nowfound

Life & fun · June 24, 2013

Building an HTML5 Desktop environment with a minimal server component

Not really an oprating system, Just a pile of javascript pretending to be a Desktop Environment - Lerc/notanos

Building an HTML5 Desktop environment with a minimal server component launched on June 24, 2013 with 68 votes, #23 of 476 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 13 years on.

Visit github.com ↗Alternativestop 5% of June 2013

In plain words

Notanos is a JavaScript-based desktop environment that runs in a web browser with minimal server requirements. It mimics a traditional operating system interface through client-side code rather than functioning as a true OS. Designed for experimentation and entertainment, it provides a desktop-like experience with windows, applications, and file management capabilities. The project is hosted on GitHub and targets developers and users interested in browser-based computing environments.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

Does a similar job

all alternatives →
  • I wrote a "web OS" based on the Apple Lisa's UI, with 1-bit graphics2025 · alpha.lisagui.com · ▲516

    https://lisagui.com/info.html This is a web OS I wrote in vanilla JS that looks like the Apple Lisa Office System (1983-85), with other contemporaneous influences and additional improvements and features. It's currently in alpha and isn't remotely bug free. I had been holding off on posting this here until it was somewhat presentable and useful. Please note; the Lisa conforms more literally to the desktop metaphor than most modern GUIs - some of the important differences are mentioned in the readme. This is a complete recreation of the UI in JS; it all renders to a single…

  • Anything APIMar 2026 · anything.notte.cc · ▲656

    Hey HN! We built Notte, a browser infrastructure and agents platform. Many of our users automate UI workflows or extract data from sites that don’t have APIs. In practice, we noticed that once an agent understands how a site works, parts of the task can often run without a browser by interacting with the same network requests the site uses. So we built Anything API: describe a browser task, and our agent explores the site, builds a function, tests it against your description, and deploys a callable REST endpoint. No infra to manage. How the build works: - Describe the task (best results come…

  • Notte Browser Agents2025 · notte.cc · ▲275

    Hey HN, We’ve been building browser agents for a while. In production, we kept converging on the same pattern: deterministic scripts for the happy path, agents only for edge cases. So we built Demonstrate Mode. The idea is simple: You perform your workflow once in a remote browser. Notte records the interactions and generates deterministic automation code. How it works: - Record clicks, inputs, navigations in a cloud browser - Compile them into deterministic code (no LLM at runtime) - Run and deploy on managed browser infrastructure Closest analog is Playwright codegen but: - Infrastructure…

  • Mizu.js – Lightweight HTML templating library for any-side rendering2024 · mizu.sh · ▲225

    Hey HN, I'd like to share a fun project I've been working on: mizu.js. It's a js library that add functional attributes support into your html, designed to be a simple and flexible alternative to fully-fledged web frameworks (such as Vue, React, and Angular), while offering more capabilities than other lightweight options (like Alpine.js and htmx). As it's written using modern ES features and due to its isomorphic nature, it can be run in both browsers and runtimes (Node, Deno, Bun) without any changes. This makes it ideal for client-side and server-side rendering, as well as static site…

  • Demonstrate by NotteJan 2026 · console.notte.cc · ▲285

    Browser workflows to deployed automation in minutes

  • NW.js2015 · nwjs.io · ▲77

    A new way of writing desktop apps with Web technologies

More life & fun this month

the category →

Source: Show HN post ↗

Launched alongside, June 2013

the whole month →