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Introducing CoreXNT

CoreXNT is a ground-up x86_64 operating system with SMP, networking, USB, and more. Here

Welcome to the CoreXNT development blog.

What is CoreXNT?

CoreXNT is a complete operating system project built from scratch by a solo developer. It covers:

  • CoreXNT™ Kernel — the kernel, drivers, and core infrastructure
  • CoreXNT™ OS — user-space environment, apps, and tools

Why build a new OS?

Because it's interesting. Modern operating systems carry decades of legacy, and building one from scratch is the best way to understand how they really work. CoreXNT aims to be:

  • Performant — optimized for modern x86_64 hardware with SMP
  • Feature-rich — networking, USB, multiple filesystems
  • Secure — ASLR, KASLR, and process isolation

Current Feature Set

  • x86_64 with SMP multi-core (ACPI MADT, APIC, per-CPU structures)
  • Memory management: PMM, vmalloc, slab allocator, swap, OOM, mmap, SHM
  • Threading: 1:N model (process:threads), cooperative kernel threads, preemptive user threads
  • Network stack: TCP/UDP (IPv4 + IPv6), ARP, DNS, Ethernet, sockets
  • Storage drivers: NVMe, AHCI (SATA), Virtio-blk
  • USB 3.0: xHCI, HID (keyboard, mouse), storage, hub
  • Filesystems: FAT32, ext2, CXNTFS, tmpfs, procfs, sysfs
  • Security: ASLR, KASLR, seccomp, signed kernel modules
  • Debug infrastructure: GDB stub, kernel debugger, PMU/perf events, trace

Licensing

CoreXNT is proprietary, closed-source software. It is not open-source. Access to the source code may be granted to verified contributors under a custom EULA. Select components may be released under Apache 2.0 or MIT at the author's discretion.

What's Next?

  • Network stack refinements (TCP server improvements, I/O multiplexing)
  • ARM64 port (in progress)
  • Display server / GUI (XNTDisplay)
  • More drivers and filesystem support

Stay tuned for updates.


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