Python OS - TBD, name to be determined

This project is a spiritual successor to Snakeware, an attempt to create an OS similar to Commodore KERNAL but running Python instead of BASIC programming language. This is my solution for the second-hand DOS nostalgia problem, as I didn't experience the era first-hand.

Although an interesting project with great technical features, such as replacing X11 with PyGame that draws directly to /dev/fb0, Snakeware has a number of limitations:

• it is abandoned, as the last commit goes back 3 years
• it doesn't have proper terminal support - all commands need to be wrapped with os.system() calls. However, my proposed solution was ignored, as no one responds to issues anymore:

class TerminalCommand(Command):
    def run(self):
        import os

        os.system("clear")

        while True:
            cmd = input("$ ")
            if cmd.lower() in ("q", "quit"):
                break
            os.system(cmd)


terminal = TerminalCommand()

• it doesn't have networking and the ability to install additional packages and software

Features

• TUI written with Textual inspired by Sevastolink terminals in the game Alien: Isolation and other games such as Atomic Heart

  • maintained as a separate project at https://github.com/sergeyyurkov1/pythonui (currently in Alpha)

• Command-line interface with the ability to install and run Python and Linux packages including GUI programs such as Firefox

• Alpine Linux and i3-WM based

• fully automated build pipeline with Github Actions

• pre-intalls a set of CLI software: browser, file manager, map! (eat your heart out, Google), and others

Installation

Please download the latest release from https://github.com/sergeyyurkov1/pythonos/releases/tag/latest

• Unzip the archive. Inside you will find a VirtualBox .vdi image file
• Create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox
  • select Linux - Other Linux (64-bit)
  • attach the .vdi image
  • make sure to assign >= 2 processor cores to the machine in the System -> Processor tab, otherwise it will fail to boot (this is an issue with VirtualBox on some hardware configurations)
• Run the machine
  • you will be greeted with a shell login prompt - username and password are pui (can be changed if desired)
  • you should see the default i3-WM screen. Press Enter key twice to generate a config file - use Win key as modifier key
• Open a terminal window by pressing Win-Enter
• Install Python UI (wait until the process finishes, ignore the "externally-managed-environment" error)

  $ install-pui

• Reboot the machine by typing doas reboot in the terminal

On the second run you will be greeted with a blank terminal window with no default i3-WM decorations. The system is now configured. Type pui to enter Python UI. If nothing happens, please reinstall Python UI with the install-pui command.

Usage

• Use Tab and Shift-Tab to navigate the interface
• Press F3 to run the graphical ( "traphical"? Because "TUI" ) program Launcher
• run arbitrary commands with the prompt at the bottom of the screen
• by default GUI programs such as Firefox launch on the right side of the screen with terminal command running on the left side. To enter and exit fullscreen mode use Win-F; press Ctrl-C to exit the terminal. Use Win+arrow keys to switch between windows in split mode to focus and launch the correct window in fullscreen
• press Win-Shift-Q to force close a window if experiencing issues and return to a blank screen (note: this action exits Python UI)
• press Win-Enter to launch the default terminal window you are greeted with on login. Press Win-Enter to launch more terminal windows in split mode
• more to come...

Refer to i3 User’s Guide for more ways to interact with the window manager.

Demo

Roadmap

• Add Chinese and Russian font support. Currently only English is supported
• Fix performance issues and add 3D acceleration for games

Contributing

TBA

License

MIT