A lightweight, modular x86/x86_64 kernel designed for embedded systems, IoT devices, and low-memory environments. Ark prioritizes user experience and system efficiency over heavyweight features.

• Virtual Filesystem Layer (VFS) - Unified abstraction for multiple filesystems with file descriptor management
• FAT32 Driver - Full FAT32 filesystem support with boot sector parsing and cluster management
• ATA/IDE Driver - Legacy hard drive support with CHS/LBA addressing and IDENTIFY commands
• SATA/AHCI Driver - Modern SSD/drive support via AHCI protocol with PCI enumeration
• ramfs - Fast in-memory filesystem for temporary storage

• E1000 Network Driver - Intel E1000 NIC support with PCI scanning and initialization
• USB Driver - USB device enumeration and initialization
• Keyboard Driver (HID) - Keyboard input handling

• GRUB2 Integration - Bootable disk image creation with MBR partitioning
• Multiboot Compliance - Full multiboot specification support for real hardware
• Real Hardware Ready - Tested bootable on x86 BIOS systems (QEMU verified, real hardware compatible)

• Serial Print System - Early kernel logging and debug output
• PCI Scanner - Hardware device enumeration and management
• Framebuffer Console - Graphical console output support
• Memory Management - Memory mapping and MMIO support

arch/          - CPU architecture-specific code (x86, x86_64)
  x86/         - x86 bootloader and protected mode setup
  x86_64/      - x86_64 architecture support

fb/            - Framebuffer console and graphics
fs/            - Filesystem drivers and storage
  vfs.c/h      - Virtual filesystem layer
  fat32.c/h    - FAT32 driver
  ata.c/h      - ATA/IDE driver
  sata.c/h     - SATA/AHCI driver
  ramfs.c/h    - RAM filesystem
  built-in.c   - Storage subsystem initialization

gen/           - General kernel subsystems
  init.c       - Kernel initialization sequence
  printk.c     - Kernel logging
  pci.c/h      - PCI device scanning
  panic.c      - Panic handling

hid/           - Human Interface Devices
  kbd100.c     - PS/2 keyboard driver

io/            - Input/Output system (port I/O, MMIO)
ks/            - Kernel scripting support
mem/           - Memory management (malloc, MMIO)
mp/            - Module/probe system
wf/            - Network drivers
  e100.c       - Intel E100 NIC
  e1000.c      - Intel E1000 NIC
usb/           - USB device support
kconfig/       - Kernel configuration system

• GCC toolchain (i686-elf or compatible)
• GNU Make
• QEMU (for testing)
• Optional: grub2, parted (for bootable images)

make              # Build bzImage kernel

make run          # Run kernel with Multiboot (QEMU)
make run-disk     # Run kernel with disk image (GRUB2)

make boot.img     # Creates FAT32 GRUB2 bootable image

sudo dd if=boot.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M status=progress

1. GRUB2 Bootloader - Loads kernel in protected mode with multiboot info
2. Kernel Init - Initializes core systems (memory, PCI, interrupts)
3. Driver Initialization - USB, network, storage drivers probe hardware
4. Filesystem Mount - VFS mounts ramfs and FAT32 partitions
5. Init Process - Kernel hands off to init.bin (optional)

• VFS (Virtual Filesystem) - Unified interface for multiple filesystems
• Mount Points - Multiple filesystems can be mounted at different paths
• File Descriptors - Per-process file table for open files
• Cluster Caching - FAT32 cluster allocation table cached in memory

• ATA (IDE) - Port-mapped I/O (I/O ports 0x1F0-0x1F7, 0x3F6-0x3F7)
• SATA (AHCI) - Memory-mapped I/O with PCI BAR discovery
• Both support LBA addressing - Linear block addressing for sector access

✓ USB driver integration
✓ E1000 network driver
✓ ATA/IDE storage driver
✓ SATA/AHCI storage driver
✓ Virtual Filesystem Layer
✓ FAT32 driver framework
✓ GRUB2 bootable images
✓ Real hardware boot support

• Full FAT32 implementation (directory traversal, file reading)
• SATA read/write operations
• Filesystem testing and validation

• ext4 filesystem driver
• UEFI bootloader support
• ARM and RISC-V architecture ports
• Kernel scripting engine
• Userspace support (ring 3 execution)
• Advanced memory management (paging, swapping)
• SMP (multiprocessor) support

The OpenArc-1 team believes Ark kernel can serve everywhere in small areas where big projects won't work. Perfect for:

• Embedded Systems - Minimal dependencies, small footprint
• IoT Devices - Low memory requirements, efficient drivers
• Specialized Hardware - Custom architecture support (x86, ARM, RISC-V planned)
• Real Hardware - Bootable on actual x86 computers via GRUB2

We prioritize user experience and system efficiency over heavyweight features. Ark can run where Linux won't fit.

See FILESYSTEM.md for detailed filesystem architecture and API documentation.

See LICENSE file for licensing information.

OpenArc-1 welcomes contributions. Please submit issues and pull requests for improvements.