# TempleOS

28 Hacker News commenters recommended TempleOS and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a striking one-man operating system that is interesting to explore and study, though critics say it lacks networking and USB and would not rely on it.

## Why people recommend it

- One-man engineering achievement (4 comments): "it is a serious accomplishment to get a working operating system off the ground" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48432708)) "TempleOS generally tends to be considered a marvel of one-man engineering" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49062046)) "He was out to prove something, and, largely, he did." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48432474))
- Interesting to explore and study (4 comments): "This, ReactOS, and TempleOS have been my answer to the question of: "what should I install if I'm looking for something interesting?"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49040597)) "one of the better write ups on TempleOS as a piece of technology to evaluate on its own merits" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354617)) "You might also like TempleOS, or at least the context and history behind it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49183183))
- Seen as a masterpiece, fun to use (5 comments): "TempleOS is a lot of fun but the community around it is very 4chan/kiwifarms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46784370)) "the whole thing was both an exercise in madness and genius" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094168)) "TempleOS blows my mind, honestly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201018))
- Neat unusual ideas and features (3 comments): "some pretty nifty features for directly interspersing sprites into source code" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48679751)) "the sick 3D icons TempleOS had in its terminal" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094829)) "it had some really neat ideas" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094539))

## What people warn about

- Lacks networking and USB (2 comments): "Sounds like TempleOS checks all those boxes. You might miss networking though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48324553)) "But only in 640*480, without networking or usb" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48119270))
- Community and religious content concerns (2 comments): "TempleOS is a lot of fun but the community around it is very 4chan/kiwifarms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46784370)) "who also filled TempleOS will religious nonsense" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46340565))
- Not recommended for daily reliance (2 comments): "Would you run and rely on TempleOS?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48919459)) "I wouldn't recommend TempleOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255057))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows.md): 1287 recommend
- [macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos.md): 1041 recommend
- [Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux.md): 745 recommend
- [Haiku](https://hackerapproved.com/p/haiku-os.md): 115 recommend
- [NetBSD](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netbsd.md): 100 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "TempleOS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/templeos/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).