What is VitruvianOS?
Vitruvian is an operating system based on Linux, inspired by the BeOS. It brings the BeOS/Haiku API and desktop philosophy to modern hardware, running on a Linux kernel with custom kernel modules.
Is it based on Haiku?
Partially. Vitruvian uses the Linux kernel and implements the BeOS/Haiku API compatibility layer on top of it. It is inspired by both BeOS and Haiku but is an independent project built from the ground up where we picked the best available open source components.
Can I run BeOS/Haiku applications?
Yes. V\OS is designed to support BeOS/Haiku application source code with minimal to no changes required.
Is it binary compatible with BeOS or Haiku?
No. This should be implemented as a WINE-like layer, such as a runtime_loader port. We have strong source level compatibilty though which should be enough for the large majority of use cases.
What filesystems are supported?
The default boot filesystem is ext4, with SquashFS for live images. Both support Linux extended attributes, which Vitruvian uses to carry BFS-style metadata. Modern ext4 with ea_inode covers large-attribute needs without the tuning older setups required. Full XFS and Btrfs support are on the roadmap, tied to the DriveSetup rewrite. Filesystem indexing and live queries are also planned for a future release.
Does it run on my hardware?
Vitruvian targets x86-64 and arm64 hardware. Modern PCs and boards with at least 512 MB of RAM and 1 GB of disk space. Hardware support depends on the underlying Linux kernel drivers.
How do I get a copy?
Releases are available on the Download page. You can also build from source using the instructions in the wiki.
How do I get involved?
Check the GitHub repository for contribution guidelines and open issues, and join the discussion on Telegram.
Is Vitruvian free?
Yes. Vitruvian is released under a hybrid GPL/MIT license and is completely free of cost.
Have a question not listed here? Open an issue on GitHub.