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HamsterOS Crams Complete Graphical Desktop onto 1.44 MB Floppy
Quoting: HamsterOS Crams Complete Graphical Desktop Onto 1.44 MB Floppy | Hackaday —
HamsterOS is a tiny but full-featured multitasking 32-bit graphical operating system that fits on a single 1.44 MB floppy disk. It’s designed as a floppy-first OS, but can easily be installed to a hard drive and includes a suite of native applications. There’s even DOS support!
The list of features is impressive, many of which are targeted at making life a little easier for those working with vintage hardware. One example we like is the CMOS crash counter, which automatically forces the system into a basic VGA safe mode after three consecutive failed boot attempts.
Speaking of making vintage computing a little easier to handle, [John] also released HamsterWeazle, a free GUI front-end for Greaseweazle, the open-source USB device that makes interfacing to old floppy drives easy. If you’re finding yourself intrigued by software like HamsterOS but wondering how you’d write to a 1.44 MB floppy without already having some old hardware up and running, Greaseweazle over USB — and HamsterWeazle to make it much more user-friendly — is one way you’d do it.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ HamsterOS jams a 32-bit GUI operating system in a single 1.44 MB floppy disk — retro OS for 386-era hardware should make for easy living with DOS machines and software
HamsterOS fits on just a single 1.44 MB floppy disk, and it's set for a full release this November.