Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
30c26ade3d
FABRIC-3.md §IX.5's "4th-device enumeration failure" was never a driver
bug: QEMU's default qemu-xhci controller (p2=4,p3=4) exposes only 4 real
dual-role ports, not 8 as the parameter names suggest. Attaching more
devices than that on bus=xhci0.0 without an explicit port= makes QEMU
silently auto-insert a USB2 hub past the 4th slot; the xHCI/BOT driver
correctly reports that hub as "not a Mass Storage/SCSI/BOT device" because
it genuinely isn't one, and every drive behind it is unreachable (no hub
descent in this driver). Confirmed live via QEMU's own `info usb` before
touching any kernel code.
Fix is entirely in the QEMU test harness, not the kernel:
- New XHCI_PORTS Make variable (default 16, overridable) sizes p2/p3 on
all three arches' qemu-xhci controller with real headroom above the
current 9-device identity roster, per Bob's standing ruling against
hardcoding a bound to today's scale (FABRIC-3.md §VII.4).
- ZUSEDISK_QEMU_ARGS now gives Zuse's drive an explicit port=1.
- QEMU_EXTRA's own doc comment shows the port= pattern for additional
devices.
Also fixed in passing: ZUSEDISK's default path (disk/zuse.img) was stale
-- that file was deleted from git at c3db963, superseded by
disk/thumbdrives/zuse-thumb-ident.img, but the Makefile default was never
updated, so a plain `make qemu` silently failed to attach Zuse at all.
Now defaults to the real minted image.
Not addressed here, flagged for later: scripts/bleach_zuse_img.sh and
disk/README.md still reference the deleted disk/zuse.img path. The
9-device concurrent enumeration itself (the scenario that originally
surfaced §IX.5) remains unverified against the real kernel -- this change
only confirms single-device boots are unaffected on all three arches.
Three-arch clean qemu acceptance passed (single Zuse device, port 1):
amd64, aarch64, riscv64 all reached POST: PASSED / PARITY:OK / "Zuse:
identity confirmed from attached thumbdrive" / (zuse) ok>.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014Ec88YKxxhZGG1RNnune78
LithosAnanke v2.0.1
UEFI-bootable FORTH microkernel. Boots from firmware, initialises memory and interrupts, then runs the StarForth VM as its sole userspace runtime. No libc. No OS. Just stone and necessity.
Lithos (foundation) + Ananke (necessity) — the kernel under StarshipOS.
Status — M7.1 (Capsule System · Multi-VM Fleet)
| Milestone | Status | |
|---|---|---|
| M0–M6 | UEFI boot · PMM · VMM · IDT · APIC · heap · framebuffer VT100 console (v1.5.1-FINAL) | ✅ Complete |
| M7 | StarForth VM integration + parity validation | ✅ Complete |
| M7.1 | Capsule birth protocol · Mama FORTH vocabulary · Tripod multi-VM fleet (Hermes/Artemis) · Word-level ACL (Phases 1–7) | 🔄 In Progress |
| M8 | REPL — keyboard input, interactive Forth | Planned |
| M9 | Block storage — AHCI driver | Planned |
POST at boot: parity hash verified across amd64/aarch64/riscv64 · Mama capsule dictionary: 453 words
What's live in M7.1
- Tripod — a named multi-VM fleet (Hera the Mama VM, Artemis, two Hermes instances) births, runs, and re-births independently, verified booting live pre-REPL on all three architectures.
- Hermes — a 17-block inter-VM messaging/channel layer between fleet members, with async delivery and channel negotiation.
- Artemis — a Block Allocation Map (BAM) storage subsystem with Q48.16
block-heat tracking and cooldown/reclamation (
ART-COOL/ART-REAP). - Word-level ACL — every dictionary entry carries a TTL/allow/mode/pin
access-control record. Strict, TTL, and pinned modes; two console layers
(emergency
ok>and superuserzuse)ok>). Phases 1–7 complete (C infrastructure, FORTH policy layer,zusebootstrap superuser, Isabelle proof stubs, kernel parity); Phase 8 (Ed25519 PKI / thumbdrive challenge-response) is the only item remaining. Measured overhead once active on every check: +0.0054%–+0.0088%, CV = 0.000%, across a 3×3 Latin-square DoE campaign (architecture × seed × 30 replicates) — three orders of magnitude below the measurement floor. - VM Fleet Attractor physics — the L8 Jacquard mode selector now has a real per-VM heat channel into fleet-wide tuning, replacing hardcoded compudynamics constants with a dynamically-inferred rate.
- Kconfig build configuration — every physics/heartbeat/pipelining/ kernel-only tuning knob (~40 total) is now a discoverable, optional Kconfig symbol shared with the hosted VM build. See Quick Start below.
Quick Start
# Build kernel (requires cross-compilation toolchain, or native gcc)
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64
# Run in QEMU with OVMF
make -f Makefile.starkernel qemu
# Other architectures
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=aarch64 qemu
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=riscv64 qemu
Artifacts: build/amd64/kernel/starkernel_loader.efi · build/amd64/kernel/starkernel_kernel.elf
For the hosted VM by itself (Linux, no cross-compiler needed, no bare-metal tooling): see
the separate StarForth repository — LithosAnanke used to be a branch inside that repo,
now it's its own project with its own master.
Build configuration (optional)
Every kernel-only knob (STARFORTH_ENABLE_VM, PARITY_MODE, the shared
physics/heartbeat family, etc.) is an optional Kconfig symbol — a plain
make -f Makefile.starkernel uses the same defaults it always has unless
you opt in:
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 menuconfig
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 kernel_amd64_defconfig
Documentation
| System Architecture | Full kernel + VM design |
| HAL Reference | Hardware abstraction layer interfaces |
| Capsule System — M7.1 | Capsule birth protocol design |
| VM Fleet Attractor design log | Tripod/Hermes/Artemis physics + build-system history |
| Getting Started / Kconfig reference | Full symbol reference for both build targets |
| Changelog | Milestone-level history |
| Roadmap | Milestone plan through self-hosting |
License
Starship License 1.0 (SL-1.0) — free for personal, research, and educational use. Commercial use requires a separate agreement. Attribution to R.A. James (Captain Bob) must be preserved in all distributions.
Patent pending. USPTO provisional filed December 2025 — physics-grounded self-adaptive runtime system. This license does not grant patent rights. Licensing inquiries: rajames440@gmail.com
Robert A. James (Captain Bob) · Systems Engineer · Hacking since 1973