Do less work.
Remove redundant work, allocations, copying, indirection, and abstractions. Then optimize what remains.
Independent systems software
Your hardware
has more to give.
We rebuild software in Rust and assembly to make better use of the machines we own.
Performance by design. Control down to the hardware. Agentic AI to take on the rewrites worth doing.
Explore the projects01
Philosophy
Software should earn
the resources it consumes.
You should control the hardware you own and the software that runs it. Faster machines are no excuse for unnecessary overhead.
Keep what matters.
Preserve useful behavior and compatibility. Question the implementation behind them.
Measure the difference.
Test responsiveness, execution predictability, and memory use. Run well on modest hardware. Put powerful machines to work.
Agentic AI makes ambitious rewrites practical. With explicit requirements, agents help investigate, implement, test, benchmark, and iterate against reference behavior. Lower development costs let us focus on runtime efficiency, correctness, and control.
Two tools. One contract.
Rust Assembly
Rust brings native performance and strong safety guarantees. Assembly gives direct control where we can improve on compiler output.
Our architectural ambition: exchange equivalent Rust and assembly implementations through defined interfaces and shared compatibility tests. This is a direction we are building toward.
02
Projects
From the game
to the machine beneath it.
From timing-sensitive games to kernels and everyday tools, the same work feeds a growing set of reusable components.
Game
DeadSync
Public · Heavy developmentA Rust rewrite of StepMania/ITGmania, built around precise timing and performance, with Vulkan and OpenGL rendering.
Playable builds for Windows, Linux, BSD, and macOS. Under heavy development: bugs, breaking changes, and unfinished features are expected.
Explore DeadSync
Kernels
Linux userspace ABI
DeadLinux
Current project: linux-rs
In development · Private sourceAn ongoing Linux-compatible kernel implementation in Rust. Rebuild the internals while testing the behavior that existing software depends on.
Documented test images boot deadinit and deadsh, with a scoped desktop in QEMU. Compatibility and hardware support remain limited; a general-purpose Linux replacement is the goal.
FreeBSD userspace ABI
DeadBSD
In development · Private sourceA Rust kernel targeting the FreeBSD/amd64 userspace ABI. A second kernel foundation for the same family of system software.
The current QEMU system boots deadinit, deadsh, and selected deadcoreutils, with a framebuffer terminal and PS/2 keyboard input. Broader FreeBSD compatibility remains in development.
Userspace
System software
In development · Private sourceThe pieces between the kernel and the application. Small, focused implementations, each with its own compatibility boundary.
- deadinit
- Initialization and service management. An incremental OpenRC rewrite; not yet a drop-in replacement.
- deadsh
- A shell targeting dash behavior, with interactive editing, history, and completion.
- deadx
- A display server implementing a small X11 subset, with software drawing and optional framebuffer output.
- deadwm
- A floating X11 window manager with working move, resize, and focus controls.
- deadterm
- An X11 terminal with interactive shells and a deliberately scoped set of VT terminal features.
- deadcoreutils
- Core utilities in Rust. File and text operations are implemented; some OS-specific operations remain unsupported.
- deaddhcpcd
- A DHCPv4 client for acquiring and renewing IPv4 leases. An initial implementation; IPv6 and full dhcpcd parity remain outside its scope.
- deadssh
- An SSH client and server with authenticated shells, commands, and interactive PTY sessions. OpenSSH feature parity is in progress.
Tools
At the terminal
In development · Private sourceEditing, diagnostics, measurement, and a little phosphor-green distraction. Focused tools built in Rust.
- deadnano
- A nano-style editor with search, undo/redo, and saving. Currently a single-file editor with a limited feature set.
- deadmatrix
- A CMatrix rewrite for Linux, macOS, and Windows terminals, with animation and interactive controls.
- deadfetch
- System information for Linux and DeadLinux, as a terminal display, plain text, or JSON. Implements a subset of Fastfetch-style features.
- deadbench
- A CPU and memory benchmark with verified workloads and repeatable run plans. Clock and environment qualification remain in progress.
Shared foundation
deadlib
In use inside DeadSync · Extraction plannedReusable components already doing work inside DeadSync: graphics backends, audio, native input, and platform support.
- Graphics
- Rendering and presentation, with Vulkan, OpenGL, Metal, wgpu, and software backends.
- Audio
- Audio decoding, core interfaces, and platform backends including ALSA, PipeWire, WASAPI, and CoreAudio.
- Input & more
- Native input, platform integration, assets, and video components.
The deadlib-* crates currently live in the DeadSync workspace. Extracting them into independently reusable libraries is the next step.
Status reflects documented scope. A working component is not a claim of complete compatibility.
03
About & contact
Dead on purpose.
DeadCorp is an independent systems software company. We reverse engineer, reimplement, and improve the software our machines run.
“Dead” began with the StepMania/ITGmania rewrite DeadSync: dead on sync. It now expresses a larger ambition: definitive implementations. Software people can understand, control, and depend on.
Build on this.
Explore the source, help test the work, or support independent development. Performance and compatibility problems are welcome starting points.
Technical discussion starts in the public project’s issues. Interested in sponsoring the work? We welcome that interest, too.