Axiom
A math-native OS where x² is valid syntax (built from scratch)
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Hi HN, I'm a 19-year-old aerospace student. I spent the last 13 months building a custom Linux distro from scratch because I wanted to see if we could treat the OS kernel as a mathematical engine rather than a deterministic administrator.The Stack: Flux (The Shell): A custom math-native shell where x² and ∑ are valid syntax. It parses mathematical notation directly into optimized SIMD instructions (no Python wrapper).Tenet (The Scheduler): Written in Tenet (my custom DSL for game theory). The scheduler is a Nash Equilibrium solver compiled to native code. In my benchmarks (Ryzen 7 5800HS), it reduces max jitter from 290µs (Linux Mint) to 6µs (48x lower).Alexitha (The Safety Layer): I replaced systemd with a Neurosymbolic agent that formally verifies kernel modules before execution.Current Status: Pre-alpha research kernel. The source is currently closed as I finalize the security architecture (and potentially commercialize parts of the safety layer), but I have released the whitepapers detailing the math and compiler architecture on the landing page.I'm here to answer questions about the LFS build process, the scheduler math, or how Flux handles symbol parsing!The Manifesto: If you want the full story of why I nuked my hard drive to build this (and the "Apollo 11 Paradox"), I wrote about the philosophy here: https://fawazishola.medium.com/why-i-nuked-my-hard-drive-to-...
HN · launched Feb 18, 2026 · 20 upvotes (top 31%) · 0 views
Niche: experimental and embedded operating systems · 142 launches, 6 in the last 7 days ▼ -60% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Dev tools
- Prosumer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 142 launches in experimental and embedded operating systems →
Could you build this?
No Creating a custom Linux distribution with a bespoke math-oriented kernel and parser shell requires extensive operating systems development and compiler expertise.
What it would actually take: Requires building an OS distribution from the ground up (Linux From Scratch, custom toolchain, package management) and developing a custom shell in C or Rust. The shell requires a custom lexer/parser capable of handling mathematical notations (e.g., superscripts, symbolic expressions) and resolving them through an integrated computer algebra engine hooked into system calls. This demands deep domain knowledge in OS architecture, systems programming, and programming language design.
Discussion
9 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: systemd, LaTeX/TeX, Python (x**2 syntax)
Concerns raised: Unicode input harder than ASCII alternatives like x^2, Why bundle as OS instead of separate projects, Integration story not well documented, Unclear why components need to be in single OS
Feature requests: Better documentation of integration between components, Support for smaller LLM models (1-3B) to reduce boot overhead
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 453 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #162 of 454 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 110 days after the earliest competitor.
- Axiom · hn · 2026-02-02 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- SymDerive · hn · 2026-02-01 · 26 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- Dozenal · hn · 2026-07-27 · 16 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- E80: an 8-bit CPU in structural VHDL · hn · 2026-01-17 · 34 upvotes · similarity 0.44
- LunarBasic, a BASIC that compiles 2D games to native executables · hn · 2026-08-24 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.44
- Anos · hn · 2026-04-04 · 115 upvotes · similarity 0.44
- dipper-xnu · github · 2026-10-29 · 82 upvotes · similarity 0.43
- Our space game has a built-in RISC-V emulator that runs Linux · hn · 2026-10-02 · 94 upvotes · similarity 0.43
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