uBixOS atom icon
uBixOS
OPEN SOURCE 64-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM — ARM64 + x86_64 — SINCE 2002
2002
FOUNDED
2000+
COMMITS
v3.0.0
VERSION
64-BIT
ARM64 + x86_64
// v3.0.0-BETA — THE 64-BIT ERA
uBixOS IS NOW 64-BIT.

After 20+ years on 32-bit i386, uBixOS made the jump to a clean 64-bit codebase. The kernel now boots to the full graphical desktop on ARM64 (aarch64) — the new primary architecture — and x86_64, sharing one machine-independent kernel and userland. Same compositor, same apps, two 64-bit CPUs.

🌐
A WEB BROWSER

The NetSurf browser runs in-OS on all three arches — HTML/CSS with JavaScript, over TLS and a live TCP/IP stack.

💻
ARM64 + x86_64

Both boot to login, mouse, and an interactive tcsh desktop. i386 is retired to a legacy branch.

🧵
REAL THREADS

musl pthreads on a homebrew kernel: pthread_create, mutexes, condvars, and futex-backed sync.

🧮
SMP BRING-UP

Secondary CPU cores come out of reset and run 64-bit kernel code — the road to true multi-core.

// MILESTONE ACHIEVED — STILL TRUE ON 64-BIT
IT RUNS DOOM.

The gold standard of OS maturity. uBixOS boots, loads the WAD, and renders a full game at playable frame rates — windowed inside the Views compositor or fullscreen. The same kernel that handles memory management, input, and audio is the one E1M1 is running on — now on ARM64 and x86_64 alike.

[ SCREENSHOTS ]
Doom running on uBixOS

// WHAT uBixOS CAN DO
O(1) QoS SCHEDULER

32-level priority bitmap scheduler with real-time and background QoS tiers. Context switches in constant time regardless of task count.

🧠
COW VIRTUAL MEMORY

Copy-on-write fork, demand-zero anonymous pages, RB-tree VMA lookup for O(log n) mmap/munmap, and a clock-algorithm swap daemon.

🖥️
WINDOWED GUI

Views compositor with overlapping windows, a taskbar, application launcher, and login screen. Run Doom and Tessera side-by-side.

🔊
AC97 SOUND

Intel AC97 audio codec driver with DMA playback. Doom's soundtrack plays through the same kernel that boots the OS.

🧭
PORTABLE 64-BIT KERNEL

One machine-independent kernel + userland over a thin arch layer. The same source boots on ARM64 (virt + GICv2) and x86_64 (APIC + virtio) — with real-hardware ARM boards next.

📦
musl libc + DYNAMIC LINKING

musl libc 1.2.5 ported and running. ELF dynamic linker loads shared libraries at runtime — the same way Linux does it.

🐚
tcsh + busybox USERLAND

Every account defaults to tcsh 6.24.16 — tab completion, history, job control. busybox 1.36.1 backs a full coreutils suite plus vi: grep, find, less, sort, cp, mv, and more.

📡
POSIX SIGNALS

Full POSIX signal delivery: sigaction, sigprocmask, sigsuspend, SA_SIGINFO frames, SA_RESTART, and process groups. Ctrl-C works.

🎮
GAMES

DOOM (windowed + fullscreen) and Tessera — a Tetris-inspired puzzle game in the Views compositor. Two playable games on a homebrew kernel.

🎨
CUSTOMIZABLE DESKTOP

Per-user wallpapers, solid/jailbars backgrounds, and an accent color that themes the whole taskbar and window chrome. Ships with original synthwave art.

🌐
TCP/IP + SOCKETS

In-kernel lwIP over virtio-net with DHCP, a BSD sockets API, and userland tools — wget, httpsget (BearSSL), and nc — feeding the NetSurf browser.

🗃️
UBISTRY REGISTRY

A hierarchical, typed config registry persisted to disk and served over MPI. Backs the desktop, theming, start menu, and network settings — with per-user layering.


// LATEST RELEASE
v3.0.0-BETA 2026-06-16 BETA
  • The 64-bit ports: ARM64 (aarch64) is the new primary arch, plus x86_64
  • x86_64 reaches full desktop parity — login, mouse, tcsh, COW fork, ELF64 + ld-musl
  • NetSurf web browser renders real pages on all three architectures
  • Networking: virtio-net + lwIP + DHCP + BSD sockets; wget / httpsget / nc
  • musl pthreads, futex, per-thread TLS, and detached threads
  • SMP application-processor bring-up (ACPI MADT / GICv2, opt-in)

// GET INVOLVED
🔧
BUILD & HACK

macOS + Homebrew or Linux. Clone, run bmake image, boot in QEMU. Detailed guide inside.

[ BUILD GUIDE ]
STAR ON GITHUB

Follow along, file issues, send PRs. Every star helps a 20-year project stay visible.

[ GITHUB ]