NatureOS

01 What is NatureOS?

NatureOS runs directly on the CPU — from a 512-byte MBR bootloader all the way up to a graphical windowed desktop with a mouse, a terminal, a file browser, and a working network stack.

Every line is handwritten x86 assembly. BIOS calls handle early boot; bare-metal hardware drivers handle everything else.

🖥️

Real-Mode Shell

Classic text shell with BIOS access and filesystem commands.

🪟

GUI Desktop

Window manager, draggable windows, taskbar, and desktop icons.

🖱️

Mouse Support

Full PS/2 mouse driver with cursor rendering.

🌐

Network Stack

PCI → e1000 → Ethernet → ARP → IP → ICMP → UDP → DNS → TCP → HTTP.

02 Changelog

Fetching releases from GitHub…

03 Getting Started

You need three tools:

Tool	Download
NASM	nasm.us
Python 3	python.org
QEMU	qemu.org

One-time Python dependency:

pip install pycdlib

Build and run:

build.bat        # build natureos.iso
build.bat run    # build + launch in QEMU

Or launch QEMU manually:

qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -cdrom natureos.iso \
  -drive format=raw,file=data.img,if=ide,index=3 \
  -boot d -m 64M -cpu qemu64 -smp 1 \
  -vga std -rtc base=localtime \
  -nic user,model=e1000 \
  -display sdl,window-close=on \
  -name "NatureOS" -no-reboot

Linux/macOS: replace driver=dsound with driver=pa or driver=alsa.

04 Commands

Real-Mode Shell

Command	Description
`help`	List all commands
`echo <text>`	Print text
`calc <n> <op> <n>`	Calculator
`ls`	List files
`run <n>`	Run an app
`sys`	System snapshot
`fortune`	Random quote
`guess`	Number guessing game
`color [XX]`	Set shell colour
`pm`	Enter graphical desktop
`reboot`	Reboot

Protected-Mode Terminal

Command	Description
`ls`	List all files
`cat <n>`	Print file contents
`rm <n>`	Delete a file
`hexdump <n>`	Hex + ASCII dump
`ping <ip>`	ICMP ping
`dns <host>`	DNS lookup
`pci`	Enumerate PCI devices
`clock`	Stopwatch/timer window
`files`	File browser window
`savescr`	Save screenshot
`exit`	Return to real-mode shell

05 Network Stack

Full network stack written in assembly — filled dot = implemented, outlined = planned.

PCI

e1000 NIC

Ethernet

ARP

IPv4

ICMP / ping

UDP

DNS

TCP

HTTP

06 Planned Features

Feature	Notes
Text editor planned	Basic in-desktop editor for files on the writable data disk.
PM audio driver planned	PC speaker works in real mode (`beep`). A full protected-mode audio driver is on the roadmap.
More apps planned	The app SDK (`sdk.asm`) is already in place — more assembly apps are planned.