Welcome KOS Developers

A Distributed OS for Embedded Devices

Building a Linux-based embedded device is hard.

Create a distribution, solve over-the-air software and firmware updates, add rollback, global configuration, and security, and you’re just getting started.

KOS is a Linux-based embedded operating system that you don’t build; you assemble it.

With a broad range of embedded-specific features, powerful desktop tools, and a collaborative application-based runtime, KOS allows developers to skip directly to application development.

Does your device have more than one board running Linux? We handle this too. As a distributed operating system, services are consistent across all nodes, hardware is network-transparent, and your entire device is managed as a single entity.

Platform Overview

KOS is a distributed operating system that provides a broad range of services and a collaborative Java runtime environment for applications.

Learn more about how the platform is designed and how it can be used to accelerate your product development.

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KOS Studio

Define devices, test software, debug in a simulator, and deploy to hardware with a single click.

KOS Studio is a powerful desktop tool for collaborating with your team and building incredible products.

Software at Scale

It takes more than over-the-air updates to scale.

See how KOS provides security, immutability, customization, and operational infrastructure to scale your deployments.

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Core Concepts

KOS isn’t just another Linux distribution. Every aspect of device development has been re-imagined from the ground up and optimized.

With features like incremental updates, global configuration, collaborative applications, drag-and-drop construction of releases, secure delegated device customization, application marketplace, and a broad range of desktop tools as part of KOS Studio, there are many unique capabilities to explore.

Click through the concepts to see how KOS works and how it can accelerate your team!

Everything is a KAB

KOS packages everything as a KAB file. Applications, data, and even the Linux kernel are packaged as a KAB. See how this enables efficient updates, multiple layers of rollback, immutability, and a robust security model.

Assemble vs Build

Building a device with multiple Linux boards? Perhaps even a device that consists of multiple physical modules? KOS allows these to be treated as a single logical device with shared services and hardware.

Device and Chained Manifests

Need to customize content and applications down to individual devices but still support rollback and immutability? KOS provides a mechanism to allow 3rd parties to securely customize products without new releases.

Artifacts, Instances & Stores

A KOS release is assembled from immutable artifacts. KOS Studio can be used to create a catalog of components that can be assembled into releases.

WebSocket Router

KOS creates a fully routed websocket network, allowing all components in a distributed device to communicate directly without IP addresses.

Accessing KAB Content

Everything in KOS is an immutable KAB file. Learn how KOS allows the contents of KAB files to be accessed via a web server, or even as a native filesystem without ever extracting the contents.