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This Alternative Operating System Is Keeping Retro Computing Alive
Quoting: What is HelenOS, and Should You Use It? —
HelenOS is an experimental operating system that is intended to serve as a vehicle for research into microkernels. A kernel is the central part of an operating system. This is the part of an OS that actually runs the computer, directing the traffic of input and output and letting the computer run smoothly.
As the name suggests, a "microkernel" is an attempt to build a smaller kernel. OS developers do this by moving certain functions out of the kernel and into servers that handle these tasks. A microkernel might have a servers for the graphics system, another for networking, and so on. This is in contrast to the Linux kernel, which is often considered a "monolithic" kernel because it handles so many functions. Other microkernel OSes include Minix and GNU Hurd.