FAQ¶

The questions people actually ask about Equinox OS — answered straight, without the fluff.

Can Equinox be installed to a `*.img` file that boots like a real device?¶

Yes. The manual install path produces exactly that:

Create a disk image on the host (a raw .img), attach it in QEMU with -drive format=raw,file=disk.img, and boot the live ISO.
Inside the OS: Qfs -list-disk, Qfs -t hdX -format fat32, mount hdX, copy over /equinox (tools, libc, mtcc.mrp, boot images), write /mnt/equinox/conf/system.ecf, then Qfs -install-boot hdX.

That .img now carries GRUB (boot.img + core.img at LBA 1), a FAT32 partition, and the whole userland — it boots standalone, and you can dd it to a USB stick if the disk layout is PATA/SATA. The wizard (equinoxinstall) automates the same steps; it is not a different mechanism.

Can I make a bootable Equinox FAT32 image manually, without `equinoxinstall`?¶

Absolutely — that is the "Path B" manual install, and it is fully supported:

Qfs -list-disk
Qfs -t hdX -format fat32     # MBR + FAT32 @ LBA 2048, label EQUINOXBASE
mount hdX
copy dist/equinox /mnt/equinox
set net.driver e1000
set -w /mnt/equinox/conf/system.ecf
Qfs -install-boot hdX

Key points: the volume must be labelled EQUINOXBASE (that is what promotes it to / at boot), and Qfs -install-boot needs /equinox/bootimg/{boot.img,core.img} present — both ship on the ISO.

Why doesn't Equinox ship a full bash? Isn't that weird for a Unix-like?¶

A bit, on purpose. The ISO is deliberately thin: it carries the sources and the compiler, not a finished coreutils. Full GNU-style coreutils (ls, cat, cp, mv, rm, mkdir, …) arrive as the bash package through eggkg, built inside the OS with mtcc:

eggkg update
eggkg install bash -y

Once installed, those tools take over the corresponding shell aliases, and [dependencies] bash = true in system.ecf re-links them into /bin on every boot. The idea: Equinox demonstrates a fully self-hosting build pipeline, and package delivery doubles as the demo.

How do I write C programs on Equinox?¶

In mtcc's C subset, straight from the shell:

// /test/hello.c
#include <morph.h>
int main(void) {
    print("hello from Equinox\n");
    return 0;
}

mtcc /test/hello.c        # compile AND run, live
mtcc -c hello.c           # compile only -> hello.mrp
mtcc -make build.ruf      # multi-file build from a recipe

The subset has: int/char/void, 1–2 level pointers, 1D arrays, if/else, while/do/for, switch-free logic, and the mini libc/morph API (print, readline, fb_info, put_pixel, …). No structs, floats, 2D arrays, sizeof, typedef, or varargs — by design, so the compiler stays small enough to self-host. Edit with the built-in editor (edit <file>), compile, run. The equinoxinstall wizard and eggkg use the exact same compiler, so anything that builds on the ISO builds for packages.

Where do my files live? RAMFS or the disk?¶

RAMFS (the boot image): everything from GRUB modules — /test, /equinox/tools, /equinox/libc, mtcc.mrp, doom.wad. Fast, but gone on reboot.
FAT32 (the disk): /mnt on the live ISO; on an installed system the EQUINOXBASE volume is /. Anything you want to keep belongs here — use save, edit, copy.

Rule of thumb: /mnt and the installed root survive reboot; bare RAMFS paths do not.

Can I write my own package for `eggkg`?¶

Yes — everything is documented in PACKAGES.md: put your C sources plus a build.ruf (ruf v3) in a repo, and eggkg install <name> fetches, compiles with mtcc -make, and installs the .mrp products into /bin. If it compiles with mtcc, it installs.

How do I change the NIC driver?¶

It is one key in system.ecf:

set net.driver e1000      # or ne2000 | none
set -w /equinox/conf/system.ecf
# reboot to apply

net.driver is read once at boot by net_nic_init(), so the change takes effect on the next boot. ifconfig confirms what came up.

How do I check what is in a disk / partition?¶

Qfs -list-disk        # all 8 slots, FAT32 flag, label, state
diskinfo              # detail on a slot

hda–hdd are PATA, hde–hdh are SATA (AHCI). Slots with no drive just show as empty.