The Contiki Desktop OS for C64, NES, 8-bit Atari,

Adam Dunkels writes "This is for those of you who think that a text-based operating system that fits compressed on a 1.44Mb floppy counts as 'tiny': the brand new Contiki operating system and desktop environment for the Commodore 64, with ports to a bunch of other platforms such as the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, the VIC-20, 8-bit Ataris, Atari Jaguar, the Tandy CoCo, and the Apple ][ under development. The Contiki system includes the following: a multi-tasking kernel, a windowing system and themeable GUI toolkit, a screen saver, a TCP/IP stack, a personal web server, and a web browser. The Contiki web browser, which is likely to be the world's smallest browser given its extremely small memory footprint, is the world's first true web browser for an 8-bit system and probably makes the 21 years old Commodore 64 the oldest system ever to run a real web browser! All of the above programs are contained in a single, fully self-contained, 42 kilobytes large binary. The entire Contiki system with all programs running simultaneously is comfortable in 64 kilobytes of memory. The name 'Contiki' is derived from Thor Heyerdahl's famous Kon-Tiki raft which was able to sail across the Pacific Ocean despite being built using prehistoric techniques, something previously thought impossible. There are also screenshots and a FAQ avaliable."

Comments

Bigger is not necessarily better.

[Mossfoot]

This gets me to thinking about how much programing is probably "junk" programming these days. Anyone remember the sequal to Elite? Elite 2: Final Frontiers I think it was called. That had thousands of systems, planets, bases, stations, etc... set up in a game that had "realistic" physics. You could actually land on the planets yourself!

It was 1 disk big (1.44 floppy).

Now I look at Freelancer. A big CD full of great graphics. Yet at the same time I see it as not nearly as complex and thought out as Elite 2.

This is an interesting attempt not to make bigger programs, but tighter ones. Making the most of what you have. It feels like there is so much available on computers these days, that programs aren't concerned with getting the most out of it, just using as much of the bells and whistles as they can. Imagine using the same mentality on a modern computer!

Re:Cool, but..

[djupdal]

Because it is fun.

Programming on old 8-bit systems is very different from programming for windows/unix. You must know the hardware better and do optimisations you would not even think about on a modern computer.

Some people find that challanging and fun. Not everything needs to be useful.