From 26c588792e5905968ef03348c4abe573960e5bfd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: rajames Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:12:34 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] docs(outreach): drafts of a sponsorship page, devlog #1 and video #1 For Captain Bob to edit into his own voice: the sponsorship pitch and tiers, the first devlog ('Building an OS that keeps its own receipts'), and a 5-7 minute video script with an OBS setup. Claims limited to what is true today: QEMU on three ISAs, the stick in progress, hardware next. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 --- docs/working/outreach/DEVLOG_01.md | 58 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ docs/working/outreach/SPONSOR_PAGE.md | 54 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ docs/working/outreach/VIDEO_01.md | 57 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 169 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/working/outreach/DEVLOG_01.md create mode 100644 docs/working/outreach/SPONSOR_PAGE.md create mode 100644 docs/working/outreach/VIDEO_01.md diff --git a/docs/working/outreach/DEVLOG_01.md b/docs/working/outreach/DEVLOG_01.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..145e9812 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/working/outreach/DEVLOG_01.md @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +# Devlog #1: Building an OS that keeps its own receipts + +*Draft (2026-10-28). Captain Bob to edit into his own voice before posting.* + +--- + +I spent a good part of my career validating software for regulated industries. If you've done that +work, you know what it's like: a big commercial system, a stack of virtualisation and Windows +under it, and months spent producing screenshots and signed test scripts to prove it does what +the vendor says. The evidence never existed from the start; you dig it up afterwards. + +So I started building an operating system where the evidence comes first. + +## What StarshipOS is + +StarshipOS boots straight from a PC's UEFI firmware. There's no Linux and no libc underneath: the +kernel, LithosAnanke, sets up memory, interrupts and devices itself, then hands the machine to +**StarForth v4**, a FORTH engine modelled on Chuck Moore's F18, the tiny stack-machine core of the +GreenArrays chips. + +FORTH might seem an odd choice in 2026. But a stack machine is small enough to understand +completely, and small enough to *prove* things about. That's the point. + +## Evidence at every boot + +Every time StarshipOS starts, it does three things before it shows a prompt: + +1. **It tests itself.** 538 power-on self-tests cover the engine and its FORTH-79 vocabulary. +2. **It fingerprints itself.** Every piece of software is a *capsule* identified by the hash of its + contents, and the system prints a hash of its whole dictionary. On x86-64, ARM64 and RISC-V, + that hash is identical: `0xfec8c47cfc6f437f`. Three different CPUs, one system, provably the same. +3. **It waits for its owner.** Without the owner's identity stick plugged in, there's no prompt at + all. With it, you're greeted by name: `[zuse@Hera] ok>`. + +## How it gets built + +The development method matters as much as the code. Every change starts with a test that fails. +Every decision that deviates from the plan is written down with its reason. And every claim of +"it works" is backed by a boot log that's committed to the repository, never just summarised. + +Just this week, that habit caught a regression within the hour. A change that put the owner's +identity on a single USB stick quietly broke the older v3 system's login: v3 can't read the stick's +partition table. The next day's tests found it, it was fixed, and the fix is on the record. + +## What's next + +- **This week:** the USB stick that boots a real PC, carrying the whole system and its owner's + identity on one drive. +- **Then:** the first boot on real hardware, a small x86 mini PC on my bench. +- **November:** the engine onto an FPGA board, the first step toward proven cores in silicon. +- **Later:** an SDK where every program is a "book": plain-English pages saying what it does, the + code, the tests, and the proofs, side by side, with each claim marked *stated*, *tested* or + *proven*. + +If you'd like to follow along or help keep the lights on, there's a sponsorship page *[link]*. +Next devlog: the first boot on real metal, whichever way it goes. + +— Captain Bob diff --git a/docs/working/outreach/SPONSOR_PAGE.md b/docs/working/outreach/SPONSOR_PAGE.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..37396a60 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/working/outreach/SPONSOR_PAGE.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +# Sponsor StarshipOS + +*Draft for Ko-fi, Patreon, Open Collective or GitHub Sponsors (2026-10-28). Captain Bob to edit +into his own voice before posting.* + +--- + +## An operating system that can prove what it is + +I'm Bob James. I spent years in industry validating software: proving to auditors that a system +does what it says. Most of that work was reconstructing evidence that should have existed from +day one. So I'm building the system I always wanted to validate. + +**StarshipOS** is a bare-metal operating system built on FORTH. It boots straight from UEFI +firmware, without Linux or any OS under it, and runs **StarForth v4**, a small stack-machine engine +inspired by Chuck Moore's F18 chip. Every piece of it is built to carry its own evidence: + +- **Every component has a fingerprint.** Software ships in *capsules*, identified by the hash of + their content. The running system prints those hashes at every boot, so "is this the system that + was tested?" is a check, not a belief. +- **Every boot tests itself.** 538 self-tests run before the first prompt, on three CPU + architectures (x86-64, ARM64, RISC-V), and all three must agree on the same dictionary hash. +- **Nothing runs without its owner.** No identity stick, no prompt. Access is controlled word by + word. +- **Proofs, not promises.** The design is being specified in Isabelle/HOL, a machine-checked proof + system, with every assumption named and every unproven part labelled as unproven. + +## Where it is today + +- Boots in emulation (QEMU) on all three architectures, passing every self-test. +- A USB stick image that boots a PC is in progress now. The first real-hardware boot, on a small + x86 PC, is next. +- After that: the engine on an FPGA (a Zynq-7020 board), with the long-term goal of proven F18-style + cores in silicon. +- The adaptive runtime underneath, the Steady State Machine, is patent pending. + +## What your support does + +This is a one-person project run on a retirement budget. Sponsorship pays for test hardware, cables +and boards, patent filing fees, and the hours that go into it. + +## Tiers + +- **Crew, $5/month:** my thanks, and the monthly devlog a few days early. +- **Officer, $15/month:** the above, plus your name in the project's credits file. +- **Bridge, $50/month:** the above, plus a monthly live Q&A call with me about the project. + +*(No physical rewards yet. When the bootable stick is ready, supporters will hear about it first.)* + +## Follow along + +- Devlog: *[link]* +- YouTube: *[link]* +- Source: *[link to the public repository, if and when it is public]* diff --git a/docs/working/outreach/VIDEO_01.md b/docs/working/outreach/VIDEO_01.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fa1070fc --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/working/outreach/VIDEO_01.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +# Video #1: "An OS that proves it's itself" (5-7 minutes) + +*Draft script and OBS setup (2026-10-28). Captain Bob presents; speak it in your own words, the +script is a guide.* + +## OBS setup + +- **Scene 1, "Talking":** webcam full frame, a lower-third title: "Captain Bob · StarshipOS". +- **Scene 2, "Terminal":** a screen capture of the terminal, with the webcam as a small corner + inset. Use a large font (18-20 pt) and a dark theme so text reads on a phone. +- **Scene 3, "QEMU":** a window capture of the QEMU display, webcam inset. +- **Audio:** the microphone with OBS's noise suppression filter. Record at 1080p, 30 fps. +- **Before recording:** run one boot so the build is warm. Use `make -f kernel/Makefile ARCH=amd64 + qemu` (the default disks log Zuse in), and have the aarch64 and riscv64 logs from the last + acceptance run ready to show. + +## Script + +**1. Hook (Talking, 0:00-0:30)** +"Most software can't prove it's the software you tested. This one checks itself every time it +boots. I'm Bob, I spent years validating enterprise software, and this is StarshipOS." + +**2. What it is (Talking, 0:30-1:30)** +- Boots straight from firmware: no Linux, no libc. +- Runs FORTH, on an engine modelled on Chuck Moore's F18. +- Why a stack machine: small enough to understand completely, and to prove things about. + +**3. The demo (Terminal, then QEMU, 1:30-4:00)** +- Start the boot. While it runs: "It's emulating a PC from firmware up, so give it a minute." +- Point out the POST line as it passes: `PARITY:V4_POST tests=538 pass=538 fail=0`. "538 + self-tests, every boot." +- Point out `dict_hash=0xfec8c47cfc6f437f`. Then show the same line in the ARM and RISC-V logs: + "Three different CPUs. Same hash. Same system." +- The prompt appears: `[zuse@Hera] ok>`. "It greets its owner. No identity stick, no prompt." +- Type `3 4 + .` and press Enter: `7 ok`. "And it's FORTH: it adds." + +**4. Why it matters (Talking, 4:00-5:15)** +- The validation story: evidence produced while building, not dug up afterwards. +- Content-hashed capsules: "Is this the approved version?" becomes a hash check. +- The plan: real PC next week, FPGA in November, proven cores in silicon as the long goal. + +**5. Close (Talking, 5:15-6:00)** +"Next video: the first boot on real hardware, whichever way it goes. If you'd like to follow along +or help, links are below. Captain Bob, signing off." + +## Description box + +StarshipOS: a bare-metal FORTH operating system that tests and fingerprints itself on every boot. +538 self-tests; one dictionary hash across x86-64, ARM64 and RISC-V; no prompt without its owner's +identity stick. Built by Captain Bob. +Sponsor: *[link]* · Devlog: *[link]* + +## Honesty checklist (before publishing) + +- Say "in emulation (QEMU)" for anything not yet shown on real hardware. +- Say "patent pending" only for the filed provisional (the Steady State Machine). +- Say "being specified in Isabelle/HOL" for the proofs; the v4 proofs are not finished.