#Bitesize: Is TempleOS inspired by God?

TempleOS is one of the strangest operating systems in the world. It is written in 'Holy C', a variant of C created specifically for the OS. It's 64-bit and supports embedding images and audio in plain text files. Yet the 16-colour display resolution is fixed at 640x480 regardless of screen size, and the OS does not have any support for internet connection.

Complete this 6-question quiz to find out. All questions may have more than one answer. Some questions are subjective.

1. Who created TempleOS?
   1. God
   2. Jesus Christ
   3. Elon Musk
   4. Terry A. Davis
2. Did the creator receive help from other people?
   1. Yes, a lot
   2. Yes, somewhat
   3. No, not really
   4. None
3. Why was the system created?
   1. For fun
   2. To fulfil the bible prophecy of the 3rd temple of Jerusalem
   3. To make money
   4. To appear cool
4. What are some hints of possible divine inspiration? (multiple answers)
   1. It has been installed on all computers owned by the Church of England.
   2. Pope François loves it.
   3. There is a task named 'Adam', which is the universal parent task for all other tasks.
   4. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+B at any time opens up a copy of the Christian Bible.
5. Which of the following programs come pre-installed on TempleOS? (multiple answers)
   1. God's Doodle
   2. God's Song
   3. Kill CIA
   4. Moses's simulator
6. Why the system may not be suitable for use by mortal human beings? (multiple answers)
   1. The system utilises non-preemptive multitasking, which means processes run concurrently and share system resources, but each process can take as much resource as it desires.
   2. The system is ring 0 only, which means every process, from system to application ones, runs directly on the kernel, with all permissions automatically granted.
   3. The system interface looks like it is from the 1980s, despite receiving updates until 2017.
   4. Some programs on the TempleOS system display the warning message 'I refuse to rip off the original, so this is intentionally crappy.' upon entry.

Answers

1. Who created TempleOS?
   1. ❔God: According to Terry, god directed him to create the OS as the third Temple of Jerusalem prophesied in the Christian Bible (Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:31, Ezekiel 40-48, etc.). The 16-color 640x480 fixed-resolution display is explicitly specified by god.
   2. Jesus Christ
   3. Elon Musk
   4. ✅Terry A. Davis: This is the genius who actually wrote the operating system. Under divine inspiration, perhaps.
2. Did the creator receive help from other people?
   1. Yes, a lot
   2. Yes, somewhat
   3. ✅No, not really: Terry spent 15 years concepting, creating, and updating TempleOS from 2003 until his tragic death in 2018. All sources listed in the bibliography agree that he worked alone, ultimately writing 120,000+ lines for TempleOS. He even invented his own programming language, called 'HolyC, ' specifically for TempleOS. However, it would be unfair to say he received no help from other human beings. HolyC is based on Dennis Ritchie's C. Also, during the later years of TempleOS, when he was, in his words, living homeless on a field, he relied on library computers in a nearby town.
   4. None
3. Why was the system created?
   1. For fun
   2. ✅To fulfil the bible prophecy of the 3rd temple of Jerusalem: Terry believed he was directed by the Holy Spirit, which communicated with him, in Terry's words, via 'a microsecond-range stop-watch each button press for random numbers'. He called TempleOS 'God's official temple'.
   3. To make money
   4. To appear cool
4. What are some hints of possible divine inspiration? (multiple answers)
   1. ❌It has been installed on all computers owned by the Church of England: Terry died in 2018 after being struck by a train. He did not have time to convince the Church of England to adopt TempleOS. Also, he was an American Catholic and may have never entered an Anglican church.
   2. ❔Pope François loves it: Pope François has not publicly disclosed his favourite OS.
   3. ✅There is a task named 'Adam', which is the universal parent task for all other tasks.
   4. ✅Pressing Ctrl+Alt+B at any time opens up a copy of the Christian Bible.
5. Which of the following programs come pre-installed on TempleOS? (multiple answers)
   1. ✅God's Doodle: you can download the system image and run it as a 64-bit virtual machine in any simulator. Try it yourself!
   2. ✅God's Song
   3. ❌Kill CIA: Terry suffered from Schizophrenia. He repeatedly expressed fear that the CIA was trailing him. In 2013, he wrote: 'God's temple is finished. Now, God kills CIA until it spreads. ' However, he did not release any program titled 'Kill CIA' publically.
   4. ❌Moses's simulator: Terry was immensely proud of this program. However, for reasons not widely known. he never included it in the main distribution of TempleOS but instead distributed it as a supplementary CD image.
6. Why the system may not be suitable for use by mortal human beings? (multiple answers)
   1. ✅The system utilises non-preemptive multitasking, which means processes runs concurrently and share system resources, but each process can take as much resource as it desires: As the processes can take up an arbitrary amount of resources, any malicious program can paralysed the system by simply taking up all memory and CPU.
   2. ✅The system is ring 0 only, which means every process, from system to application ones, is run directly on the kernel, with all permissions automatically granted: In Terry's own words, there is 'no difference between commands and source code on [TempleOS]' The only defence against malicious or faulty programs is God's grace.
   3. The system interface looks like it is from the 1980s despite receiving updates until 2017: This is a deal breaker for many people, but there are people who like it. Some enthusiasts modernised Terry's TempleOS into Tinker OS and maintained it until August 2024.
   4. ✅Some programs on the TempleOS system display the warning message 'I refuse to rip off the original, so this is intentionally crappy.' upon entry: TempleOS features a whole section titled 'unfun games'. Every game in this section displays this message. I played them, they are crappy. You can watch the Linus Tech Tips guy playing one of them here.

Bibliography

L’étrange histoire de TempleOS et de son concepteur by Vincent Hermann (in French):

L’étrange histoire de TempleOS et de son concepteur - Next

Voici l’histoire d’un système d’exploitation qui a débuté comme un passe-temps, avant de devenir l’expression d’une mission dont son auteur, Terry Andrew Davis, se pensait investi par Dieu. Individu schizophrène et controversé, il a travaillé seul sur son projet pendant 10 ans.

NextVincent Hermann

Recreational Programming With LoseThos by Kroc:

Recreational Programming With LoseThos – OSnews

OSnewsKroc

I've never seen ANYTHING like this before... Temple OS by Linus Tech Tips (YouTube Video):

TempleOS (Official Website, maintained by enthusiasts after Terry's passing):

TempleOS

Remarks

Rest in Peace, Terry. May heaven treat you better than this world.

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