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- # Introduction to Collapse OS
-
- Collapse OS is a minimal operating system created to preserve
- the ability to program microcontrollers through civilizational
- collapse. Its author expects the collapse of the global supply
- chain means the loss of our computer production capability. Many
- microcontrollers require a computer to program them.
-
- Collapse OS innovates by self-hosting on extremely tight resour-
- ces and is thus (theoretically thus far) able to operate and be
- improved in a world without modern computers.
-
- # Forth
-
- This OS is a Forth. It doesn't adhere to any pre-collapse stand-
- ard, but is pretty close to the Forth described in Starting
- Forth by Leo Brodie. It is therefore the recommended introduct-
- ory material to learn Forth in the context of Collapse OS.
-
- If you don't have access to this book and don't know anything
- about Forth, learning Collapse OS could be a rough ride, but
- don't despair. There's a Forth primer in primer.txt.
-
- # Documentation and self-hosting
-
- Collapse OS is self-hosting, its documentation is not, that is,
- Collapse OS cannot read this document you're reading. Text
- blocks could, of course, be part of Collapse OS' blocks, but
- doing so needlessly uses blocks and make the system heavier than
- it should.
-
- This documentation is expected to be printed before the last
- modern computer of your community dies.
-
- # Where to begin?
-
- If you're reading this and don't know where to begin, you're
- likely to have access to a modern computer. The best place to
- begin is to build the C VM of Collapse OS in /cvm. You can then
- begin playing with it with the help of usage.txt and impl.txt.
-
- When you're ready to move to real hardware, read hw/intro.txt.
-
- # Other topics in this documentation
-
- * Frequently asked questions (faq.txt)
- * Dictionary of core Forth words (dict.txt)
- * Editing text (ed.txt)
- * Assembling binaries (asm.txt)
- * Remote Shell (rsh.txt)
- * Programming AVR chips (avr.txt)
- * Bootstrap Collapse OS to a new system (bootstrap.txt)
- * Cross-compilation mechanisms (cross.txt)
- * Protocols (protocol.txt)
- * Grid subsystem (grid.txt)
- * Sega Master System ROM signatures (sega.txt)
- * Self-hosting notes (selfhost.txt)
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