add ntfs.sys standalone driver target, change default usb vhd layout formatting to ntfs, implement Fat32CreateDir for directory creation support in the fat32 file system driver, add a dedicated HAL serial output endpoint for COM1 writes in hal_serial.c and subscribe serial to HAL text streams, introduce waitable kernel timers with KeTimerCreate, KeTimerSet, and KeTimerCancel alongside spinlock-protected global timer list initialization and scheduler tick tracking, implement SyscallWriteFileAsync system call for asynchronous non-blocking file writes, refactor NetSocketConnect and NetSocketSendTo to use generic SYS_SOCKET_ADDRESS_K structures instead of being hardcoded to IPv4, update gethostbyname and DNS name resolution to support IPv6 parsing via ResolveNameFamily, update tcpserve.exe with -4 and -6 command-line flags to accept and display IPv6 addresses, append size and version headers to all kernel telemetry and statistics structures including SYS_PMM_STATS, SYS_CPU_STATS, and SYS_SCHEDULER_STATS, update winmm timeGetTime to look up high-resolution hardware frequencies via SysGetTickFrequency, integrate 14 native smoke test applications.

code/kernel/kmain.c

@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <intrin.h>
-#pragma intrinsic(_disable)
-#pragma intrinsic(_enable)
 #include <ntlite/boot_info.h>
 #include <kernel/mm_phys.h>
 #include <kernel/mm_pfn.h>
@@ -175,7 +173,6 @@ static void KiResolveSystemImports(BOOT_INFO* bootInfo) {
     }
 }
 
-
 // Phase Helper: Initialize dynamically loaded .sys drivers.
 static void KiDriversIniCb(const char* section, const char* key,
                           const char* val, void* ud) {
@@ -199,7 +196,7 @@ static void KiInitializeDrivers(BOOT_INFO* bootInfo, const HAL_API* hal) {
     for (uint32_t i = 0; i < bootInfo->ModuleCount; i++) {
         BOOT_MODULE* mod = &bootInfo->Modules[i];
         
-        // Skip modules that are already mapped (Kernel/HAL) 
+        // Skip modules that are already mapped (Kernel/HAL)
         // or have no physical data (invalid).
         if (mod->VirtBase != 0 || mod->PhysBase == 0) continue;
 
@@ -323,7 +320,7 @@ static void KiInitializeDrivers(BOOT_INFO* bootInfo, const HAL_API* hal) {
             DbgPrint("KiInitializeDrivers: Failed to resolve imports for runtime driver: %s\n", runtimeKeys[i]);
             continue;
         }
-        // Runtime modules may also export DDIs to drivers loaded later.  Boot
+        // Runtime modules may also export DDIs to drivers loaded later. Boot
         // drivers were already registered above; keep the module model uniform.
         LdrRegisterModule(runtimeKeys[i], mappedBase);
 
@@ -490,9 +487,8 @@ extern void KernelMain(BOOT_INFO* bootInfo) {
 
     // Physical & Virtual Memory initialization.
 
-    if (!MmInitializePhysical(&bootInfo->MemoryMap, bootInfo->PhysicalMapBase)) {
-        _disable(); while (true) __halt(); // there's nothing we can do
-    }
+    if (!MmInitializePhysical(&bootInfo->MemoryMap, bootInfo->PhysicalMapBase))
+        HalStopProcessor();
 
     PHYSICAL_ADDRESS pml4 = (PHYSICAL_ADDRESS)__readcr3();
     // The early virtual allocator starts small because it only needs bootstrap page tables before the PMM is online.
@@ -523,17 +519,15 @@ extern void KernelMain(BOOT_INFO* bootInfo) {
     };
 
     KSTATUS s = HalInitialize(&halParams);
-    if (!KSUCCESS(s)) {
-        _disable(); while (true) __halt(); // there's nothing we can do.
-    }
+    if (!KSUCCESS(s))
+        HalStopProcessor();
 
     const HAL_API* hal = HalGetApi();
     gKmainHal = hal;
 
-    KeInitDebug(hal->Screen.PrintChar, bootInfo->Debug);
+    KeInitDebug(hal, bootInfo->Debug);
     KeTimeInitialize(bootInfo, hal);
     KeDisplayInitialize(hal);
-    KeSetDebugConsoleWriter(KeDisplayDebugPrintChar);
 
     // CPU startup intentionally lives after HAL initialization but before IRQs
     // and scheduler startup. HAL owns ACPI/MADT discovery and LAPIC INIT/SIPI;
@@ -595,11 +589,7 @@ extern void KernelMain(BOOT_INFO* bootInfo) {
 
     DbgPrint("KernelMain: Handing over to scheduler...\n");
     
-    // Ignite the system!
-    _enable();
-
-    // The Idle Loop: The CPU rests here whenever all other threads are waiting on events.
-    while (true) {
-        __halt(); 
-    }
+    // The bootstrap CPU becomes the scheduler idle context once interrupts are enabled.
+    while (true)
+        HalWaitForInterrupt();
 }