MenuetOS
MenuetOS is an operating system with a monolithic preemptive, real-time kernel written in FASM assembly language. The system also includes video drivers. It runs on 64-bit and 32-bit x86 architecture computers. Its author is Ville M. Turjanmaa. It has a graphical desktop, games, and networking abilities (TCP/IP stack). One distinctive feature is that it fits on one  floppy disk. On an Intel Pentium MMX  it has been known to boot in .

History

32 bit 
MenuetOS was originally written for 32-bit x86 architectures and released under the GPL-2.0-only license, thus many of its applications are distributed under the GPL.

64 bit 
The 64-bit MenuetOS often referred to as Menuet 64, remains a platform for learning 64-bit assembly language programming. The 64-bit Menuet is distributed without charge for personal and educational use only, but without the source code, and the license includes a clause that prohibits disassembly. 

Multi-core support was added on 24 Feb 2010.

Features 
MenuetOS development has focused on fast, simple, efficient implementation. MenuetOS has networking abilities, and a working TCP/IP stack. Most of the networking code is written by Mike Hibbett.

The main focus of Menuet has been on making an environment for easy assembly programming, but it is still possible to run software written in high-level programming languages on the assembler core. The biggest single effort towards high-level language support is Jarek Pelczar's work in porting C libraries to Menuet.

The GUI at version 0.99 supports display resolutions up to  (16 million colours) with window transparency. The OS has support for several classes of USB 2.0 peripherals. MenuetOS ships with the shareware versions of Quake and Doom.

For disk access, MenuetOS supports the FAT32 file system. Write support is only possible to USB connected devices.

Distributions

32-bit
 Menuet32
 GridWorks "EZ" distribution (comprehensive 32-bit archive packages) (CD/HD Boots)

64-bit
The 64-bit main distribution is now proprietary. Several distributions of the 32-bit GPL MenuetOS still exist, including translations in Russian, Chinese, Czech, and Serbian.
 Menuet64

See also
 KolibriOS - A free fork of MenuetOS 32-bit

References

 David Chisnall (Jun 22, 2007) A Roundup of Free Operating Systems. MenuetOS, informIT
  MenuetOS - 32bit-Betriebssystem auf einer Floppy, Der Standard, 12 May 2003
 Eugenia Loli-Queru (5 Sep 2001) Interview With Ville Turjanmaa, the Creator of MenuetOS, OSNews
 Ville M. Turjanmaa (December 1, 2001) The Menuet Operating System. Packing a lot of punch into a small package, Dr. Dobb's

External links

MenuetOS homepage (Menuet64 oriented)
MenuetOS C Library
MenuetOS compared to AtheOS and SkyOS (2002)
an interview with Ville Turjanmaa and Madis Kalme, two of the MenuetOS developers (2009)

Floppy disk-based operating systems
X86-64 operating systems
Assembly language software
Proprietary operating systems
Hobbyist operating systems