Hey everyone! For those who just hopped in or have been following the build logs, here is a comprehensive breakdown of what we're crafting, why we're doing it, and what's already running under the hood. 🙂
Who We Are & What is SneakDeak?
SneakDeak is an independent indie team based in Ukraine. We are deeply into low-level systems programming, retro-engineering, and custom software stacks. Beyond building an operating system, we tackle other low-level projects — like reverse-engineering and hosting custom server backends for legacy Skype builds and bringing vintage network protocols back to life.
Our site, sneakdeak.net, is currently undergoing technical maintenance as we rework it for upcoming milestones. All our software will come with full multilingual support, featuring Ukrainian, English, and Russian locales out of the box.
What is KeshOS?
KeshOS is an independent 64-bit desktop operating system featuring our custom liquid glass UI, written completely from scratch (no Linux distributions or wrappers under the hood).
Our Mission:
Giving a genuine second life to computers that modern, bloated operating systems have written off.
Most PCs and laptops from 2011–2016 equipped with 2–4 GB of RAM can't even install Windows 11 due to TPM requirements, while Windows 10 turns them into stuttering heaters. Yet, the underlying hardware is capable 64-bit silicon. KeshOS boots with an ultralight footprint, consumes barely any memory, and delivers a fluid, responsive desktop environment with glass aesthetics, traffic-light controls, and real window compositing.
What is ALREADY WORKING:
Pure 64-bit UEFI Boot: Boots cleanly via the Limine bootloader in 64-bit mode with GPT partition layouts. No legacy 16-bit BIOS hurdles.
Verified Ring 3 (User Mode): The C/ASM kernel is fully isolated from user processes with proper page-table protection. User apps cannot take down the kernel.
C++ Desktop Compositor (KeshShell): Renders straight to a linear framebuffer with double buffering, targeted at 60–120 FPS.
First Native Userland App: Our in-house Kesh Paint is up and running in Ring 3. The compositor smoothly tracks cursor events, mouse drags, and real-time canvas updates with zero lag.
Low-Level Networking: Foundational network stack built directly into the kernel — ARP resolution, ICMP (ping), and DNS queries are already operating reliably.
In Active Development:
1. Ext2 Filesystem & Disk Persistence: Transitioning from the in-memory RAM disk (LiveCD mode) to native read/write operations on storage drives, along with our graphical installer.
2. .kea Binaries & ksh64 Dynamic Libraries: Our native ELF64 container format. Native apps weigh just 20–50 KB by dynamically linking against in-tree libraries located in /system/lib/.
3. kpm Package Manager: Cloud package deployment over HTTP (reading our package index to fetch and register apps in a single command).
4. Compatibility Layers: The kshwin32 header-swap bridge for quick C++ open-source ports, an optional modular runtime for unmodified Windows .exe files, and a FreeBSD-style Linux syscall translation layer down the road for CLI tooling.
Why We Opened This Thread
We don't want to build this OS in isolation. Having an active community is what turns a project into a real ecosystem. We want you to test fresh ISO builds, hunt edge-case bugs, share design feedback, or just hang out and talk low-level code and architecture with us.
Drop your thoughts and questions below — there is a ton of work ahead, but the momentum is real. Welcome to KeshOS! 🙂 https://discord.gg/YgMe7ekA5y
Source: r/sneakdeak · by /u/Disastrous_Flight612