USER-GUIDE(7)

NAME
user-guide - basic system usage and overview

DESCRIPTION
Sortix is a small self-hosting Unix-like operating system developed since 2011. This document covers matters relevant to new users from other Unix-like operating systems.

  Introduction
The installation process is covered in installation(7). Bootable cdrom releases will offer the options of running a live environment, installing the operating system, or upgrading an existing installation.

You will be presented a with standard Unix command line environment upon login or booting the live environment.

  Shutdown
init(8) spawns a session after boot. This is login(8) if the system is booted in multi-user mode. This is a root shell if booted in single-user mode.

To power off from the login screen, login as user poweroff. To reboot, login as user reboot.

To power off from a single-user boot root shell, run exit 0 in the shell. To reboot, run exit 1 in the shell.

  Keyboard Layout
The kernel has a default US keyboard layout compiled into it.

You can change the current keyboard layout using chkblayout(1). It loads the requested keyboard layout with the requested name from /share/kblayout. For instance to load a Danish keyboard layout:

    $ chkblayout dk

The system has basic unicode capabilities but the kernel console font is limited to characters in codepage 437.

  Graphics
The bootloader prepares an appropriate video mode to the best of its abilities. If you have a supported graphics card:

•   bga(4) - Bochs Graphics Adapter found in virtual machines.

Then you can run chvideomode(1) to change the video mode after boot.

    $ chvideomode

  Manual
The system manual can be viewed with the man(1) program. Sortix is currently in the process of being documented and many manual pages are missing. The current priority is to document areas specific to Sortix and assume standard knowledge from other operating systems.

  Editor
editor(1) is the standard text file editor.

  Games
The base system comes with games such as asteroids(6). Additional third party games may be installed through ports.

  Filesystem Hierarchy
The filesystem hierarchy is described in hier(7).

  Memory Usage
The memstat(1) command shows the current memory usage.

  Third Party Software
Releases come with useful third party software installed. The /tix/installed.list file lists all currently installed ports.

  Source Code
Releases come full with the system source code in /src as a git(1) repository along with the tools to build it and develop it. The build process is covered in development(7).

  Mounting
You can mount ext2 partitions using extfs(8) and unmount them with unmount(8):

    $ extfs /dev/ahci0p1 /mnt
    $ unmount /mnt

Beware that init(8) is unaware of manual mountpoints and powering off will not gracefully unmount. The extfs(8) driver only supports the large_file and filetype ext2 extensions. You can make a compatible filesystem with:

    $ mkfs.ext2 -O none,large_file,filetype

  Networking
Sortix does not have networking at this time. Unix sockets have a basic implementation incapable of advanced features. The standard library and kernel provides stubs for many network interfaces.

  Serial Transfer
It is possible to transfer files over serial devices as described in serial-transfer(7).

  Development
The system is self-hosting and is capable of building itself as described in development(7). Ports are cross-compiled as described in cross-development(7), but it is becoming feasible to build a large number of them natively.

SEE ALSO
cross-development(7), development(7), installation(7), serial-transfer(7), upgrade(7)