Live data from Hacker News

Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

visopsys.org

11–20 of 151 posts

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#11

Amazing! I find it extremely fascinating that somebody is able to create entire operating system. Not a easy task!

take a look at AtheOS it's successor SyllableOS. created by a single developer, another single developer took it over (syllable) and it shortly became an open source project before it went defunct again. But it made impressive gains in the 3 years of initial development.

i miss those days of everyone and their mom creating an OS for giggles

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#13
post #6
post #4

This is very very cool, and unlike a lot of other "hobby" OSes actually looks usable as a daily driver if your needs are basic (kids, elderly, older/cheaper hardware, etc). While for nerds computers have become these monstrously powerful things that can do everything under the sun, there's definitely still plenty of people who just want a computer to write down notes, keep a calendar, use the calculator... eg the thi…

What youre describing is called iOS on a large iPad. Everyone from 4 year olds to my 77 year old computer illiterate Dad can figure it out. This doesn't look very usable at all by someone who isn't basically a computer nerd.

True in theory, but in practice due to our economy being based on growth at all costs, iOS doesn’t really fit the bill anymore.

Nowadays even iOS will randomly change its UI and send you “notifications” or “suggestions” (modern euphemism for “ads”) to subscribe to Apple TV* or iCloud.

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What youre describing is called iOS on a large iPad. Everyone from 4 year olds to my 77 year old computer illiterate Dad can figure it out. This doesn't look very usable at all by someone who isn't basically a computer nerd.

True in theory, but in practice due to our economy being based on growth at all costs, iOS doesn’t really fit the bill anymore. Nowadays even iOS will randomly change its UI and send you “notifications” or “suggestions” (modern euphemism for “ads”) to subscribe to Apple TV* or iCloud.

I was forced to buy a new iPhone recently (my 16 was stolen), and had iOS 26 foisted on me.

My god, is it bad (for me, I'm sure some like it). The ugly glass UX, the weird floating controls, the always on display, blah blah. It's not innovative at all, it's like they just had to redo everything simply to make it seem "new".

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True in theory, but in practice due to our economy being based on growth at all costs, iOS doesn’t really fit the bill anymore. Nowadays even iOS will randomly change its UI and send you “notifications” or “suggestions” (modern euphemism for “ads”) to subscribe to Apple TV* or iCloud.

I was forced to buy a new iPhone recently (my 16 was stolen), and had iOS 26 foisted on me. My god, is it bad (for me, I'm sure some like it). The ugly glass UX, the weird floating controls, the always on display, blah blah. It's not innovative at all, it's like they just had to redo everything simply to make it seem "new".

Always-on display can be disabled but for the rest I agree. It doesn’t really do anything more that my 3rd gen SE but is way more annoying to use (bigger size, no fingerprint reader nor home button).

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#17

By now, especially in linux, there should emerge an OS that is purely scripts to generate OS. Or is it already ?

Depending on how you mean it, that exists variously in at least yocto, gentoo, or ALFS. Although I should point out this (visopsys) isn't Linux distro

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#18
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What youre describing is called iOS on a large iPad. Everyone from 4 year olds to my 77 year old computer illiterate Dad can figure it out. This doesn't look very usable at all by someone who isn't basically a computer nerd.

True in theory, but in practice due to our economy being based on growth at all costs, iOS doesn’t really fit the bill anymore. Nowadays even iOS will randomly change its UI and send you “notifications” or “suggestions” (modern euphemism for “ads”) to subscribe to Apple TV* or iCloud.

> Nowadays even iOS will randomly change its UI

You and I have very different ideas of “random” I think.

Re: Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997

#20

Amazing! I find it extremely fascinating that somebody is able to create entire operating system. Not a easy task!

take a look at AtheOS it's successor SyllableOS. created by a single developer, another single developer took it over (syllable) and it shortly became an open source project before it went defunct again. But it made impressive gains in the 3 years of initial development. i miss those days of everyone and their mom creating an OS for giggles

Don't forget SkyOS. And there's plenty more, with SerenityOS being one of the latest notable examples. Those days never ended. Also ekhem ekhem TempleOS, as single developer as you can get.
Post reply on HN