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Life & fun · April 24, 2025

My from-scratch OS kernel that runs DOOM

Hi there! I've been on-and-off working on TacOS for a few months, which follows some UNIX-derived concepts (exec/fork, unix-style VFS, etc) and is now able to run a port of Doom, with a fairly small amount of modifications, using my from-scratch libc. The performance is actually decent compared to what I expected. Very interested to hear your thoughts. Thank you!

My from-scratch OS kernel that runs DOOM launched on April 24, 2025 with 320 votes, #80 of 7,818 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 1 year on.

Visit github.com ↗Alternativestop 1% of April 2025

In plain words

TacOS is a from-scratch operating system kernel built around UNIX-derived concepts including exec/fork and a unix-style virtual file system. The kernel includes a custom libc and is capable of running a ported version of Doom with minimal modifications. It is designed for developers and hobbyists interested in operating system development and low-level programming. The project demonstrates functional performance running a complex application like Doom while maintaining a relatively lightweight architecture.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Mirror of my from-scratch x86_64 UNIX-like OS. Contribute to UnmappedStack/TacOS development by creating an account on GitHub.

TacOS is a UNIX-like kernel which is able to run DOOM, among various other smaller userspace programs. It has things like a VFS, scheduler, TempFS, devices, context switching, virtual memory management, physical page frame allocation, and a port of Doom. It runs both on real hardware (tested on my laptop) and in the Qemu emulator. Please note that TacOS is a hobby toy OS and is not complete enough for real usage. It has multiple known bugs. I have a Discord server for TacOS where I will share most updates, and you can also get help with your own OSDev project or just have a chat. You can join here . git clone https://github.com/UnmappedStack/TacOS cd TacOS && make run You'll need to have…from github.com

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