BTDOS
In development

An operating system that forgets.

BTDOS™ boots any PC from a small USB dongle, runs entirely in memory, and leaves nothing behind when you turn it off.

  • RAM only
  • 0 bytes written to your PC
  • Signed and checked at every start
The dongle's own 160×80 screen, while a PC boots from it

How it works

  • Safety first

    Everything runs from memory. The PC's own drives are never touched, and the dongle only changes when you save something on purpose.

  • Plug in, boot, done

    Start the PC from the dongle and the desktop is there in about twenty seconds. Firefox, Wi-Fi and the rest load in the background while you work.

  • Built from source

    Every part is compiled from its original source code, from the Linux kernel to the desktop. The one exception is Mozilla's Firefox.

  • A dongle that helps

    The stick has its own screen, a light and a button. It shows what the system is doing, and the button doubles as an emergency switch.

Built in

BTDOSec

The security that comes with BTDOS. It isn't an add-on or an app you have to remember to start: it checks the system, guards the dongle and locks the screen from the moment you boot.

  • Checked at every start

    The whole system is signed. Before anything runs, BTDOS checks it against that signature. If a single file was changed, it refuses to start and tells you which one.

  • A dongle that can't be tampered with

    The system part of the stick is write-protected by the dongle itself. A PC, or anything running on it, can't change it. Updates only go through when you hold the dongle's button.

  • A screen lock that lives in the chip

    Walk away and the screen locks. Your PIN is kept inside the dongle's chip, where it can't be read out, and wrong guesses wipe the session instead of giving it away.

  • Gone in a second

    Hold the button and pull the dongle out, or press the panic key: every program stops, memory is wiped and the PC powers off.

  • Your secrets stay encrypted

    An encrypted vault on the dongle keeps your files and Wi-Fi passwords. It opens into memory only, and locks again when you're done.

  • And the small things

    Copied passwords leave the clipboard after a few seconds, photos and documents can be stripped of hidden metadata, and Tor works even on networks that block it.

Where we are

We're working on it.

BTDOS already runs on our own hardware and test machines. It isn't ready for a public release yet, and we'd rather get it right than get it out early.

  • workingDesktop, files, terminal and Firefox, all in memory
  • workingWi-Fi, Bluetooth, sound, Tor and a VPN
  • workingBTDOSec: signed system, write-protected dongle, screen lock
  • workingAn encrypted vault on the dongle
  • nextTesting on many more PCs
  • nextA download and an easy installer

A few questions

  • Why these colors?

    Because we think they fit. The blue-violet is the color of the BTDOS badge on the dongle's little screen, and it stuck. It's not there because every AI product has a gradient now.

  • Why "BTDOS"?

    It's short for B's T-Dongle OS. It started as one person's operating system for a T-Dongle, and the name was never meant to be clever. It just stayed.