2 =======================
3 **[Homepage](https://www.haiku-os.org/)
4 | [Mailing Lists](https://www.haiku-os.org/community/ml)
5 | [IRC Channels](https://www.haiku-os.org/community/irc)
6 | [Issue Tracker](https://dev.haiku-os.org/)
7 | [API docs](https://api.haiku-os.org)**
9 Haiku is an open-source operating system that specifically targets personal
10 computing. Inspired by the BeOS, Haiku is fast, simple to use, easy to learn
11 and yet very powerful.
15 * Sensible defaults with minimal configuration required.
16 * Clean, clear, concise code.
17 * Unified desktop environment.
21 Haiku provides pre-built [nightly images](http://download.haiku-os.org/) and
22 [release images](https://www.haiku-os.org/get-haiku). Haiku is compatible
23 with a large variety of hardware, but in case you don't want to "take the
24 plunge" and install Haiku on bare metal, you can install it on a virtual
25 machine (VM) instead. If you've never used a VM before, you can follow one of
26 the ["Emulating Haiku"](https://www.haiku-os.org/guides/virtualizing/) guides.
30 See `ReadMe.Compiling`.
34 Haiku is a meritocratic open source project with a large variety of tasks. Even
35 if you can't write code, *you can still help*! Haiku needs designers,
36 (technical) writers, translators, testers... Get involved and help out!
39 If you're submitting a patch to us, please make sure you're following the
40 [patch submitting guidelines](https://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/CodingGuidelines/SubmittingPatches).
42 If you're having trouble finding something in the source tree, you can use
43 one of our OpenGrok servers:
45 * http://xref.plausible.coop/ (provided by Landon Fuller)
46 * http://code.metager.de/source/xref/haiku (provided by MetaGer)
48 ### Contributing documentation
49 The main piece of documentation that still needs work are the API docs (found
50 in the tree at `docs/user`). Just find an undocumented class, write
51 documentation for it, and [submit a patch](https://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/CodingGuidelines/SubmittingPatches).
53 ### Contributing translations
54 See [wiki:i18n](https://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/i18n).
56 ### Contributing software ports
57 See [HaikuPorts](https://github.com/haikuports/haikuports/).