216 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
216 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
# Collapse OS
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*Bootstrap post-collapse technology*
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Collapse OS is a collection of programs, tools and documentation that allows
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you to assemble an OS that can:
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1. Run on an extremely minimal and improvised architecture.
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2. Communicate through a improvised serial interface linked to some kind of
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improvised terminal.
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3. Edit text files.
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4. Compile assembler source files for a wide range of MCUs and CPUs.
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5. Write files to a wide range of flash ICs and MCUs.
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6. Access data storage from improvised systems.
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7. Replicate itself.
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Additionally, the goal of this project is to be as self-contained as possible.
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With a copy of this project, a capable and creative person should be able to
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manage to build and install Collapse OS without external resources (i.e.
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internet) on a machine of her design, built from scavenged parts with low-tech
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tools.
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See the "Goals" section below for details.
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## Why?
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I expect our global supply chain to collapse before we reach 2030. With this
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collapse, we won't be able to produce most of our electronics because it
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depends on a very complex supply chain that we won't be able to achieve again
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for decades (ever?).
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The fast rate of progress we've seen since the advent of electronics happened
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in very specific conditions that won't be there post-collapse, so we can't hope
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to be able to bootstrap new electronic technology as fast we did without a good
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"starter kit" to help us do so.
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Electronics yield enormous power, a power that will give significant advantages
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to communities that manage to continue mastering it. This will usher a new age
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of *scavenger electronics*: parts can't be manufactured any more, but we have
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billions of parts lying around. Those who can manage to create new designs from
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those parts with low-tech tools will be very powerful.
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Among these scavenged parts are microcontrollers, which are especially powerful
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but need complex tools (often computers) to program them. Computers, after a
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couple of decades, will break down beyond repair and we won't be able to
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program microcontrollers any more.
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To avoid this fate, we need to have a system that can be designed from
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scavenged parts and program microcontrollers. We also need the generation of
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engineers that will follow us to be able to *create* new designs instead of
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inheriting a legacy of machines that they can't recreate and barely maintain.
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This is where Collapse OS comes in.
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## Goals
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On face value, goals outlined in the introduction don't seem very ambitious,
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that is, until we take the time to think about what kind of machines we are
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likely to be able to build from scavenged parts without access to (functional)
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modern technology.
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By "minimal machine" I mean [Grant Searle's minimal z80 computer][searle].
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This (admirably minimal and elegant) machine runs on 8k of ROM and 56k of RAM.
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Anything bigger starts being much more complex because you need memory paging,
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and if you need paging, then you need a kernel that helps you manage that,
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etc.. Of course, I don't mean that these more complex computers can't be built
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post-collapse, but that if we don't have a low-enough bar, we reduce the
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likeliness for a given community to bootstrap itself using Collape OS.
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Of course, with this kind of specs, a C compiler is out of the question. Even
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full-fledged assembler is beginning to stretch the machine's ressources. The
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assembler having to be written in assembler (to be self-replicating), we need
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to design a watered-down version of our modern full-fledged assembler
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languages.
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But with assemblers, a text editor and a way to write data to flash, you have
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enough to steadily improve your technological situation, build more
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sophisticated machines from more sophisticated scavenged parts and, who knows,
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in a couple of decades, build a new IC fab (or bring an old one back to life).
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## Status
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The project is progressing well and I already have a working shell (see `doc`
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to see what it can do) on a classic RC2014. Highlights:
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* Extremely flexible: Kernel parts are written as loosely knit modules that
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are bound through glue code. This makes the kernel adaptable to many unforseen
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situations.
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* 2K binary (but size vary wildly depending on what parts you include. 2K is
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for a shell using all parts).
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* Built with minimal tooling: only [scas][scas] is needed
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* Can read and write to memory through shell
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* Can run arbitrary routine from arbitrary address with arbitrary arguments
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from shell.
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* Can "upload" code from serial link into memory and execute it.
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* Can manage multiple "block devices"
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* Can read SD cards as block devices
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* A z80 assembler written in z80 that is progressing well and should soon be
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able to replace `scas`.
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## Organisation of this repository
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There's very little done so far, but here's how it's organized:
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* `kernel`: Pieces of code to be assembled by the user into a kernel.
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* `apps`: Pieces of code to be assembled into "userspace" application.
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* `recipes`: collection of recipes that assemble parts together on a specific
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machine.
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* `doc`: User guide for when you've successfully installed Collapse OS.
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Each folder has a README with more details.
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## Roadmap
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Such a vast project involves quite a lot of fiddling and I can't really have a
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precise roadmap, only a general direction:
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The primary target for Collapse OS is the z80 architecture. There's a good
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amount of great z80-related hacks all around the internet, and the z80 CPU is
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very scavenge-friendly: it's been (and is) included in tons of devices.
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After a good proof of concept is done in z80, then more architectures can be
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added into the mix. I have the intuition that we can mix AVR and z80 in a very
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elegant minimal and powerful machine and it would be great if a Collapse OS
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spawn could be built for such machine.
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I'm planning to go forward with this project by doing three things:
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1. Gather knowledge and hone skills.
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2. Build useful parts of code to be assembled into an OS by the user.
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3. Write "recipes", examples of assembly on real machines using parts I wrote
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to serve as a guide for post-collapse assembly.
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Recipes should contain both "pre-collapse" instructions (how to build Collapse
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OS from a "modern" system) and "post-collapse" instructions (how to build
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Collapse OS from itself).
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Initially, we of course only have "pre-collapse" instructions, but as tooling
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improve, the "post-collapse" part will become more and more complete. When we
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have complete "post-collapse" recipes, we can call it a win.
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If you're interested in being part of this project, I have no idea how to
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include you, but please, let me know, we'll manage something.
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## Open questions
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### Futile?
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For now, this is nothing more than an idea, and a fragile one. This project is
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only relevant if the collapse is of a specific magnitude. A weak-enough
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collapse and it's useless (just a few fabs that close down, a few wars here and
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there, hunger, disease, but people are nevertheless able to maintain current
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technology levels). A big enough collapse and it's even more useless (who needs
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microcontrollers when you're running away from cannibals).
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But if the collapse magnitude is right, then this project will change the
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course of our history, which makes it worth trying.
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This idea is also fragile because it might not be feasible. It's also difficult
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to predict post-collapse conditions, so the "self-contained" part might fail
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and prove useless to many post-collapse communities.
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But nevertheless, this idea seems too powerful to not try it. And even if it
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proves futile, it sounds like a lot of fun to try.
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### 32-bit? 16-bit?
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Why go as far as 8-bit machines? There are some 32-bit ARM chips around that
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are protoboard-friendly.
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First, because I think there are more scavenge-friendly 8-bit chips around than
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scavenge-friendly 16-bit or 32-bit chips.
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Second, because those chips will be easier to replicate in a post-collapse fab.
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If the first chips we're able to create post-collapse are low-powered, we might
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as well design a system that works well on low-powered chips.
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That being said, nothing stops the project from including the capability of
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programming an ARM or RISC-V chip.
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That being said, the MSP430 seems like a really nice and widely used chip...
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### Prior art
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I've spent some time doing software archeology and see if something that was
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already made could be used. There are some really nice and well-made programs
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out there, such as CP/M, but as far as I know (please, let me know if I'm wrong,
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I don't know this world very well), these old OS weren't made to be
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self-replicating. CP/M is now open source, but I don't think we can recompile
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CP/M from CP/M.
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Then comes the idea of piggy-backing from an existing BASIC interpreter and
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make a shell out of it. Interesting idea, and using Grant Searle's modified
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nascom basic would be a good starting point, but I see two problems with this.
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First, the interpreter is already 8k. That's a lot. Second, it's
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copyright-ladden (by Searle *and* Microsoft) and can't be licensed as open
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source.
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Nah, maybe I'm working needlessly, but I'll start from scratch. But if someone
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has a hint about useful prior art, please let me know.
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### Risking ridicule
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Why publish this hazy roadmap now and risk ridicule? Because I'm confident
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enough that I want to pour significant efforts into this in the next few years
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and because I have the intuition that it's feasible. I'm looking for early
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feedback and possibly collaboration. I don't have a formal electronic training,
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all my knowledge and experience come from fiddling as a hobbyist. If feasible
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and relevant (who knows, IPCC might tell us in 10 years "good job, humans!
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we've been up to the challenge! We've solved climate change!". Does this idea
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sound more or less crazy to you than what you've been reading in this text so
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far?), I will probably need help to pull this off.
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[searle]: http://searle.hostei.com/grant/z80/SimpleZ80.html
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[scas]: https://github.com/KnightOS/scas
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