early feedback and possibly collaboration. I don't have a formal electronic training, all my knowledge and experience come from fiddling as a hobbyist. If feasible and relevant (who knows, IPCC might tell us in 10 years “good job, humans! we've been up to the challenge! We've solved climate change!". Does this idea sound more or less crazy to you than what you've been reading in this text so far?), I will probably need help to pull this off.