guideXOS
An operating system project for a world beyond one CPU architecture.
guideXOS is an independent operating-system research project exploring what a modern OS can become across different runtimes,
hardware targets, and CPU families.
For questions, updates, or collaboration: guide_X@live.com
The project currently includes two major efforts:
guideXOS C# and guideXOS Server explore different paths for operating-system research under the same umbrella.
guideXOS C#
An operating system written entirely in C#/AOT, focused on rapid experimentation, UEFI bring-up, safe-mode debugging, and proving how far a managed-language OS can go.
guideXOS Server
A multi-architecture operating-system branch focused on strict layered design, UEFI-first boot, native desktop features, and a future where one application package can target multiple CPU families.
Why guideXOS?
Built around portability, layered design, and evidence-driven OS engineering
Strict Layered Architecture
guideXOS Server keeps the bootloader focused on loading the kernel, keeps the kernel boot-aware, and pushes desktop behavior into higher layers instead of taking shortcuts across subsystems.
Kernel Networking
The current kernel already includes Ethernet, ARP, IPv4, ICMP, UDP, TCP, DHCP, DNS, and a BSD-like socket layer for building real networking features.
Storage and Filesystems
guideXOS Server already brings up ATA, AHCI, NVMe, and USB storage along with FAT32, exFAT, ext2/4, and UFS support for practical boot and file access scenarios.
Universal Application Vision
Phase 8 is centered on `.gxapp`, a single package format meant to hold architecture-specific binaries so guideXOS apps can move toward compile-once packaging.
Real Hardware Paths
The project is tested through UEFI, BIOS, OpenSBI, serial consoles, framebuffer backends, and VM workflows so features can be validated beyond a hosted harness.
Desktop Experience Still Matters
Even while the kernel evolves, guideXOS continues to aim for a recognizable desktop experience with applications, a start menu, screenshots, and user-facing tools instead of kernel-only demos.
Quick Start
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Join the Development
Open source and community driven
guideXOS Server is an active research project covering bootloaders, kernels, filesystems, networking, architecture ports, and future developer tooling. If you care about operating systems, low-level portability, or long-horizon application models, there is meaningful work to do.
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