QEMU

Try Omarchy is a macOS application that runs the upstream Omarchy desktop on Apple Silicon Macs without manual setup. It packages a project-built ARM64 Arch Linux image configured with Omarchy Quattro, a QEMU runtime using Apple's Hypervisor Framework, and a Swift/AppKit launcher. The guest image is built from pinned Arch Linux ARM packages and a pinned Omarchy source revision, with temporary fixes recorded by hash in the guest build specification. The application provides hardware-accelerated ARM64 virtualization and VirGL graphics, a resizable native window with automatic guest-resolution and HiDPI updates, Mac audio input and output selection, two-way clipboard sharing for text and PNG images, one optional shared Mac folder, and loopback-only TCP and UDP port forwarding from macOS into Omarchy. It is distributed as a signed and notarized DMG, and the first launch provisions the Linux account and guest environment. Video decoding is currently CPU-only, which can make high-resolution playback slow. Try Omarchy is not official or affiliated with Omarchy.

OmacVM is an open-source tool that installs and runs Omarchy, an Arch Linux ARM desktop, in a virtual machine on Apple Silicon Macs. A setup script builds the VM and configures it for OmacVM.app, UTM, VMware Fusion, or Parallels Desktop, while Mac-side helpers pass hardware and system features to the VM over a private network secured by a secret token. These integrations include trackpad gestures, macOS-like scrolling, keyboard and media keys, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio, battery status, displays, camera, microphone, clipboard sharing, theme and wallpaper synchronization, and the Omanotch bar beside the MacBook notch. The command-line interface can build VMs, switch features, update installations, check compatibility, manage VM resources, and list VMs. It requires an Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 15 for OmacVM.app or macOS 14 for the other virtualization routes, and about 30 GB of free disk space. OmacVM is released under the MIT license.

NIGHTRUN is a local LLM runtime written in Rust that boots directly from a USB stick on ordinary x86_64 PCs or from an SD card on a Raspberry Pi 5, without a conventional operating system underneath. Its UEFI application loads a quantized model into RAM, renders a chat terminal through the framebuffer, and runs inference locally and offline without a network stack, host process, or kernel. The installer builds and flashes a bootable image, guides model selection and verified downloads, and supports GGUF inspection and conversion into NIGHTRUN's .nrm container. During boot, the model is streamed into RAM with checksummed sections; storage is then sealed so generation cannot read from disk. The runtime includes custom framebuffer rendering, USB keyboard input, multi-core inference, serial diagnostics, hand-written quantized kernels for x86_64 and Raspberry Pi architectures, and Q8_0, Q4_K, and Q6_K weight formats. It requires Linux, Rust, and approximately 6 GB of free disk space for the model and image.

Ember is an operating system written from scratch in NASM assembly for booting from USB media, running DOS software on modern hardware, and providing its own graphical desktop. It includes a boot sector, FAT12/FAT16 filesystem, DOS-compatible INT 21h services, a 32-bit protected-mode runtime, command shell, file manager, word processor, music player, paint program, and other desktop applications. The system loads .COM and .EXE programs, batch files, XMS clients, and DOS/4GW software. Its virtual Sound Blaster is provided through a virtual-8086 monitor for real-mode programs or a DPMI host for protected-mode games; audio is sent through Intel HD Audio, with software OPL3 emulation for FM music. A separate UEFI application, Ember 2.0, supplies a BIOS-compatible layer for systems that cannot boot legacy BIOS code. The repository also includes drivers and applications for touch input, Intel graphics, 3D rendering, screenshots, and QEMU-based testing. Python build scripts and NASM assemble a bootable raw disk image, and the image can be run in QEMU or written to a USB stick. The project is MIT-licensed; its bundled NDOOM component is based on GPL-licensed Doom source, and minimp3 is public domain. The repository documents limitations including no networking or EMS, one active program at a time, and hardware-specific touch, graphics, and 3D support.

Cua is an open-source computer-use platform from Cua AI, Inc. that provides desktop automation, isolated cloud desktops, local virtual machines, and benchmarks for AI agents. Its Cua Fleets provision Linux desktops whose capacity is managed in pools; agents use the Sandbox SDK to run commands, capture screenshots, and interact with applications. Cua Driver exposes tools for inspecting and operating native desktop applications and browsers on macOS, Windows, and Linux through a CLI, MCP, or typed SDKs, with background delivery where supported. Lume creates and manages local macOS and Linux virtual machines on Apple Silicon using Apple's Virtualization framework. Cua Bench builds computer-use tasks, evaluates agents, and exports trajectories for training, including simulated tasks that do not require a VM, Docker, or a model API key. The project is MIT-licensed, while some third-party components have separate licenses.