In the past, when it comes to the “operating system”, many people may only think of computers. But with the rapid development of the times, every electronic device almost needs a supporting OS to provide support. Take video game consoles for example, once players only need a cassette + host, you can simply get started with the experience. But in recent years, users have increasingly needed middleware to manage files and process inputs.
Systems such as the Atari 2600 or the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) do not require complex software to handle user input and games.
Because peripheral devices were able to communicate with the “brain” of the cassette/mainframe through “hardwiring” without storing anything.
The reason for this was the limited capabilities and resources of the devices back then, and the fact that the user could only choose to interact with each cassette, and could not move around, or jump from one file to another.
Even so, Inkbox mentioned the so-called “NES-OS” — a purely graphical operating system without a command prompt — in a recent tube video.
When the NES was introduced in 1986, graphical systems were still quite rare — the two dominant computer interfaces at the time were MS-DOS on the PC and ProDOS on the Apple IIc.
The only computers that used GUIs in the early days were fairly expensive commercial machines. It was not until the early 1990s that we saw PCs with Windows 3 (1990) and Apple System 7 (1991).
Then came Windows 95 in 1995 and System 8 in 1997, and a revolution in the GUI space.
Trying to build a graphical operating system on the NES was still quite a challenge — the platform had only a few KB of on-board RAM and required NVRAM to store user files.
Inkbox did take a stab at it, though, and the end result didn’t make much of a splash, but it did bring at least two applications to the NES-OS — “Settings” and “Word Processor “.
The former not only displays basic system information but also allows users to choose between seven cursors and 53 desktop colors. More importantly, though, is the ability to delete files on the resource-strapped NVRAM memory.
In contrast, the word processor is much more complex, but also quite limited — each file is limited to 832 characters and each keystroke takes up a byte — and the NES cartridge has 8KB of standard NVRAM, so it can only store up to NES cassettes have 8KB of standard NVRAM, so they can only store a maximum of 9.
Of course, Inkbox doesn’t expect everyone to edit documents efficiently with a standard NES handle unless you’re willing to spend $90-$400 on a Famicom keyboard available only in Japan on eBay.
Finally, Inkbox has shared the full process on the tube. For those interested in trying it out, the NES-OS is available for free download from the Inkbox Software website.
