The release of the MenuetOS 1.70 operating system has been published, with its kernel developed entirely in assembly language. The MenuetOS builds are prepared for 64-bit x86 systems and can run under QEMU. The system build occupies 1.4 MB and is available as a floppy disk image and an ISO image for CD writing (booting in VirtualBox is supported). The source code of the Menuet64 project is distributed under a restrictive license, requiring consent for any commercial use, while Menuet32 is under the GPL license.
The system supports preemptive multitasking, booting on UEFI systems, and SMP on multicore systems. The project also features its own X server and provides a built-in graphical user interface with support for themes, Drag&Drop operations, UTF-8 encoding, and keyboard layout switching. For application development in assembly language, a proprietary integrated development environment is offered.
The operating system includes a network stack, drivers for Ethernet and USB 2.0, and audio codecs AC97 and Intel HDA (ALC662/888). The project is developing a simple web browser HTTPC, as well as mail and FTP clients, VNC client, servers ftp and http, applications for viewing images, editing text, file management, video playback, and music playback. For file navigation, it's recommended to use the NDN (Necromancer's Dos Navigator) file manager, ported for MenuetOS.
It's possible to run a DOS emulator and games like Quake and Doom. Compatibility with Linux is provided through a basic POSIX layer, allowing the creation of GUI applications that can run in Menuet and Linux/X11, as well as a proprietary X server written in assembly, which can redirect output from applications running on an external Linux system to display their interface in MenuetOS.
Recent changes include:
- The compatibility layers with Linux and X11 have reached a state that allows for the execution of simple X11 applications such as XCalc, XEyes, XClock, and simple games compiled for Linux (running such programs does not require recompilation — existing executable files copied from Linux distributions can be run). MenuetOS has also improved support for existing Linux libraries — the use of about 100 library builds from Linux Mint has been tested.
- A new main menu has been introduced, along with a new set of compressed icons.
- A MIDI Sequencer has been added.
- Support for libssl and libcrypto has been implemented. A web page downloading utility, fetch, supporting HTTPS has been added.
- The configurator has been improved.
- The performance of the network stack has been accelerated. DHCP support has been expanded.
- The NDN (Necromancer's Dos Navigator) file manager has been updated to version 3.00.0012.
- The Webcall application for working with a webcam has been improved.
- The ftps and ftpc utilities have been enhanced.
- The capabilities of the X server developed by the project have been expanded.
Source: opennet.ru
