Download. Boot locally.

The browser is an optional demonstration. The ISO runs the same appliance in native QEMU, without WebAssembly or cloud services.

Bootable ISO Complete native kit Source & licenses Offline instructions

1. Download and verify the ISO

Download image.iso above. Its SHA-256 is:

37ebaba6819089964873a60beb9b04959728c1c7ce073df5490853b6a270f997

On Linux use sha256sum image.iso; on macOS use shasum -a 256 image.iso; on Windows PowerShell use Get-FileHash image.iso -Algorithm SHA256. Compare the result before booting.

2. Install QEMU

Use the packages and installers linked by the official QEMU download page. Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install qemu-system qemu-system-gui. macOS: brew install qemu. Windows: install the linked 64-bit distribution and open a terminal with its executable directory on PATH.

3. Boot the ISO

From the directory containing image.iso, run:

qemu-system-x86_64 -machine pc -accel tcg -m 256 -vga std -nic none -boot order=d -cdrom image.iso -audiodev none,id=sound -device AC97,audiodev=sound -monitor none -serial none -no-reboot

This portable baseline uses a graphical window, 256 MiB of guest RAM, software CPU emulation, and silent AC97 output. No network device, host share or writable disk is attached. Windows uses qemu-system-x86_64.exe. The ISO boots legacy BIOS; select BIOS rather than EFI in another VM tool.

4. Choose a demo

At the BIOS prompt type paddle, grid, or menu, then Enter. Waiting three seconds opens the game menu: 1 selects Paddle Rally, 2 selects Grid Runner. Arrows move, Enter starts or serves, Z/X/C are A/B/C, Esc returns to the menu, P pauses, F1 resets, and F12 shuts down the guest. QEMU's default pointer-release shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+G.

Sound and acceleration

Run qemu-system-x86_64 -audiodev help to see available audio backends. Replace none,id=sound with sdl,id=sound if SDL is listed, or coreaudio,id=sound on a Mac build that lists it. Keep the AC97 argument. On an x86-64 Linux host with KVM access, replace -accel tcg with -accel kvm. TCG also runs the x86 guest on ARM hosts, at lower speed.

Every native build artifact

The complete kit includes all checksummed native files, the source ZIP and offline instructions. Verify its archive checksum, then extract with tar -xf genesis-native.tar.xz. The artifact manifest gives direct URLs, sizes and hashes for every file.

Construct your own appliance

Extract the source ZIP. The included offline guide documents build dependencies, direct kernel boot, demo defaults and adding a local cartridge. The builder packages a static application with explicit assets and device choices; no cloud account is required.

source ci/init-temp.sh
python3 unikernel.py build --example genesis --genesis-boot paddle --out build/genesis
python3 unikernel.py run build/genesis

What the security argument covers

The construction reduces installed userspace and reachable guest interfaces. It assumes the VM/browser sandbox holds. The stock kernel, emulator and ROM parser retain implementation risk; this is not a proof of full-system security or a formally minimal kernel. Browser hosting services are outside the appliance and unnecessary for local execution.