Museum of Operating Systems: History and Access to the Collection

A unique digital museum of operating systems is available on the web, allowing you to study the history of computing. The project presents a virtual environment with a graphical interface for navigating an extensive collection.

History and Scale of the Collection

The project author began collecting materials in 2003. The database features 570 different operating systems. The earliest record dates back to 1948 and is associated with the Manchester Baby computer.

For user convenience, a Linux-based virtual machine image has been developed. It includes a set of emulators and a built-in interface for running operating systems in real time.

Available Download Options

Users can download the entire collection as a single archive. Two versions of the image are available: full and lite.

• The full version (121 GB) contains approximately 1700 virtual machines, covering more than 250 platforms and 570 operating systems.
• The lite version (14 GB) includes only a Linux system, installer, emulators, and an application for dynamic loading of images.

Virtual machine downloads are supported in popular programs such as QEMU, VirtualBox, and UTM. Full access to museum resources is available through the project's official website.