Red Bear OS
Microkernel operating system in Rust — based on Redox OS.
Custom drivers, GPU support, and KDE Plasma desktop integration.
Microkernel operating system in Rust — based on Redox OS.
Custom drivers, GPU support, and KDE Plasma desktop integration.
A modern microkernel operating system with serious hardware ambitions.
Red Bear OS is a full fork of Redox OS, based on frozen release snapshots (currently the 0.1.0 baseline). It extends upstream Redox with custom drivers, GPU support, filesystems, and desktop integration that Redox alone doesn't ship.
Built entirely in Rust, Red Bear OS runs a microkernel architecture where drivers are userspace daemons communicating via a scheme system. This design provides fault isolation, security, and a clean separation of concerns that monolithic kernels can't match.
Red Bear's custom work lives in local/ —
patches, recipes, drivers, and documentation that survive upstream updates and form the durable Red Bear identity.
Red Bear OS is under active development. Here's where things stand.
Microkernel design with userspace drivers and a scheme-based I/O system.
redbear-miniText-only console and recovery target. Minimal footprint, boots fast. Ideal for headless systems and recovery workflows.
redbear-fullDesktop and graphics target. Includes Wayland, Qt6, KDE Frameworks, Mesa, DRM drivers, D-Bus, and firmware loading.
redbear-grubText-only with GNU GRUB boot manager. Multi-boot compatible with Linux systems on the same disk.
The path from bare-metal boot to a hardware-accelerated KDE Plasma desktop.
Red Bear OS is a full fork of Redox OS, based on frozen release snapshots. Custom drivers, GPU support, and desktop integration are maintained in a durable local/ directory that survives upstream updates.
| Feature | Redox OS | Red Bear OS |
|---|---|---|
| Microkernel | ✓ Standard | ✓ Tracked upstream |
| Rust toolchain | ✓ Nightly | ✓ Nightly (pinned) |
| AMD GPU driver | — | 🚧 In progress |
| Intel GPU driver | — | ✓ Compiles |
| ext4 filesystem | — | ✓ Read/Write |
| Qt6 + KF6 | — | ✓ 32/32 built |
| KDE Plasma | — | 🚧 In progress |
| Wayland compositor | 🚧 Experimental | 🚧 In progress |
| D-Bus | — | ✓ 1.16.2 built |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | — | 🚧 Bounded paths |
| USB stack | ✓ Basic | 🚧 Enhanced in progress |
| Firmware loading | — | ✓ scheme:firmware |
First-class subsystems being built in priority order. Each unlocks the next.
PCI interrupt plumbing, IRQ delivery quality, MSI/MSI-X follow-up, IOMMU and interrupt remapping. Architecturally strong substrate with bounded runtime proof.
USB host controller maturity, hub topology, hotplug robustness. Unlocks Bluetooth transport and broader device support.
Native wireless control surface, bounded Intel driver path, profile management via netctl. Host-tested scan/connect/disconnect flows.
Host/controller path, BLE-first experimental slice. Battery Level QEMU validation in progress. Broad desktop parity still incomplete.
Live ISO images for bare-metal boot and installation. Built from the latest Red Bear OS sources.
Desktop/graphics live ISO with Wayland, Qt6, KDE Frameworks, Mesa, and DRM drivers. For modern AMD64 hardware.
Coming Soonx86_64/ISO/full/
Text-only console and recovery live ISO. Minimal build for headless servers and recovery tasks.
Coming Soonx86_64/ISO/mini/
Coming Soon — ISO builds and package repositories will be available here. For now, build from source.
Requires a Linux x86_64 host with Rust nightly, QEMU, and standard build tools.
See the repository for full build prerequisites and documentation.
Red Bear OS is open source and welcomes contributions at every level.
Drivers, system services, libraries — the entire OS is Rust. Dive into the kernel, relibc, or userspace daemons.
Bare-metal testing on AMD and Intel machines. Report bugs, validate drivers, confirm POSIX compatibility.
Port new software, write TOML recipes, fix build failures. The package ecosystem needs your expertise.
Architecture guides, build instructions, API docs. Help make Red Bear OS accessible to new contributors.
See the repository for contribution guidelines and open issues.
Common questions about Red Bear OS and what to expect.
local/ directory for patches and custom recipes that survive source provisioning.make all CONFIG_NAME=redbear-mini, and boot in QEMU. Check the documentation in docs/ and local/docs/ for architecture guides and current workstreams.