FAQs

1. What does the name mean / where does it come from?

とある is a piece of Japanese grammar that means something along the lines of "a certain..." or "some such...". When とあるOS first started, I was (still am) a fan of とある科学の超電磁砲 (A Certain Scientific Railgun). It's commonly misstated that とあるOS is named after とある魔術の禁書目録 (A Certain Magical Index), but I'm actually not really a fan of Index. The name also fits with a common naming pattern in hobby OSes of being generic; it roughly translates to a "A Certain OS".

2. Is ToaruOS a Linux distribution?

No, not at all. ToaruOS's kernel is entirely in-house (though it was initially based on a few "getting started" guides for x86 kernels). The userspace is also entirely in house, barring some third-party ports that are available in the "Extra" distribution.

3. How does ToaruOS's GUI work?

The GUI uses a compositing window server that operates on shared memory regions. Clients use a Toaru-specific socket interface to connect to the server and then negotiate the allocation of window textures and communicate events like mouse and keyboard input. The compositor and its API are known as Yutani, an homage to both Wayland and the Alien franchise (from the name of the fictional megacorp Weyland-Yutani).

4. Are you Japanese?

I am a foreign resident of Japan, and an American citizen of European ancestry. I came to Japan while in university in 2010 for a "semester abroad" and returned later through a former employer.

5. Why isn't ToaruOS 64-bit / SMP-capable / ported to my toaster?

ToaruOS was a project for me to learn x86, and I had a very specific goal in mind that would have been hindered by spending too much time porting to ARM. x86-64 support was always something I wanted to do eventually, but as the software ecosystem in ToaruOS grew, the idea of getting a 64-bit port out in time for a 1.0 release became more and more unlikely, until eventually I decided to specifically delay the 64-bit port until 2.0.

6. Does it run Webkit / Crysis / my tax software?

ToaruOS is a new OS, with a new kernel, and as such ports take time. Webkit is particularly complicated and not something I've had the time to invest in. Thus far, Python has been the most involved port in terms of required OS support. Much like Linux, proprietary software for other OSes is never going to be supported directly, though the possibility of a future port of Wine is definitely there - just don't expect the required graphics driver support to run any complex games.