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Collapse OS

collapseos.org Software & code Software projects Software engineering Candidate
Screenshot of collapseos.org captured 2026-07-20
Page preview · captured 2026-07-20

Resurfaced independently across 4 calendar years, with breakout response in 3 of them.

submissions
4
submitters
4
observed span
2019–2025
peak thread · 303 comments
753 pts
latest 20+ return · 2025-03-26
226 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

First comments on top threads

HN comment order

I don't think just developing a Z80 operating system is enough. The whole ecosystem needs to be preserved. In agriculture, we have the doomsday seed vault [0] just for this purpose. If we anticipate collapse of the current economic system or society, I think we should build a doomsday computer vault, that keeps everything we need to rebuild the computing industry in a underground bunker. It keeps everything we need in a controlled environment, such as 8080, Z80, m68k, motherboards…

The problem with claims of imminent societal collapse is they treat "collapse" like an event, with the world neatly divided into before and after. Historically, societal collapse is much more fuzzy. No neat single cause. No single moment when things flipped. You can only truly know the collapse has happened well in retrospect. In terms of computing, this means that any strategy looking at a before/after collapse framing is missing the entire interesting middle part - how do we transition…

Genuine question: if we're in a collapse scenario that is so devastating to the global supply chain that we're scavenging microcontrollers, how do we generate electricity to power them? Solar panels and batteries don't last forever and would presumably require the same or similar supply chain as the microcontrollers. This is a cool project regardless, but in such a catastrophic scenario it seems easier to just give up on computing and go back to more primitive technology. If I can't…

On the vi editor, it should fit on a 80x24 terminal. A 64x16 window would be perfect. Also, I coudn't get this Forth to do float or double operations. On the term size, edit cos-grid.c as en exaple for cwm: #define WCOLS 64 #define WLINES 16

anthk·46-point thread·

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
3

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
1238

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
626

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission

DateTitle as submittedByPointsComments
2019-10-07Collapse OSFirst breakout · Best threadspraak753303
2021-01-25Collapse OS – bootstrap post-collapse technologyrewir213116
2022-05-11Collapse OSsigna11468
2025-03-26Collapse OSLatest 20+ point returnkaycebasques226199