By
@N1kamaro
This operating system was modeled to look like Linux, drawing design inspiration from a neutron star (pulsar); its goal is to be a functional operating system that also offers capabilities for connecting to microcontrollers, accessing serial communication, and performing various other useful tasks.
This is Pulsar OS, a WebOS focused on hardware and software development. To be honest, those three days spent developing Pulsar were a massive headache—especially developing the project’s core (the JavaScript) and getting the whole system to communicate seamlessly without any glitches ☠️.
And I won’t lie: I’m really proud to have successfully made the WebOS communicate properly with an ESP32 or even an Arduino! I hadn’t seen this feature anywhere else; I spent hours researching and trying to figure out how it worked. It was a huge headache, too, but—would you look at that—it actually worked! Now the system includes a calculator, a functional built-in browser (with some limitations, but it works), customization options, a notepad, and a guide in case you’re unsure how things work. All in all, it turned into a pretty complete system that I’m happy to share with you all! SEE YA IN THE NEXT PROJECT!!
YEEEEEAH, I ACTUALLY DID IT :D
Remember when I said:
“PULSAR STARTED YESTERDAY. PULSAR SHIPS TODAY.”
WELL…
PULSAR SHIPPED.
After a LOT of debugging, testing, fixing things, breaking other things while fixing those things KKKKKKKK, and finishing the last parts of the system, PULSAR OS // BUILD 1.0 IS FINALLY DONE.
The last development phase was basically about making everything actually work together.
We finished all the applications, connected the hardware system, tested everything, fixed the remaining bugs and then cleaned and mapped the source code so that someone opening the project can actually understand WHERE EVERYTHING IS KKKKKKK.
And somehow, this thing now has:
NOTES // local storage + autosave
CALCULATOR // because every OS needs one :D
TERMINAL // commands, system tools and hardware communication
PULSAR WEB // a web interface inside a Web OS
SERIAL MONITOR // direct RX/TX communication with microcontrollers
DEVICE MANAGER // connected hardware information and management
GUIDE // documentation built directly into PULSAR
CUSTOMIZATION // wallpapers and system personalization
And yes, the hardware part WORKS.
For the final test, I connected an ESP32 to PULSAR and sent:
PULSAR > Hello ESP
And it answered:
ESP32 > Hello Pulsar!
:D
We also went through the HTML, CSS and JavaScript and mapped the different parts of the source code, so if someone wants to explore PULSAR or use it to understand how a Web OS like this works, the project is MUCH easier to navigate now.
And then…
WE PUT IT ONLINE.
Obviously, the first completely reasonable thing I did was open PULSAR inside PULSAR Web…
SO YES.
PULSAR CAN RUN PULSAR INSIDE PULSAR.
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
This project started with me giving myself the incredibly stupid challenge of making an entire Web OS in basically one day.
Then I made the challenge worse.
Then I called it “50 YEARS IN 5.”
And now I’m looking at a finished Web OS with a desktop, apps, terminal, documentation, storage, hardware communication and its own little ecosystem.
So…
I think we’re done here :D
PULSAR OS // BUILD 1.0
SYSTEM // ONLINE
DEVELOPMENT … COMPLETE !!!!!!
SIGNAL // ACQUIRED
Thank you to everyone who followed these devlogs!
This was PULSAR.
BYE BYEEEE :D
SEE YA IN THE NEXT PROJECT!!!
— N1K
A STAR. A SIGNAL. AN INTERFACE.
OKAY, WE ARE DOING 50 YEARS IN 5 (Brazillian history class ref).
Remember when I said I would start AND finish PULSAR-OS yesterday??
Well… I decided to make that challenge EVEN WORSE KKKKKKKPULSAR already looks like an OS, but I don’t want it to just look like one.
I WANT IT TO FEEL LIKE ONE.
So I’m calling this next phase: 50 YEARS IN 5.
I’m basically speedrunning decades of OS features into PULSAR before shipping it today :D
And we already made some serious progress:STORAGE // ONLINEBOOT // WORKINGSYSTEM MENU // WORKINGCUSTOMIZATION // WORKING 0 ERRORS.
Now comes the insanity: apps, terminal, notes, calculator, search, documentation and, most importantly, the microcontroller/hardware system.
Is this reasonable?NO.
Are we doing it anyway?YEAH.
PULSAR STARTED YESTERDAY. PULSAR SHIPS TODAY.
SEE YA IN THE FINAL DEVLOG :D
YEEEAH PULSAR-OS IS ALIVE!!!!Sooo… I decided to give myself a pretty stupid challenge today:START AND FINISH AN ENTIRE WEB OS IN ONE DAY.Yep.I started PULSAR-OS TODAY, and my goal is to have the project finished and shipped before the end of the day KKKKKKKPULSAR is a web-based operating system / hardware interface that I want to use to interact with microcontrollers and some of my electronics projects :DAnd somehow, after almost 6 hours of work, this thing went from basically nothing to ACTUALLY LOOKING LIKE AN OPERATING SYSTEM.PULSAR already has multiple wallpapers, and you can change them directly through the customization window. I spent WAY too much time fighting bugs with this part, but IT FINALLY WORKS.BUT my favorite part so far is definitely the boot sequence!!The thing is: I started doing this today, and the mission? FINISHING IT TODAY TOO!I have only a few more hours left.SEE YA IN THE FINAL DEVLOG :D
