Show HN: I used OpenAI's new image API for a personalized coloring book service (clevercoloringbook.com)

Finally got my hobby OS up and running on real hardware. I love the old IBM thinkpads, so thought it was the perfect machine to get it working on. Been working on it for quite some time now, but this has been a big milestone!

Comments (26)

ayaros · 50m ago

I think the default system font should be a more condensed variant; it would make the system look much more refined. There are a number of areas where it's clear you need more horizontal space for characters. Each character should have less width, and there should be as little space between the characters as possible - just a single pixel ought to be enough at the font size and resolution you're using.

I don't know anything about your font system; I'm assuming it's fixed width bitmap fonts? I don't know how hard it would be to make these changes within your codebase so if it's too much work then don't worry about it.

I've been building a web OS site from scratch for a while now (not as technically impressive as what you're doing) and I just got through a total rewrite of the font classes, so it's at the top of my mind.

joexbayer · 31m ago

I agree my current font is very sub optimal. It’s basically still the original font I got working when I started out. I have looked into rendering proper fonts, so it’s on my todo list. Just have been neglecting it.

eggy · 2h ago

Congrats! Looks great coming from someone who had a Commodore PET 2001 in 1977. I have been toying with KolibriOS and MenuetOSx64, but I would sure like to try rolling my own OS. You did it! Keep truckin'!

joexbayer · 1h ago

Thanks! Appreciate the encouragement!

velcrovan · 1h ago

Is there any chance of booting this on a raspberry pi someday?

I'd love a non-linux minimal single-user OS that boots in <1 second

incanus77 · 36m ago

While I share the sentiment (and have been noodling with similar projects), unfortunately the minimum is around 4 seconds as the VideoCore chip is what boots first, then after about 4 seconds hands things over to the ARM chip, which can effectively boot instantly with this sort of OS.

pavlov · 1h ago

It’s written for the i386 CPU architecture while Raspberry Pi is ARM, so it would need to be ported.

What about Haiku OS? It’s supposed to be for that exact use case…

800xl · 36m ago

Have you checked out RISC OS already?

joshbaptiste · 51m ago

Oh man I wish such big accomplishments were documented on video like Andreas Kling did with SerenityOS https://www.youtube.com/@awesomekling .. learned a lot from his videos

joexbayer · 29m ago

Yeah… kinda wish that too in hindsight. I have screenshots of the entire development process from the very start, and of course my git history. Never thought I’d get this far.

xyst · 26m ago

I wish I could spare time like this to work passion projects.

Forget practicality.

Forget "go to market" strategy.

Forget target fit.

Just build and learn.

joexbayer · 16m ago

Yeah! It’s really refreshing, not having to think about it actually being “used” or the market. Simply just for fun and learning.

nopelynopington · 3h ago

Nice! I was just thinking about an old eee pc I have somewhere and how I might revive it. What's the performance like?

joexbayer · 2h ago

I have an old eee pc myself! Tested it on that one too, performance is alright, not really optimized but since it’s so “basic” compared to real OSes it should be quite fast. Bigger problems are bugs and lack of functionality for real hardware. (Userspace applications are only available on the QEMU images.

firesteelrain · 3h ago

Great job! How did you get started in this ? Seems like a lot to figure out on your own

joexbayer · 2h ago

It started after finishing the operating systems class in university. The class was really “on rails” and I wanted to do my own thing.

gitroom · 2h ago

been messing with old laptops myself so i get it - hitting a milestone like this feels way better when its your own code running for real

caspper69 · 56m ago

Nice job. Impressive.

joexbayer · 30m ago

Thanks!

glitchc · 3h ago

This is incredible work, congrats!

joexbayer · 3h ago

Thanks! Been my main hobby project since university, appreciate it!

mrrogot69 · 4h ago

Cool OS! Love the old style thinkpads.

jmclnx · 3h ago

Yes, look very cool, very nice work!

joexbayer · 3h ago

Appreciate it!

mouse_ · 3h ago

fun usage of recursion in your factorial function on the third screenshot

joexbayer · 2h ago

Hehe, had to write some test programs. That’s one of them.

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Comments (26)