After a year and a half of development, the project ELKS 0.9 (Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset) has been released. This project aims to develop a Linux-like operating system for 16-bit Intel processors 8086, 8088, 80188, 80186, 80286, and NEC V20/V30. ELKS 0.9 can be used on old computers such as the IBM-PC XT/AT class, the Soviet computer MK-88, the vintage board Monotech NuXT 2.0, and on SBC/SoC/FPGA recreating the IA16 architecture. Originally starting as a fork of the Linux kernel for devices without a memory management unit (MMU), this project has been under development since 1995. Source texts are distributed under the GPLv2 license. The system is provided in the form of images for recording on floppy disks or running in the QEMU emulator.
In addition to the adapted Linux kernel for 16-bit systems, the ELKS 0.9 project is developing a set of standard utilities that include commands such as ps, bc, tar, du, diff, netstat, mount, sed, xargs, grep, find, telnet, meminfo, and more. It also includes a bash-compatible command interpreter, console window manager screen, text editors like Kilo and vi, as well as a graphical environment based on the X server Nano-X.
There are two options for the network stack in ELKS 0.9 – the standard TCP/IP stack of the Linux kernel and the ktcp stack running in user space. Ethernet adapters compatible with NE2K and SMC are supported, along with the ability to create communication channels through a serial port using SLIP and CSLIP. Supported file systems include Minix v1, FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. The boot process is configured via the /etc/rc.d/rc.sys script, and the format of the executable files is borrowed from the OS Minix.
In the new ELKS 0.9 release, integration has been provided with the project developing the graphical window system Microwindows (Nano-X). This system has a client-server architecture suitable for creating desktop environments, running terminal emulators, games, and graphical applications.
Microwindows (Nano-X) integrates with ELKS 0.9 project. This graphical window system has a client-server architecture and is ideal for creating desktop environments, terminal emulators,