User's Guide

1. Quick Start
2. Console
3. Shell
4. Kernel Console
5. Building From Source

Quick Start

To try out HelenOS, download the latest IA-32 ISO image from the ​download page. Install ​QEMU. In the directory where you downloaded the ISO image run

qemu -m 32 -cdrom image.iso

You can also use a different emulator. Just make sure it is configured to emulate a Pentium 4 or later CPU or HelenOS won't boot and it will display a red error message.

Console

Press the F1-F11 keys to switch between individual virtual consoles. Pressing F12 will take you to the kernel console.

Shell

Type help (+Enter) to get a list of built-in commands.

Kernel Console

The kernel console is controlled via a command line. The continue command will take you back to the user-space console. help will show a list of commands. The command line supports completion (Tab key) and history (up and down arrow keys).

Building From Source

Checkout the latest sources

svn checkout svn://svn.helenos.org/HelenOS/trunk helenos-trunk

Use our script to install a supported cross-compiler toolchain

cd helenos-trunk/contrib/toolchain
./toolchain.ia32.sh

Go to the source root and start the build process

cd ../..
make

Load preconfigured defaults for the platform you want to build for and select Done. HelenOS will now be built.

Important note: If you don't compile using the supported toolchain, your build may well fail.