How virtual machines, emulation and operating systems actually work
Written to be read once and remembered: what happens when a computer boots, why a browser can emulate a processor at all, and which of the free operating systems are worth your time.
What is a temporary virtual machine?
A disposable computer that exists only while you use it — what that actually means, when it helps, and where the idea falls down.
How x86 emulation works in the browser
From a JavaScript sandbox to a booting PC: what v86 actually does, why it compiles machine code to WebAssembly, and what it cannot do.
Which Linux distributions run in a browser
Why Ubuntu will not boot here, which distributions will, and how to pick one depending on what you want to do.
Disk images explained: ISO, IMG, floppies and kernels
What the file you are about to boot actually is, which slot it belongs in, and why picking wrong gives you a blinking cursor.
What actually happens when a computer boots
512 bytes, one magic number, and a chain of handoffs from firmware to kernel — traced step by step on a machine you can pause.
Snapshots: freezing a running computer
How an entire running machine becomes a file you can save, send and restore — and why some systems here boot in two seconds.
Beyond Linux: a tour of free operating systems
Haiku, ReactOS, Plan 9, the BSDs, Redox and SerenityOS — what each one is actually trying to prove, and which are worth your ten minutes.
Running Arch Linux in your browser
A real Arch install with pacman, gcc and python, starting in seconds — how the 9p filesystem trick makes that possible, and what it cannot do.