21 comments

  • GL26 4 hours ago
    This would be huge if it was « rogue like », where you could buy new more performant components that allow you to reach further into the game. The game makes you naturally lose, and there are milestones that you can reach (bosses, or loot that stays throughout sessions). For instance you could unlock GPUs, docker containers, another SSD, antiviruses…
    • sudoshred 1 hour ago
      Also consider RTS elements, like assigning certain schedulers to handle workloads which are swappable and tuneable, maybe with some skill tree unlocks.
  • petee 2 days ago
    Rebooting could be a mini-game where you dodge the user's BIOS keystrokes a few times before they give up
    • AgentMasterRace 10 hours ago
      The absolute bane of my existence, I had a time a week ago repairing my bootloader after I (stupidly) did 3 months of windows updates after running a bunch of disk repairs and other recovery based things after I (again, stupidly) fell for a fake repo for deepseek tui and infected myself
    • lofties 10 hours ago
      I'm pretty sure this is exactly what is happening in real life. I pressed F12 damnit! Go into the bios already!!
      • gcoakes 7 hours ago
        Some friendly tips from post-silicon validation:

        sudo systemctl reboot --firmware

        shutdown /r /t 0 /fw

        These reboot directly into BIOS.

        For Windows CMD+R menu, run it by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+Enter (elevates to admin). You may have to do it twice for some unknown reasons after reinstalling the OS.

  • donpdonp 9 hours ago
    This was fun to play...for about 2 minutes before all the manual work of moving processes around got very tedious, which may be the point of the game. What I would like is a little code edit window where i could code simple routines to handle the scheduling, then be able to watch the result.
  • monocasa 10 hours ago
    Fun fact: operating systems were originally programs intended to replace most of the work of a human job description, that of computer operator.
  • swiftcoder 2 hours ago
    This is not quite as exciting as psDooM [1]

    [1]: http://psdoom.coffeefish.org

  • Retr0id 1 hour ago
    Tangentially reminds me of https://deadlockempire.github.io/ where you play the role of the scheduler, but your job is to make vulnerable programs misbehave.
  • advisedwang 12 hours ago
    Fabulous concept, but personally I did not find very fun actually playing.
    • loloquwowndueo 11 hours ago
      A lot of these puzzle/micromanagement games are very similar to stuff folks do for work. I stopped playing an entire category of puzzle games once I realized it was basically programming, which I do all day for a living anyway. Gamified programming is still programming.
      • glaslong 9 hours ago
        I have a problematic relationship with Zachtronics games for this reason.

        I love TIS-100, but at some point I realized I was studying the user manual for a fictional computer, trying to learn it's fictional assembly language, to optimize some multicore data flows.... and decided I should probably get paid for doing that in real life instead.

      • jonahx 11 hours ago
        Many programmers program for fun outside of work.
        • hnlmorg 35 minutes ago
          I’m one of those people. And what we do is write actual software for fun rather than pretend software in a computer game.

          If I wanted logic flow embedded in a game then I’d want it in an environment that’s far removed from traditional programming. Such as building contraptions in Minecraft.

      • ChrisRR 32 minutes ago
        Tell me you play Zachtronics without saying Zachtronics
      • jasonfarnon 9 hours ago
        That's what bugged me about the old MS Flight Sim games. It felt like the actual job.
        • lukan 2 hours ago
          Yes, but many dream about actual flying for real, but cannot so enjoy this substitute.

          (I enjoy more arcade style)

      • GolfPopper 8 hours ago
        But just think of the great training this will provide for your enslaved upload in the future!
    • internet_points 3 hours ago
      OTOH I now have a lot more sympathy for my cpu's, I should give them some slack
  • SomeHacker44 11 hours ago
    Does this game make me MCP? Can I battle Jeff Bridges with discs?
    • edoceo 11 hours ago
      Get Tron to Sark so he can communicate!
  • monkpit 12 hours ago
  • degurechaff 5 hours ago
    Need OOM Killer button to kill nasty process
  • cubano 3 hours ago
    I can think of very few things that I'd rather not do then to be an OS. Talk about a thankless "game"...and I'm glad this came up.

    Since when have games become more about just completing boring tasks and not about using your mind and dexterity to kill evildoers? Hell, the original Space Invaders was 100x more fun then this, and all we had to do was press a button to kill advancing aliens.

    • Hugsbox 53 minutes ago
      My wife plays a game where you use a pressure washer to clean areas up. Also plays a lawn mowing simulator. Oh, and a game where you run a supermarket, where you maintain inventory, stock shelves, and operate the checkout. Some people just like these types of things.
    • LelouBil 3 hours ago
      Games are just something someone finds enjoyable to do.

      You have all kind of games, some that are actual programming, some that are purely reflexes and dexterity, some that are in between.

      > Since when have games become more about just completing boring tasks and not about using your mind and dexterity to kill evildoers

      I encourage you to browse Steam a bit if you are asking this.

    • fragmede 56 minutes ago
    • benj111 3 hours ago
      I kind of agree, but on the other hand many boring, meaningless things are gamified with the addition of points.

      Is Monopoly about skill? Chance? Or just scratching that itch of getting more tokens than the other person?

  • mephage 12 hours ago
    Maybe that's what the Linux scheduler is actually - humans' consciousness stuck inside the computer managing the processes.

    Sounds like that black mirror multi-part episode "White Christmas".

    • fragmede 11 hours ago
      So that's why the Matrix needed humans to power their systems!
    • mrkstu 11 hours ago
      Master Control Program
  • yiyingzhang 8 hours ago
    This is cool! I may introduce it to the undergrad OS course I teach at UCSD. Does it have memory hierarchy?
  • armdave 8 hours ago
    Cool stuff! Would love to see this recommended in introductory OS classes to give an intuition
  • butz 4 hours ago
    Easy, just give all RAM to Chrome.
  • benj111 2 hours ago
    Have any useful algorithms emerged from these kinds of games?

    Like has someone invented a novel scheduler or sorting algorithm?

  • Affric 12 hours ago
    Played this originally, glad to see scripting included
  • aranelsurion 11 hours ago
    got rebooted at 332k @ normal. maybe being an OS wasn't my calling :)
  • fragmede 11 hours ago
    This didn't get a lot of traction the other time I saw it, but one easily imagines this as part of a a game to teach operating systems, starting from no MMU all the way to how we manage distributed supercomputers like a DGX GB300, or Google's borg.
  • drfunk 2 days ago
    sounds a lot like a tweet from the parody account @PeterMolydeux !
    • keyle 10 hours ago
      What's he doing these days?
  • dmaginas 3 days ago
    Great idea!