ELKS is a project providing a Linux-like OS for systems based on the Intel IA16 architecture (16-bit processors: 8086, 8088, 80188, 80186, 80286, NEC V20, V30 and compatibles). Such systems are ancient computers (IBM-PC XT / AT and clones) as well as more recent SBCs, SoCs, and FPGAs. ELKS supports networking and installation to HDD using both MINIX and FAT file systems.
You can play with ELKS online thanks to the v86 emulator. Login with "root" and no password. Go to the bin folder and try the different commands available. Try nxtetris. Start the game by pressing "n".
ELKS running on QEMU
Olivetti M24 8086 CPU
ELKS Networking showing netstat and process list
Running ELKS Basic on PC-9801UV21 (NEC V30 CPU)
Running Matrix and vi on multiple consoles
Of course Doom
Telnet to an old BBS
A full set of disk images are available for download, for you to try out ELKS: Downloads.
Full build instructions are here.
Help on how to use ELKS, as well as technical tutorials, are available on our Wiki.
More information is in the Documentation folder: Index of ELKS Documentation.
Other projects and resources interesting to ELKS and our programming community:
Questions? Problems? Patches? Open an issue on the ELKS GitHub project!