Everything about CiGamingOS

01Getting started

Turn on sound first. Every beep, chime, roar and thunderclap is synthesized live in the browser, and browsers only allow audio after you click.

1. Power on. Click the glowing power button. The CubCore BIOS runs a memory test and detects drives. Press Esc or click anywhere to skip ahead.
2. BIOS setup (optional). Press Del or F2 during the memory test, or tap the "Press DEL" line, to open setup. See BIOS setup.
3. Sign in or play as a guest. Sign in with your account, choose Create an account, or choose Guest mode. The guest password is roar, or just press Enter.
4. Explore. The desktop opens with About and Terminal. Type help in the Terminal, or right-click the desktop.

Guest or account?

02The desktop

Windows

• Move by dragging the title bar. Resize from the bottom-right corner.
• Snap by dragging a window to the left or right edge to fill half the screen, or to the top to maximize. A glowing outline previews where it lands. Drag it away to restore its size.
• Maximize with the square button or a double-click on the title bar. Minimize with the dash, then bring it back from the taskbar.
• On phones, windows always open full screen.

Icons

Double-click an icon to open it (tap on touch screens). Drag icons anywhere; they snap to a grid and remember their spot. Drag on empty space to box-select several, or Ctrl-click to add one. Right-click the desktop and choose Arrange icons to reset the layout.

Taskbar, Start and Task view

• Start (the lion) opens the app grid with search. You can lock, restart or shut down from here.
• Task view, the four-squares button, shows live thumbnails of every window. Click one to switch, or the × to close it.
• Clock opens the notification center: quick toggles, every notification you've had, and a calendar. A dot on the clock means something's unread.

Quick toggles

The desktop cub

A little lion walks along the taskbar, sits, naps when you're idle and comments on the apps you open. Click it to pet it.

03Keyboard shortcuts

04Apps

Every app is on the desktop and in Start. Most remember their state between visits.

05Files and the Recycle Bin

Your home folder is ~ (/home/cigaming on CiGamingOS, /home/corsi on CorsiOS, /home/noni on NoniOS), with Desktop, Documents, Projects, Pictures and Apps inside. /etc is read-only.

• New folder / New file from the Files toolbar or a right-click on empty space.
• Rename with F2, the toolbar, or a right-click. Names can't contain a slash.
• Delete moves things to the Recycle Bin. Open the bin from its desktop icon or the Files sidebar to restore items to where they were, delete them forever, or empty it.
• Double-click a text file to open it in Notes, which autosaves.

With an account, your whole file tree syncs to your other devices (up to 2 MB).

06Terminal commands

Paths work like Linux: ~, ., .., absolute and relative. Tab completes commands and file names.

Files

System

Storms, streaming and servers

There are a few more commands that aren't on this list. Some of them are in Secrets.

07Server Room

Racks of simulated machines with live CPU, memory and request charts, services, logs and problems. Every OS in the family has its own fleet: CiGamingOS runs overlays, bots, Minecraft, TTS and radar; CorsiOS runs Uncle Corsi's arcade; NoniOS runs the lair, the rocket game and the hoard database.

Getting access

When the OS is connected to the server, the fleets are shared: everyone approved works on the same machines at the same time, sees each other's changes, and sees who fixed what. So the Server Room starts locked.

1. Open the Server Room. Pick the OS whose fleet you want from the menu at the top left.
2. Write a line about why (optional) and press Request access.
3. An admin reviews it. The moment it's approved, the Server Room unlocks on its own, no reload needed. Access can last a day, a week, a month or for good.

If you're signed in, approval goes to your account, so it follows you to every desktop and every OS you sign in on. On a guest desktop it's for that one desktop. Server Room access and Network access are separate; ask for each one where you need it.

Tabs

• Racks. Click a machine for its charts, disk and temperature gauges, services table and log. Buttons: SSH, Deploy (app hosts), Reboot and Power.
• Overview. Fleet health, open incidents, requests per second, session uptime and mean time to fix.
• Incidents. What's broken now, and everything that's been fixed, by whom and how fast.
• Operators. How many incidents you've fixed, and the 30-day leaderboard for that fleet.

On-call and incidents

With On-call on, a random incident pages you every minute or two. On a shared fleet, incidents only happen while an approved operator is online, and they page everyone approved for that OS. When someone else is looking at the same machine, you'll see 👀 and their name. Chaos monkey starts one immediately. Each incident shows the right fix for that machine and an Apply fix button, but it's more fun over SSH.

SSH: every machine has its own toolkit

Run ssh app-01 in Terminal, or click SSH on a machine. To reach another OS's fleet, put the OS first: ssh corsi/sled-01. The table lists the CiGamingOS fleet; CorsiOS and NoniOS machines of the same kind have the same toolkits, with their own sites and databases. Type help once you're in to see exactly what that machine can do. Some commands only exist on certain machines: there's no psql on the edge proxy and no pm2 on the database server.

Every machine also has top, free -h, df -h, uptime, journalctl -n 20, ping <host>, traceroute <host>, nmap <host>, ls, cat <file>, sudo reboot and exit. Inside psql or rcon, type help for what that prompt understands, and \q or exit to leave it.

The real machine

Rack B has a machine marked REAL (cubcore-live on CiGamingOS, sled-live on CorsiOS, lair-live on NoniOS). That one is the actual server running this site: its CPU, memory, connections and database speed are live, refreshed every 3 seconds. You can watch it, but you can't break it.

08Network

The wiring behind a fleet: the internet link, the edge firewall, a core switch and four zones (dmz, apps, data, lab). Like the Server Room, it's shared and starts locked. Ask for Network access from the lock screen inside the app.

• Map. Live links between every machine. Dashes move faster with more traffic and turn red when a link is down or dropping packets. Click a machine to ping it, bounce its switch port, or open it in the Server Room.
• Firewall. The rules, checked top to bottom; the first match wins and everything else hits Default deny. Toggle, delete or add rules with an action (allow, deny, limit), protocol, port (443, 3000-9000, 5432,6432 or any) and zones. Everyone sees who added each rule.
• Tools. Ping, traceroute and a port scan from the admin zone. The scan shows which rule allowed or blocked each port, so you can see your rule changes take effect.

09Accounts, sync and chat

Creating an account

On the lock screen, choose Create an account. Usernames are 3–20 letters, numbers or underscores; passwords need 8 or more characters. A new account uploads whatever is on the desktop you're using.

Signing in on another device downloads your copy. After that, changes sync a second or two after you make them. To lock without signing out, use Start → Lock; press Enter to continue. To switch accounts, run logout in Terminal.

One account works on CiGamingOS, CorsiOS and NoniOS. Each OS keeps its own desktop for you: files, wallpaper and trophies on CorsiOS don't overwrite the ones on NoniOS.

What syncs

Files, accent, theme, wallpaper, trophies, high scores, Cub Clicker progress, BIOS settings, Server Room fixes, the screensaver and desktop cub settings, and app preferences. These stay on each device: icon positions, night light, mute, and the desktop's own ID.

CubChat

Rooms: #lobby, #storms, #dev and #games belong to this OS. #network is shared by every OS in the family, and each message shows which OS it came from. The sidebar shows who's online. Mention someone with @username to send them a notification. Messages are up to 500 characters, five every six seconds.

Leaderboards

Achievements → Leaderboards shows the top 10 for Cub Snake, Brick Pounce, Paddle Paws (best win margin), Paw Sweeper Easy and Medium (fastest time) and Cub Clicker (total snacks). Your best scores post automatically when you're signed in.

Announcements

The site can send announcements to every open desktop, like when a stream is starting. If you're on the lock screen, it waits and pops up when you reach the desktop.

10OSNet: the OS family

CiGamingOS, CorsiOS and NoniOS are one family on the same network, each with its own mascot, boot screen, wallpaper, sounds and fleet.

Friends

Open Friends and add someone by username. They can be on any OS. When they add you back, you're friends, and you'll see which OS they're on right now.

• 👋 Wave pops up on their desktop, wherever they are.
• 📦 Beam sends them a text file from your home folder (up to 64 KB). They choose to accept it, and it lands in ~/Beamed. If they're offline, it waits for them.

Across the network

• Chat with everyone in #network.
• SSH into another OS's machines with ssh corsi/arcade-01 once you're approved for that fleet.
• The Server Room and Network app have an OS menu at the top to switch fleets.

11Themes and settings

Wallpapers: Supercell (rain and lightning), Horizon (synthwave grid), Mane (drifting embers), Snowfall (aurora, pines and snow; CorsiOS's default) and Lair (glowing crystals and a glint of hoard; NoniOS's default). Ten accent colors work with every theme.

Settings → Reset clears everything on this device and starts you over as a brand-new desktop. Account files come back when you sign in again.

12BIOS setup

Press Del during boot. Use ↑ ↓ to move, Enter to open, ← → to change values, F10 to save and Esc to go back. Everything is clickable too.

• Overclock the Cub. CPU multiplier 30–70× (the clock shows in About and neofetch), mane voltage, fluff level and nap timer.
• PC Health Status. Live temperature, fan speed, voltage and cub mood.
• Advanced, Snack Configuration and Standard CMOS hold settings that are mostly for fun.

13Secrets and achievements

There are 36 achievements. The list below gives most of them away, so it's folded up.

14Your data and privacy

On a guest desktop

Your files and settings are saved in this browser only. The site keeps a small record that this desktop exists so announcements can reach it: a random ID and label, your browser type, IP address, when you visit, and what the desktop is doing (which apps are open, your theme, screen size and time zone). That record is deleted when the guest desktop resets.

With an account

Your username, a scrambled copy of your password (we can't read it), your files and settings, your best game scores and your CubChat messages are saved on the server so they follow you to other devices.

Things to know

• Access requests, approvals and every change you make on a shared fleet (restarts, deploys, firewall rules) are logged with your name or desktop label, and other operators can see who fixed what.
• Beamed files are stored on the server until your friend accepts or declines them.
• The site's admins can see the desktops list and CubChat messages, send you announcements, and refresh, restart or reset a desktop if needed.
• Settings → Reset clears everything stored in this browser.
• Don't put real passwords or private information in Notes, files or chat.

15Help and FAQ

16What's new

OSNet update

• Meet CorsiOS (a black and white husky) and NoniOS (a black, purple and green dragonwolf), each with its own boot screen, wallpaper, sounds, desktop pet and fleet.
• One account across all three OSes, with Friends, waves, beamed files and the shared #network chat room.
• Shared fleets: approved operators work on the same machines together and see who fixed what, with an operator leaderboard.
• The new Network app: a live map, the firewall and network tools, plus three new network incidents.
• Request access to the Server Room and Network right from the app.
• New commands: ssh os/host, fw, net, traceroute, nmap, howl, rawr.

26.10 "Supercell"

• Accounts: sign up on the lock screen to sync your desktop across devices.
• CubChat and online leaderboards.
• The Server Room, with incidents to fix, deploys and SSH.
• Guest desktops now reset 24 hours after they're created, with a warning first.
• Four themes, window snapping, task view, the notification center, a screensaver, BIOS setup, the desktop cub, 31 achievements and twelve new apps.