The AROSICA project: A Real OS In CA
Posted: August 27th, 2026, 7:06 pm
How close are we to having a "real" OS (operating system) in CA?
(or CGoL for that matter.)
Some may put this very far away, on the scale of years, or even decades.
But I think, given the right amount of effort, is just at our reach.
But... how???
The Eternal Software Initiative had made a VM that is capable of running a full Linux installation... in less then 100 lines of code! You can try it out online here. The full VM can also be packed into 366 bytes, as shown by IOCCC (The International Obfuscated C Code Contest) 's entry "cable" winning "Best imaginary emulator".
Ok... but how do this have to do with CA at all?
Surprisingly, the VM emulates a Subleq CPU, and we already have one in CA! Unfortunately, it uses a variant that differs slightly from Izhora's version of Subleq, which is described in the "napkin" and the machine architecture docs. This is why I said "just at our reach."
I think, with a combined community effort, we can build A Real OS In CA, and finally realizing the dreams of many!
To be Decided
Together, we can achieve the impossible!
(or CGoL for that matter.)
Some may put this very far away, on the scale of years, or even decades.
But I think, given the right amount of effort, is just at our reach.
But... how???
The Eternal Software Initiative had made a VM that is capable of running a full Linux installation... in less then 100 lines of code! You can try it out online here. The full VM can also be packed into 366 bytes, as shown by IOCCC (The International Obfuscated C Code Contest) 's entry "cable" winning "Best imaginary emulator".
Ok... but how do this have to do with CA at all?
Surprisingly, the VM emulates a Subleq CPU, and we already have one in CA! Unfortunately, it uses a variant that differs slightly from Izhora's version of Subleq, which is described in the "napkin" and the machine architecture docs. This is why I said "just at our reach."
I think, with a combined community effort, we can build A Real OS In CA, and finally realizing the dreams of many!
To be Decided
- What rule to build it in?
- How much RAM?
- ... and other hardware details.
- (Probably some I can't think off the top of my head right now.)
Together, we can achieve the impossible!