OS-1000-lines-zig
Learning and science
operating system education
SHOW HN2025
151points
34comments
#490of 3,837 in 2025
Top 13%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
1 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 10 critical, out of 18 comments about the project. Thread score -0.41.
Execution: 0 for, 5 againstDocs: 0 for, 4 againstIdea: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Interesting learning project
From 2 comments
Hi botirk, really interesting project! If I build the project what is the output format and how could configure things to boot it? I know how to this with IMG and ISO files of…
cyberclimb on HNVery cool! Mad props friend
sofia44 on HN
Objections
Claimed features like CLI and VGA output are missing or not implemented
From 3 comments
“Interact with the command-line interface to execute commands and view output” A command line interface has not been implemented. It just prints a bootup message. “Some basic…
mmaunder on HNBizarre that the README.md does not specify that this is for RISC-V. I also went to look to see where "console output" was implemented, and ... it looks like it's just not?…
valleyer on HNBingo, I was about to post the same but you hit all the things I was going to say. This is completely fake and only prints stuff out like it works.
reactordev on HN
README appears AI-generated and disconnected from code
From 2 comments
“Interact with the command-line interface to execute commands and view output” A command line interface has not been implemented. It just prints a bootup message. “Some basic…
mmaunder on HNCool projects! A few suggestions: - You're committing .zig-cache to git, but that's build output, so it shouldn't be under version control. You should add it to .gitignore (you…
mtlynch on HN
Build fails on newer Zig versions
From 2 comments
How to build the OS? I'm on macOS with zig 0.15.1 installed. `zig build` gave me this: /Users/anta40/Lab/OSDev/OS-1000-lines-zig/build.zig.zon:9:13: error: expected enum literal…
anta40 on HNThe project was made with an older version of Zig, which used strings as keys in zig.build.zon before but then it was changed to use enum literals in 0.14.0 IIRC.
s-lambert on HN
Targets RISC-V with no VGA; unclear what it runs on
From 2 comments
I don’t know what output to the VGA means from the OP. I suspect that entire project was vibe coded including the readme. It’s a common first step when writing an OS for x86 but…
WD-42 on HNI also tried to find what this is supposed to run on. Some of it looks like intel crap and most looks like it's just an application. Looking at the comments, this seems to be AI…
a96 on HN
Requests
Update to newer Zig version
From 2 comments
“Interact with the command-line interface to execute commands and view output” A command line interface has not been implemented. It just prints a bootup message. “Some basic…
mmaunder on HNCool projects! A few suggestions: - You're committing .zig-cache to git, but that's build output, so it shouldn't be under version control. You should add it to .gitignore (you…
mtlynch on HN
Clarify README and supported platforms
From 2 comments
Bizarre that the README.md does not specify that this is for RISC-V. I also went to look to see where "console output" was implemented, and ... it looks like it's just not?…
valleyer on HNCool projects! A few suggestions: - You're committing .zig-cache to git, but that's build output, so it shouldn't be under version control. You should add it to .gitignore (you…
mtlynch on HN
Questions
How to run the built output and boot it
From 2 comments
Hi botirk, really interesting project! If I build the project what is the output format and how could configure things to boot it? I know how to this with IMG and ISO files of…
cyberclimb on HNCheck the build.zig file. It defines the arguments for QEMU to run the OS. You should be able to run zig build run.
coffeeri on HN
Whether it runs on ARM
From 1 comment
Hi botirk, really interesting project! If I build the project what is the output format and how could configure things to boot it? I know how to this with IMG and ISO files of…
cyberclimb on HN
What lessons the project teaches
From 1 comment
I was hoping to get some commentary about the project and what lessons you learned from it. You wrote an OS in 1000 lines of Zig, but... So what? What should I take away from…
wsve on HN
Alternatives named
Operating System in 1,000 Lines (C implementation)
From 1 comment
Sweet! Folks interested in this may also like "Operating System in 1,000 Lines" https://operating-system-in-1000-lines.vercel.app/en/ and the implementation in C…
ants_everywhere on HN