MetalOS

A minimal operating system built from the ground up to run QT6 applications on AMD64 hardware with Radeon RX 6600 GPU and UEFI boot.

Not Linux. Not BSD. Not Windows. Just enough OS to run a QT6 Hello World full-screen application.

Project Status

🚧 In Development - Phase 1 Complete (Foundation)

Currently: Project structure, documentation, and skeleton code in place.

What is MetalOS?

MetalOS is a minimal, purpose-built operating system with a single goal: demonstrate that you can build a custom OS from scratch to run modern GUI applications (specifically QT6).

Key Features

• ✅ UEFI Native: Modern boot via UEFI (no legacy BIOS)
• ✅ AMD64 Architecture: 64-bit x86 processor support
• ✅ Radeon RX 6600 GPU: Hardware-specific graphics support
• ✅ QT6 Framework: Full QT6 widget support
• ✅ Minimal Design: Only what's necessary, nothing more

What's Included

• UEFI Bootloader: Initializes hardware and loads kernel
• Minimal Kernel: Memory management, scheduling, interrupts
• GPU Driver: Radeon RX 6600 specific (inspired by Linux amdgpu)
• HAL: Hardware abstraction for PCI, input devices
• User Space: Minimal C++ runtime for applications
• QT6 Port: QT6 framework ported to MetalOS
• Hello World App: Full-screen QT6 demonstration application

What's NOT Included

• ❌ Multi-user support
• ❌ Command line / shell
• ❌ Networking stack
• ❌ File systems (app embedded in boot image)
• ❌ POSIX compatibility
• ❌ Security features (this is a demo/learning project)
• ❌ Support for other hardware
• ❌ Multiple applications (single app only)

Quick Start

Prerequisites

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install build-essential nasm qemu-system-x86 ovmf

# macOS
brew install nasm qemu

You'll also need a cross-compiler. See docs/BUILD.md for details.

Building

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/johndoe6345789/MetalOS.git
cd MetalOS

# Build everything
make all

# Create bootable image
make image

# Test in QEMU
make qemu

Testing on Hardware

⚠️ WARNING: This is experimental software. Test on non-production hardware only.

See docs/BUILD.md for instructions on creating a bootable USB drive.

Documentation

• ARCHITECTURE.md - System design and architecture
• BUILD.md - Build instructions and dependencies
• DEVELOPMENT.md - Development workflow and guidelines
• ROADMAP.md - Development phases and timeline

Project Structure

MetalOS/
├── bootloader/        # UEFI bootloader
├── kernel/           # MetalOS kernel
├── userspace/        # User space runtime and applications
│   ├── runtime/     # C++ runtime
│   ├── init/        # Init process
│   └── apps/        # QT6 hello world application
├── docs/            # Documentation
└── scripts/         # Build scripts

Development Phases

• Phase 1: Foundation (Complete)
• Phase 2: UEFI Bootloader
• Phase 3: Minimal Kernel
• Phase 4: Hardware Abstraction Layer
• Phase 5: System Call Interface
• Phase 6: User Space Runtime
• Phase 7: QT6 Port
• Phase 8: Integration & Polish

See docs/ROADMAP.md for detailed breakdown.

Why?

Learning: Building an OS from scratch is the ultimate systems programming education.

Minimal Design: Modern OSes are complex. This project asks: "What's the absolute minimum needed for a GUI application?"

Custom Hardware: Show that you can optimize an OS for specific hardware instead of supporting everything.

QT6 Demo: Prove that modern application frameworks can run on custom OS implementations.

Technology Stack

• Language: C for kernel, C++ for applications
• Boot: UEFI
• Architecture: AMD64 (x86-64)
• Graphics: Direct framebuffer + Radeon RX 6600
• GUI: QT6 (Core, Gui, Widgets)
• Build: GNU Make, GCC cross-compiler

Inspiration

• Linux Kernel: For driver implementations (especially GPU)
• SerenityOS: For clean, minimal OS design
• TempleOS: For single-purpose OS philosophy
• Redox OS: For Rust-based OS architecture (though we use C/C++)

Contributing

This is primarily a learning/demonstration project, but contributions are welcome!

Guidelines:

• Keep it minimal - every feature must justify its existence
• Document your changes
• Follow existing code style
• Test on QEMU before submitting

See docs/DEVELOPMENT.md for details.

License

See LICENSE file for details.

Disclaimer

⚠️ This is not production software! MetalOS is a learning/demonstration project. It lacks security features, error handling, and hardware support expected in production OSes.

Do not use for anything important!

Contact

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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MetalOS - A minimal OS for maximal learning.