One man, two kernels, and a lot of RISC-V
Yuri Zaporozhets, a singular force in systems development, has astounded the FOSS world with a series of ambitious RISC-V projects, from an FPGA-based retro PC and a miniature mainframe to a complex QNX port. His latest creation, the dual-kernel QSOE, culminates years of expertise in low-level operating systems and open hardware. This story celebrates the spirit of solo engineering, showcasing a profound technical depth that resonates deeply with the Hacker News audience.
The Lowdown
Yuri Zaporozhets, known for his work at QRV Systems, has captivated the FOSS community with an extraordinary output of deep technical projects. His endeavors span from custom hardware designs on FPGAs to the development of novel operating systems, all heavily featuring the RISC-V architecture. The Register highlights his journey, culminating in his latest open-source operating system, QSOE, demonstrating a remarkable dedication to low-level systems engineering.
- GateMate Personal Computer: Inspired by the IBM PS/2 Model 30, this 25 MHz RISC-V PC is implemented on an inexpensive Olimex GateMate A1-EVB FPGA. It features an 8MB PSRAM, VGA output, and its own rudimentary OS, GMDOS, supporting UCS-2 Unicode.
- GateMate System/359: Utilizing the same FPGA board, Zaporozhets crafted a miniature mainframe that pays homage to the IBM System/360 series. While not binary-compatible, it modernizes core concepts like channel I/O and instruction formats, featuring a custom assembler and little-endian architecture.
- QNX 6.4 to RISC-V Port (QRV): He undertook the significant challenge of porting the decades-old QNX 6.4 kernel to 64-bit RISC-V. This project, QRV, involved a ground-up rewrite rather than a mere patch, transitioning the 32-bit ILP32 codebase to a 64-bit LP64 system for RISC-V hardware like the HiFive Unmatched.
- QSOE (Quick and Secure Operating Environment): As a natural evolution from QRV, driven by QNX's restrictive licensing, QSOE emerged as his truly open-source operating system. It uniquely ships with two kernel variants: Skimmer (a custom, multiprocessor-designed microkernel) and a version running on the formally verified seL4 microkernel, sharing a unified userspace and build system.
- Long-standing Expertise: While acknowledging the use of an LLM for assistance, the article underscores Zaporozhets' extensive background, noting his contributions to NASM and his previous RadiOS project dating back to 2003, predating the modern AI boom.
Zaporozhets' work exemplifies a rare combination of hardware design, operating system architecture, and low-level programming prowess, all pursued with an open-source ethos and a deep historical understanding of computing. His relentless innovation and ability to tackle complex, multi-faceted projects as an individual are truly remarkable.