diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index 79c8836..cf8c31f 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -10,12 +10,13 @@
 CCNAME="/opt/cross-cc/bin/x86_64-elf-gcc"
 CC2NAME=gcc # compiler for testing
 CLDSCR=-T kernel.ld
-CWARNS= -pedantic -Wall -Wextra -Werror
+COPTIM=-O2 #-fbuiltin-memset
+CWARNS=-pedantic -Wall -Wextra -Werror
 CFLAGS=-nostdlib -ffreestanding -mcmodel=large -mno-red-zone -mno-mmx -mno-sse -mno-sse2
 CINCLUDES=-I./kaleid
 CDEFINES=
 
-CC=$(CCNAME) $(CWARNS) $(CFLAGS) $(CDEFINES) $(CINCLUDES)
+CC=$(CCNAME) $(COPTIM) $(CWARNS) $(CFLAGS) $(CDEFINES) $(CINCLUDES)
 KCC=$(CC) -D_KALEID_KERNEL
 
 ASM=nasm
@@ -58,20 +59,24 @@ testing: bootloader pseudo_kern
 COBJDIR=$(OBJDIR)/$(COMMDIR)
 LOBJDIR=$(OBJDIR)/$(LINXDIR)
 
-COMMDEPS=$(COMMDIR)/common.h $(COMMDIR)/assert.h $(COMMDIR)/atomic.h $(COMMDIR)/config.h \
+COMMDEPS=$(COMMDIR)/common.h $(COMMDIR)/assert.h $(COMMDIR)/atomic.h $(KERNDIR)/config.h \
 			$(COMMDIR)/status.h
 
-COMMOBJS=$(COBJDIR)/lib/string.o $(COBJDIR)/lib/status.o
+COMMOBJS=$(COBJDIR)/lib/string.o $(COBJDIR)/lib/status.o $(COBJDIR)/lib/convert.o $(COBJDIR)/lib/memory.o
 
 common: $(COMMDEPS) $(COMMDIR)/lib/string.c $(COMMDIR)/lib/status.c
 	$(KCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/string.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/string.o
 	$(KCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/status.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/status.o
+	$(KCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/memory.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/memory.o
+	$(KCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/convert.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/convert.o
 
-CCC=$(CC2NAME) $(CWARNS) $(CDEFINES) $(CINCLUDES) 
+CCC=$(CC2NAME) $(COPTIM) $(CWARNS) $(CDEFINES) $(CINCLUDES) 
 
 common-test:
 	$(CCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/string.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/string.o
 	$(CCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/status.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/status.o
+	$(CCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/memory.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/memory.o
+	$(CCC) -c $(COMMDIR)/lib/convert.c -o $(COBJDIR)/lib/convert.o
 	$(CCC) -c $(LINXDIR)/test-common.c -o $(LOBJDIR)/test-common.o
 	$(CCC) $(COMMOBJS) $(LOBJDIR)/test-common.o -o $(BINDIR)/kaleid-common.elf
 
diff --git a/src/kaleid/common/lib/convert.c b/src/kaleid/common/lib/convert.c
index 0f76565..284f61f 100644
--- a/src/kaleid/common/lib/convert.c
+++ b/src/kaleid/common/lib/convert.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 //  Desc:       Conversion utilities                                          //
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------//
 
-#include "common/convert.h"
+#include "common/string.h"
 
 //
 //  Digits table for bases <=36
diff --git a/src/kaleid/common/lib/memory.c b/src/kaleid/common/lib/memory.c
index 3ebe6ee..547ab79 100644
--- a/src/kaleid/common/lib/memory.c
+++ b/src/kaleid/common/lib/memory.c
@@ -9,3 +9,71 @@
 
 #include "common/memory.h"
 
+// to be moved
+#define QWORD_SIZE 8
+#define QWORD_ALIGN 8
+
+//
+//  Set "qwords"-many aligned qwords starting from ptr to val
+//
+static inline void *memsetq(void *ptr, ullong uval, size_t qwords)
+{
+    size_t n;
+    ullong *uptr = (ullong *)ptr;
+
+    // aligned memory write
+    for (n = 0; n < qwords; n++) {
+        *(uptr + n) = uval;
+    }
+
+    return ptr;
+}
+
+//
+//  Set "bytes"-many bytes starting from ptr to val
+//  This is most certainely overkill, but I enjoyed doing this
+//  Alignment stuff barely matters on modern processors
+//  This may actually be slower than the naive way
+//
+void *memset(void *ptr, int val, size_t bytes)
+{
+    uchar *uptr = (uchar *)ptr;
+    const size_t qwords = bytes/QWORD_SIZE;
+    
+    // get rid of everything after the first byte
+    val = val & 0xFF;
+    
+    // deal with bytes before start of the first aligned qword
+    while (((ullong)uptr % QWORD_ALIGN) > 0 && bytes--) {
+        *uptr++ = (uchar)val;
+    }
+
+    // move qword by qword
+    if (qwords) {
+        const ullong uval = ((ullong)val << 56) | ((ullong)val << 48)
+                          | ((ullong)val << 40) | ((ullong)val << 32)
+                          | ((ullong)val << 24) | ((ullong)val << 16)
+                          | ((ullong)val <<  8) | ((ullong)val);
+
+        memsetq(uptr, uval, qwords);
+        
+        uptr += qwords * QWORD_SIZE;
+        bytes %= QWORD_SIZE;
+    }
+    
+    // deal with what's left
+    while (bytes--) {
+        *uptr++ = (uchar)val;
+    }
+    
+    return ptr;
+}
+
+//
+//  Set "bytes"-many bytes starting from ptr to 0
+//
+void *memzero(void *ptr, size_t bytes)
+{
+    return memset(ptr, 0, bytes);
+}
+
diff --git a/src/kaleid/common/memory.h b/src/kaleid/common/memory.h
index a628141..31f6a6b 100644
--- a/src/kaleid/common/memory.h
+++ b/src/kaleid/common/memory.h
@@ -14,5 +14,15 @@
 #   include "common/common.h"
 #endif
 
+#ifndef _OSK_SOURCE
+#   define memcpy   _osk_memcpy
+#   define memset   _osk_memset
+#   define memcmp   _osk_memcmp
+#   define memzero  _osk_memzero
+#endif
+
+void *memset(void *, int, size_t);
+void *memzero(void *, size_t);
+
 #endif
 
diff --git a/src/kaleid/common/types.h b/src/kaleid/common/types.h
index 739efa9..bf74580 100644
--- a/src/kaleid/common/types.h
+++ b/src/kaleid/common/types.h
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 #   error "don't include common/types.h without common/common.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifndef KEEP_KALCOMM_TYPES_MINIMAL
-typedef _Bool               bool;
 typedef unsigned char       uchar;
 typedef unsigned short      ushort;
 typedef unsigned int        uint;
@@ -24,6 +22,11 @@ typedef unsigned long       ulong;
 typedef long long           llong;
 typedef unsigned long long  ullong;
 typedef long double         ldouble;
+typedef short               port_t;
+typedef short               status_t;
+
+#ifndef KEEP_KALCOMM_TYPES_MINIMAL
+typedef _Bool               bool;
 typedef uint                wchar_t;
 typedef ullong              size_t;
 typedef llong               ssize_t;
@@ -33,8 +36,6 @@ typedef ulong               pid_t;
 typedef void               *va_list;
 #endif
 
-typedef short               port_t;
-typedef short               status_t;
 // XXX limits
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/kaleid/linux/test-common.c b/src/kaleid/linux/test-common.c
index ee2df6f..bef4749 100644
--- a/src/kaleid/linux/test-common.c
+++ b/src/kaleid/linux/test-common.c
@@ -9,35 +9,45 @@
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <string.h>
 
 #define KEEP_KALCOMM_TYPES_MINIMAL
 
 #include "common/common.h"
 #include "common/string.h"
+#include "common/memory.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     (void)argc;
     (void)argv;
     
+    assert(sizeof(char) == 1);
+    assert(sizeof(short) == 2);
+    assert(sizeof(int) == 4);
+    assert(sizeof(long) == 8);
+    assert(sizeof(long long) == 8);
+    
+    // please don't mind how weird this file is
+    // I remove tests of "simple" functions after
+    // I'm done with testing that function
+    // so a lot of test variables remain in case
+    // I need them for a future test
+    
     const char *test1 = "test string\n";
-    char *test2 = malloc(strlen(test1));
-    char *test3 = malloc(strlen(test1));
+    const size_t size1 = strlen(test1);
+    char *test2 = malloc(size1);
+    char *test3 = malloc(size1);
+    
+    memset(test2, 'x', size1);
+    
+    size_t it;
+    for (it = 0; it < size1; it++) {
+        char c = *(test2 + it);
+        printf("%c", (c ? c : '-'));
+    }
 
-    printf("1\n");
+    puts("");
 
-    #undef strlen
-    assert(strlen("test string") == _osk_strlen("test string"));
-    
-    #undef strcpy
-    assert(strcmp(strcpy(test2, test1), _osk_strcpy(test3, test1)) == 0);
-    
-    // XXX test itoa() and v?sn?printf()
-    
-    // tests done
-    printf("2\n");
-    
     free(test2);
     free(test3);