NoovexOS
From Noovexpedia, the free NoovexOS encyclopedia
NoovexOS is a from-scratch operating system for the x86 (i686) architecture, written mostly in C with a small amount of hand-tuned assembly. It is developed by the Noovex project and is not derived from Linux, BSD, or any other existing kernel. NoovexOS ships a graphical desktop environment, a package manager, user account control (UAC), signed .nvx executables and an expanding set of ported software.
The project emphasises speed, privacy and user control: NoovexOS collects zero telemetry and encrypts network traffic with ChaCha20-Poly1305. Builds are freely available on the download page, and the full source code is released under the Noovex Open License.
NoovexOS is developed and maintained by volunteers in their spare time and has no corporate backing. You can explore the documentation, browse the source code on GitHub and join the community on Discord.
History
Development of NoovexOS began as an experiment in writing a bootable kernel without reusing an existing codebase. Early builds were text-only and booted into a virtual terminal; later revisions introduced a framebuffer compositor, a windowed desktop, and an application format based on standard ELF32 binaries. The current release series is Noovex9.
Design
Kernel
The NoovexOS kernel is monolithic and preemptive. Boot proceeds from the bootloader to the kernel entry point, which configures the GDT and IDT, brings up the physical memory manager, enables paging, parses ACPI tables, starts the scheduler and finally launches the init process. Scheduling uses round-robin run queues driven by the local APIC timer.
Desktop environment
The desktop is drawn by a framebuffer compositor and provides windows, a taskbar, a file manager and a terminal. Applications are ordinary ELF32 programs linked against the Helios userspace runtime.
Security and privacy
NoovexOS applies user account control (UAC) prompts to privileged operations and verifies signed .nvx packages before installation. Network traffic is encrypted with ChaCha20-Poly1305, and the system performs no analytics, tracking or usage reporting of any kind.
Features
- From-scratch x86 (i686) monolithic kernel with preemptive scheduling
- Windowed desktop environment with virtual terminals
- Package manager and signed
.nvxexecutables - User account control (UAC)
- FAT32 filesystem support
- ChaCha20-Poly1305 encrypted networking
- Standard ELF32 userspace applications
- Ported software, including a port of DOOM
- Zero telemetry
Releases
| Version | Codename | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noovex9 v6.20 | — | Current | ISO, USB image and source archive available |
| Noovex9 V59.1 | — | Superseded | Previous public build |
| v24.06 | HELIOS | Historic | Introduced the Helios userspace runtime |
Images can be obtained from the download page.
Comparison with other systems
Unlike most hobby operating systems, NoovexOS does not reuse a Unix kernel or userland. The illustration below places NoovexOS alongside other systems in the wider landscape.
Community
NoovexOS is maintained by a small group of volunteers. See the maintainers page for the people behind the project, or join the Discord server to take part in development discussions.