GoKawiilDeveloper 0xAX builds Conway's Game of Life in a 512-byte boot sector
A project called BootLife implements Conway's Game of Life entirely within a 512-byte x86 boot sector, using VGA memory to display the simulation grid. It's shared on GitHub as a Show HN post, built with NASM and runnable via QEMU, with source code and a Makefile provided for building and testing.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The project is a demonstration of low-level programming skill rather than a practical tool, showing how much functionality can be squeezed into the extremely constrained space of a boot sector. Such projects are common in hobbyist and systems-programming circles as exercises in minimalism and mastery of assembly and hardware memory addressing.
- Game of Life simulation runs directly from a 512-byte x86 boot sector using assembly (NASM).
- Uses VGA memory directly to render the grid, bypassing an operating system entirely.
- Built and shared by developer 0xAX as an open-source hobby project, runnable via QEMU emulation.
USB Floppy Disk Drive External — If you're playing with boot sectors and raw disk images, a USB floppy drive lets you write your creations to real floppy media and boot them on actual hardware. It's a fun way to bring retro low-level projects like BootLife out of the emulator and into the physical world.
See USB Floppy Disk Drive External on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: github.com, 2026-09-21
Published there as: “Show HN: Conway's Game of Life in boot sector”
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