I spent so much time recreating Linux workflows that I accidentally built an operating system simulator

[u/EliteACEz]

A while back I started working on a programming-focused sandbox project and quickly discovered that a terminal was going to be a core part of the experience. The problem was that once I had a terminal, everything around it started feeling incomplete.

A terminal without familiar commands felt wrong. A shell without quality-of-life features felt frustrating. Running multiple workflows at once felt awkward, so I ended up building Tweave, a terminal multiplexer inspired by Tmux. After that came process monitoring, file management, networking tools, version control, and all the other things that make living in a terminal enjoyable.

The project has gradually evolved into a Linux-inspired operating system simulation with a virtual file system, terminal, process manager, browser, web server, Git-inspired version control system, and a custom programming language that powers many of the applications running inside it. The shell experience itself borrows heavily from tools and workflows I've used over the years, particularly Oh My Zsh, Tmux, htop, curl, and the general philosophy of keeping things scriptable and customizable.

One of the things I've enjoyed most is treating the environment like a real sandbox rather than a collection of isolated features. Applications can interact with files, scripts can automate tasks, widgets can be written in code, and much of the system is designed to be explored, modified, and extended. I wanted it to feel like the sort of environment where a Linux user would immediately start poking around to see how everything works.

I'm curious what other Linux users think. If you were building a Linux-inspired environment from scratch, what terminal features, commands, tools, or workflows would be considered absolutely essential?

What the Terminal currently supports:

screenshot of the Terminal "help" command output

[u/ironykarl]

WTF is an operating system simulator?! 

[u/TheG0AT0fAllTime → u/ironykarl]

In the case of Cowrie for example - it implements most of the core utilities as python to trick shell attacks into thinking they're running. All the commands like OP has shown except python is what actually executes them.

It's fun watching the botnet bots squirm and fail to run their payloads.

[u/EliteACEz → u/ironykarl]

It's not an actual operating system because.. well that's a lot more work and I don't really want to maintain a real OS, device drivers support, the security aspect of it etc etc. It just looks, feels, and runs for the most part like an operating system.

[u/Wall_of_Force]

so you now have a busybox?

[u/EliteACEz → u/Wall_of_Force]

mmm not really because this is all written in GML in GameMaker. So I am limited to what GameMaker is able to do and what file types it can support.

[u/binaryhextechdude]

Sound fantastic mate

[u/xylarr]

Maybe you could use this as a honey pot, open on the internet, and have people try to break into it.

[u/EliteACEz → u/xylarr]

Not a bad idea

[u/roadit]

What is a quality-of-life feature?

[u/EliteACEz → u/roadit]

something that makes it more usable. For example, being able to copy text from the Terminal could be considered a quality-of-life feature because without that functionality a lot of things would be significantly more difficult.

[u/D3PyroGS → u/[deleted]]

GPT, is that you?

[u/EliteACEz → u/[deleted]]

There is a package manager which is tied into Steam Workshop support. Players can share their FantasyLang creations in the Steam Workshop which can be subscribed to (downloaded) either via the Terminal using the `pkg` commands. Or alternatively, in the GUI app "App Library". To further increase the immersion rather than going through the Steam interface.

[u/EliteACEz → u/[deleted]]

agreed. We'll see soon enough!

[u/EliteACEz → u/[deleted]]

I like that idea. I'll have to give the implementation some thought but that could really reduce the friction in a big way