Does it run on a real PC? It is only tested on QEMU so far. The code is written for real hardware (legacy BIOS boot, IDE/AHCI/NVMe/SCSI/floppy drivers, ACPI power-off), but a PC needs a legacy BIOS or a UEFI "CSM" mode, and nothing here has been verified on real machines yet. Try it from a virtual machine first.
Does it run in VMware / VirtualBox? That is what it is being prepared for; see VIRTUAL-MACHINES.md. Neither has been run by the developer so far -- reports with the error name and numbers are very welcome.
Does it support USB (keyboard, mouse, drives)? Not yet. The keyboard and mouse are the old PS/2 kind, which virtual machines emulate. USB keyboard/mouse support is the next hardware goal; USB storage comes after.
Is it 64-bit? No, it is a 32-bit (i386) system. A 64-bit version is planned for later; there is no 64-bit kernel yet.
Can it run Windows or Linux programs?
No. It runs its own tiny .MWP programs, written in C against a small API (MWP-PROGRAMS.md).
How many documents and programs can I keep?
As many as the disk has room for: MiniWin has a real file system (directories, files that grow, other disks mounted under /mnt; see
FILES-AND-DISKS.md). A document is limited to 4 KB because that is what Notepad holds, a program to 24 KB. The
desktop shows the first 64 documents and 32 programs.
Is my data safe if the power goes out while saving?
A save writes the new version completely before the name is switched over, so after a power cut you get either the complete old
document or the complete new one, not a mixture; at worst some unreachable leftovers remain, and part check <id> fix gives them
back. (Tested with simulated power cuts at every sector of every operation.)
Does it work with a USB keyboard and mouse?
Yes: xHCI, EHCI and OHCI controllers are driven, with keyboards, mice (including the wheel) and "USB tablets"; lsusb shows what was
found. USB hubs, USB sticks/drives and Intel UHCI controllers are not supported yet.
Can I install it onto a real disk?
os-inst can write MiniWin onto another disk or partition that MiniWin can see (IDE, SATA, SCSI, NVMe). It is careful -- it refuses
to overwrite the disk it is running from and asks you to type YES -- but it does overwrite the target. See INSTALLING.md.
What are the licenses? The code is GPL-3.0-only. The icon pack and the logo are CC BY-SA 4.0. The fonts and the root certificates keep their own licenses. Details: LICENSING.md.
Where do I report a bug or ask a question? https://github.com/SegFault777/MiniWin/issues.