ExectOS aims to be a stable and flexible, general purpose operating system written from scratch. It is designed to be modular, maintainable and compatible with existing software. It implements a brand new XT architecture and features own native application interface. On the backend, it contains a powerful driver model between device drivers and the kernel, that enables kernel level components to be upgraded without a need to recompile all drivers.
XT Architecture
ExectOS is a preemptive, reentrant multitasking operating system that implements the XT architecture which derives from NT™ architecture. It is modular, and consists of two main layers: microkernel and user modes. Its’ kernel mode has full access to the hardware and system resources and runs code in a protected memory area. It consists of executive services, which is itself made up on many modules that do specific tasks, a kernel and drivers. Unlike the NT™, system does not feature a separate Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) between the physical hardware and the rest of the OS. Instead, XT architecture integrates a hardware specific code with the kernel. The user mode is made up of subsystems and it has been designed to run applications written for many different types of operating systems. This allows us to implement any environment subsystem to support applications that are strictly written to the corresponding standard (eg. DOS, or POSIX). Thanks to that ExectOS will allow to run existing software, including Win32 applications.
Features
- Completely free, Open Source and community-driven modern Operating System.
- Native multiple architecture support. It runs on x86 and x86_64 and is portable to other architectures.
- Hardware layer API allows for a single unified kernel. There is no need to maintain a separate kernel forks.
- Uses a couple of ideas from other open source projects, but it’s our own ideas that really sets us apart and defines ExectOS. The majority of code is original, not forked.
- Modular design for better compatibility with existing software and drivers, enabling binaries to remain compatible even when the core system is updated.
- Own, XT drivers for commonly used devices as well as NT™ drivers compatibility layer for better hardware support.
- Technical support directly from the architects and developers of the system.