<s>
The	O
Embeddable	B-Application
Linux	I-Application
Kernel	I-Application
Subset	I-Application
(	O
ELKS	B-Application
)	O
,	O
formerly	O
known	O
as	O
Linux-8086	B-Application
,	O
is	O
a	O
Linux-like	O
operating	B-Operating_System
system	I-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
the	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
,	O
intended	O
for	O
16-bit	B-Device
computers	I-Device
with	O
limited	O
processor	O
and	O
memory	O
resources	O
such	O
as	O
machines	O
powered	O
by	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
8086	I-General_Concept
and	O
compatible	O
microprocessors	B-Architecture
not	O
supported	O
by	O
32-bit	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
ELKS	B-Application
is	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
and	O
available	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
(	O
GPL	B-License
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
work	O
with	O
early	O
16-bit	B-Device
and	O
many	O
32-bit	O
x86	O
(	O
8088	O
,	O
8086	B-General_Concept
)	O
computers	O
like	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
compatible	O
systems	O
,	O
and	O
later	O
x86	O
models	O
in	O
real	B-Application
mode	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
useful	O
area	O
are	O
single	O
board	O
microcomputers	O
,	O
intended	O
as	O
educational	O
tools	O
for	O
"	O
homebrew	O
"	O
projects	O
(	O
hardware	B-Architecture
hacking	O
)	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
embedded	O
controller	O
systems	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Automation	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
versions	O
of	O
ELKS	B-Application
also	O
ran	O
on	O
Psion	B-Application
3a	O
and	O
3aR	O
SIBO	O
(	O
SIxteen	O
Bit	O
Organiser	O
)	O
PDAs	B-Application
with	O
NEC	O
V30	O
CPUs	O
,	O
providing	O
another	O
possible	O
field	O
of	O
operation	O
(	O
gadget	B-Algorithm
hardware	B-Architecture
)	O
,	O
if	O
ported	O
to	O
such	O
a	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Native	O
ELKS	B-Application
programs	O
may	O
run	O
emulated	B-Application
with	O
Elksemu	O
,	O
allowing	O
8086	B-General_Concept
code	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
under	O
Linux-i386	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
effort	O
to	O
provide	O
ELKS	B-Application
with	O
an	O
Eiffel	B-Language
compliant	O
library	B-Library
also	O
exists	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
of	O
Linux-8086	B-Application
started	O
in	O
1995	O
by	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
developers	O
Alan	O
Cox	O
and	O
Chad	O
Page	O
as	O
a	O
fork	B-Application
of	O
the	O
standard	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
early	O
1996	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
renamed	O
ELKS	B-Application
(	O
Embeddable	B-Application
Linux	I-Application
Kernel	I-Application
Subset	I-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
1997	O
the	O
first	O
website	O
www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/	O
(	O
offline	O
,	O
)	O
was	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ELKS	B-Application
version	O
0.0.63	O
followed	O
on	O
August	O
8	O
that	O
same	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
June	O
22	O
,	O
1999	O
,	O
ELKS	B-Application
release	O
0.0.77	O
was	O
available	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
able	O
to	O
run	O
a	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
the	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
July	O
21	O
,	O
ELKS	B-Application
booted	O
on	O
a	O
Psion	B-Application
PDA	B-Application
with	O
SIBO	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ELKS	B-Application
0.0.82	O
came	O
out	O
on	O
January	O
10	O
,	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
including	O
the	O
SIBO	O
port	O
,	O
it	O
became	O
the	O
first	O
official	O
version	O
running	O
on	O
other	O
computer	B-Architecture
hardware	I-Architecture
than	O
the	O
original	O
8086	B-General_Concept
base	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
March	O
3	O
that	O
year	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
registered	O
on	O
SourceForge	B-Application
,	O
the	O
new	O
website	O
being	O
elks.sourceforge.net	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
January	O
6	O
,	O
2001	O
,	O
Cox	O
declared	O
ELKS	B-Application
"	O
basically	O
dead	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nonetheless	O
,	O
release	O
0.0.84	O
came	O
along	O
on	O
June	O
17	O
,	O
2001	O
,	O
Charilaos	O
(	O
Harry	O
)	O
Kalogirou	O
added	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
networking	O
support	O
seven	O
days	O
later	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
year	O
ELKS	B-Application
reached	O
0.0.90	O
on	O
November	O
17	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
April	O
20	O
,	O
2002	O
,	O
Kalogirou	O
added	O
memory	O
management	O
with	O
disk	O
swapping	O
capability	O
,	O
followed	O
nine	O
days	O
later	O
by	O
ELKS	B-Application
release	O
0.1.0	O
,	O
considered	O
the	O
first	O
beta	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
year	O
,	O
on	O
December	O
18	O
,	O
the	O
EDE	O
(	O
Elks	B-Application
Distribution	O
Edition	O
,	O
a	O
distribution	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
ELKS	B-Application
kernel	B-Operating_System
)	O
,	O
itself	O
version	O
0.0.5	O
,	O
is	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
January	O
6	O
,	O
2003	O
,	O
brought	O
ELKS	B-Application
0.1.2	O
,	O
an	O
update	O
to	O
0.1.3	O
followed	O
on	O
May	O
3	O
,	O
2006	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
official	O
release	O
after	O
a	O
long	O
hiatus	O
in	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
development	O
into	O
FlightLinux	O
,	O
a	O
real-time	B-General_Concept
operating	O
system	O
for	O
spacecraft	O
,	O
was	O
planned	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
project	O
it	O
was	O
intended	O
for	O
(	O
UoSAT-12	O
)	O
eventually	O
settled	O
on	O
the	O
qCF	O
operating	O
system	O
from	O
Quadron	O
Corporation	O
instead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
January	O
2012	O
ELKS	B-Application
is	O
again	O
under	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
CVS	O
repository	O
was	O
migrated	O
to	O
Git	B-Application
in	O
February	O
2012	O
,	O
and	O
numerous	O
patches	O
from	O
the	O
Linux-8086	B-Application
mailing	O
list	O
were	O
committed	O
to	O
the	O
new	O
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
May	O
10	O
,	O
2012	O
,	O
BusyELKS	O
was	O
added	O
to	O
the	O
repository	O
by	O
Jody	O
Bruchon	O
in	O
an	O
attempt	O
to	O
replace	O
stand-alone	O
binaries	O
and	O
to	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
shared	O
code	O
(	O
ELKS	B-Application
does	O
not	O
support	O
shared	O
libraries	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BusyBox-like	O
binaries	O
attempt	O
to	O
save	O
space	O
with	O
symbolic	O
links	O
,	O
eliminating	O
redundant	O
chunks	O
of	O
code	O
,	O
and	O
are	O
combining	O
separate	O
programs	O
into	O
one	O
bigger	O
binary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
November	O
14	O
,	O
2013	O
,	O
project	O
development	O
moved	O
to	O
GitHub	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
More	O
than	O
35	O
developers	O
have	O
contributed	O
to	O
this	O
project	O
since	O
the	O
fork	B-Application
in	O
1995	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
March	O
2015	O
,	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
ELKS	B-Application
project	O
was	O
again	O
active	O
,	O
reaching	O
a	O
milestone	O
1,000	O
source	O
code	O
commits	O
on	O
March	O
8	O
,	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
2019	O
and	O
2020	O
ELKS	B-Application
moved	O
from	O
a	O
'	O
bootable	O
,	O
unstable	O
 '	O
status	O
to	O
a	O
stable	O
Linux-like	O
system	O
for	O
small	O
machines	O
with	O
Ethernet	O
,	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
,	O
FAT16/32	O
,	O
multiuser	O
serial	B-Protocol
and	O
many	O
more	O
functions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
ELKS	B-Application
0.4.0	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
November	O
2020	O
,	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
commits	O
had	O
passed	O
3,000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
0.4.0	O
represented	O
a	O
major	O
milestone	O
for	O
ELKS	B-Application
,	O
lifting	O
the	O
system	O
from	O
experimental	O
to	O
useful	O
for	O
non-developers	O
,	O
and	O
included	O
the	O
following	O
major	O
enhancements	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Major	O
kernel	B-Operating_System
enhancements	O
–	O
size	O
,	O
stability	O
,	O
robustness	O
,	O
speed	O
,	O
system	O
calls	O
and	O
debugging	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reliable	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
stack	I-Protocol
implemented	O
as	O
a	O
user	O
mode	O
process	O
,	O
supporting	O
TCP	O
,	O
ICMP	B-Protocol
,	O
ARP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
User	O
level	O
networking	O
support	O
for	O
telnet/telnetd	O
and	O
file	O
transfer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Serial	B-Protocol
IP	I-Protocol
and	O
Ethernet	O
(	O
NE1K/NE2K/WD8003	O
)	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Robust	O
FAT16/32	O
and	O
Minix1	B-Application
file	O
system	O
support	O
,	O
including	O
booting	O
from	O
/root	O
on	O
FAT	O
file	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Improved	O
console	O
and	O
serial	B-Protocol
support	O
:	O
Serial	B-Protocol
console	O
,	O
high	O
speed	O
multiple	O
serial	B-Protocol
I/O	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MBR	B-Device
support	O
,	O
boot	O
options	O
via	O
/bootopts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Updated	O
menu-system	O
for	O
configuration	O
and	O
building	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
MacOS	O
,	O
allowing	O
non-developers	O
to	O
build	O
custom	O
images	O
for	O
floppies	O
ranging	O
from	O
360KB	O
to	O
2.88MB	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
0.5.0	O
was	O
another	O
significant	O
milestone	O
for	O
ELKS	B-Application
with	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
important	O
improvements	O
,	O
additions	O
and	O
support	O
for	O
2	O
new	O
platforms	O
-	O
the	O
Japanese	O
PC-98	B-Operating_System
and	O
8018X	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
version	O
0.5.0	O
ELKS	B-Application
is	O
a	O
complete	O
small-Linux	O
system	O
and	O
a	O
versatile	O
tool	O
for	O
testing	O
,	O
diagnosing	O
and	O
running	O
vintage	O
PCs	O
with	O
limited	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Released	O
on	O
June	O
7	O
,	O
2022	O
,	O
0.6.0	O
defined	O
a	O
new	O
level	O
for	O
ELKS	B-Application
,	O
as	O
indicated	O
by	O
the	O
much	O
shorter	O
than	O
usual	O
release	O
cycle	O
.	O
</s>
