Kinode LLC
Sovereign OS
An operating system for x86-64 PCs that Kinode is writing from scratch. The bootloader, kernel, drivers, desktop, apps, web browser and language model engine are all Kinode's own code. The features below are planned for the first release.
- Will run on64-bit PCs with UEFI
- Will install fromUSB stick or disc
- Language modelsWill run on the PC
- Planned priceFree for individuals
- StatusIn development
Starting up
- 01FirmwareThe PC's UEFI firmware will start the Kinode loader.
- 02LoaderThe loader will check the kernel's signature and start it only if it is valid.
- 03KernelMemory, interrupts and every processor core will come up.
- 04DriversDisks, USB, the network card and the display will start. All drivers will be built in.
- 05FilesThe system and data partitions will be mounted.
- 06DesktopThe window system, taskbar and Start will load, and you will sign in.
The system
Sovereign OS is planned to start on 64-bit PCs with UEFI firmware and use every processor core. Every driver will be built in, so installing will not need a network connection.
It will work with SATA and NVMe drives, USB 3 keyboards, mice and storage sticks, and Intel and Realtek Ethernet. It will read and write FAT32 and exFAT and will have its own network stack with TLS 1.3.
Linux programs are planned to run on it unchanged, and Terminal will be able to open a Linux shell.
Language models
The kernel will have a language model engine. It will load GGUF model files and run them on the processor, using all of its cores. Support is planned for Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Phi-3, Gemma and SmolLM models, in full precision or quantized.
The Assistant app will use whichever model you put on the PC, and what you ask it will stay on the PC.
Desktop and apps
The desktop will have a taskbar, Start, quick settings, a notification center, window snapping, and dark and light themes with an accent color you pick.
It will come with a web browser, Assistant, Models, Terminal, File Explorer, a text editor, Task Manager, Settings, the Store, a calculator and a clock. The browser will run pages without scripts, keep cookies only until it closes, and ask sites not to track you.
Signing
Every part of the system will be signed by Kinode LLC, and the loader will start only a kernel with a valid signature.
Programs you download will show who published them before they run. Apps from the Store will be signed, checked before they are installed, and run in a sandbox with only the permissions you gave them.
Updates will be written next to the running system and tried at the next start. If an update doesn't start, the PC will go back to the version before it.
Price
Sovereign OS is planned to be free for individuals. Businesses and other organizations will buy a product key for each PC, paid once.
For developers
Developers will sign their apps through Kinode Developers, so Sovereign OS will show their name as the publisher. The docs there describe how signing and the Store are planned to work.
Questions go to [email protected].