diff --git a/kernel/Cargo.lock b/kernel/Cargo.lock
index a6a298e..ce15e8a 100644
--- a/kernel/Cargo.lock
+++ b/kernel/Cargo.lock
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "bootloader_api",
  "embedded-graphics",
  "lazy_static",
- "linked_list_allocator",
  "pc-keyboard",
  "pic8259",
  "uart_16550",
@@ -99,25 +98,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "spin",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "linked_list_allocator"
-version = "0.10.5"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9afa463f5405ee81cdb9cc2baf37e08ec7e4c8209442b5d72c04cfb2cd6e6286"
-dependencies = [
- "spinning_top",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "lock_api"
-version = "0.4.11"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3c168f8615b12bc01f9c17e2eb0cc07dcae1940121185446edc3744920e8ef45"
-dependencies = [
- "autocfg",
- "scopeguard",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "micromath"
 version = "2.1.0"
@@ -163,27 +143,12 @@ version = "1.0.14"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7ffc183a10b4478d04cbbbfc96d0873219d962dd5accaff2ffbd4ceb7df837f4"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "scopeguard"
-version = "1.2.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "94143f37725109f92c262ed2cf5e59bce7498c01bcc1502d7b9afe439a4e9f49"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "spin"
 version = "0.5.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "6e63cff320ae2c57904679ba7cb63280a3dc4613885beafb148ee7bf9aa9042d"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "spinning_top"
-version = "0.2.5"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5b9eb1a2f4c41445a3a0ff9abc5221c5fcd28e1f13cd7c0397706f9ac938ddb0"
-dependencies = [
- "lock_api",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "uart_16550"
 version = "0.3.0"
diff --git a/kernel/Cargo.toml b/kernel/Cargo.toml
index c4c4207..0b05781 100644
--- a/kernel/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kernel/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ bench = false
 [dependencies]
 embedded-graphics = "0.8.1"
 pc-keyboard = "0.5.0"
-linked_list_allocator = "0.10.5"
 
 [target.'cfg(target_arch = "x86_64")'.dependencies]
 pic8259 = "0.10.1"
diff --git a/kernel/src/allocator.rs b/kernel/src/allocator.rs
index f82ad94..40209fa 100644
--- a/kernel/src/allocator.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/allocator.rs
@@ -1,30 +1,60 @@
-use core::alloc::Allocator;
+use core::{alloc::GlobalAlloc, ops::Range, ptr::null_mut};
+
+use crate::util::mutex::Mutex;
 
 #[global_allocator]
-static ALLOCATOR: Alloc = Alloc::empty();
+static ALLOCATOR: LockedHeap = LockedHeap::empty();
 
-struct Alloc {
-    base: *mut u8,
+struct Heap {
     cur: *mut u8,
+    end: *mut u8,
 }
 
-unsafe impl Allocator for Alloc {
-    fn allocate(&self, layout: core::alloc::Layout) -> Result<core::ptr::NonNull<[u8]>, core::alloc::AllocError> {
-        
+impl Heap {
+    pub const fn empty() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            cur: null_mut(),
+            end: null_mut(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub fn init(&mut self, start: *mut u8, end: *mut u8) {
+        self.cur = start;
+        self.end = end;
     }
 }
 
-impl Alloc {
-    pub fn empty() -> Self {
+pub fn init_heap(range: Range<*mut u8>) {
+    ALLOCATOR.init(range.start, range.end);
+}
+
+struct LockedHeap(Mutex<Heap>);
+
+// should look into why I need this, didn't see it in linked list alloc crate
+unsafe impl Sync for LockedHeap {}
+
+impl LockedHeap {
+    pub const fn empty() -> Self {
+        Self(Mutex::new(Heap::empty()))
     }
-
-    pub fn init(&mut self, start: *mut u8, len: usize) {
-
+    pub fn init(&self, start: *mut u8, end: *mut u8) {
+        self.0.lock().init(start, end);
     }
 }
 
-pub fn init_heap() {
-    unsafe {
-        ALLOCATOR.init(crate::arch::paging::first_free(), crate::arch::paging::free_len());
+unsafe impl GlobalAlloc for LockedHeap {
+    unsafe fn alloc(&self, layout: core::alloc::Layout) -> *mut u8 {
+        // blazing fast implementation :sunglasses:
+        // (gonna switch to my own linked list later)
+        let mut heap = self.0.lock();
+        let pointer = heap.cur;
+        heap.cur = heap.cur.add(layout.size());
+        if heap.cur >= heap.end {
+            return null_mut();
+        }
+        return pointer;
+    }
+    unsafe fn dealloc(&self, ptr: *mut u8, layout: core::alloc::Layout) {
+        // bet ur impl is slower
     }
 }
diff --git a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/init.rs b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/init.rs
index f186d4c..4c02e57 100644
--- a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/init.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/init.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use core::ptr::null_mut;
+use core::{arch::asm, ops::Range};
 
 use crate::{
     arch::{asm, csr, interrupts, paging, wait},
@@ -6,13 +6,11 @@ use crate::{
     main,
 };
 
-static mut DT_ADDR: *mut FDT = null_mut();
-
 #[no_mangle]
 #[link_section = ".text.init"]
 #[naked]
 unsafe extern "C" fn _start() -> ! {
-    core::arch::asm!(
+    asm!(
         // disable interrupts
         "csrw mie, zero",
         // set up gp & sp
@@ -32,10 +30,15 @@ unsafe extern "C" fn _start() -> ! {
         "csrw mstatus, t0",
         "la t0, {init}",
         "csrw mepc, t0",
-        "la ra, 2f",
         "mret",
 
-        "2:",
+        init = sym init,
+        options(noreturn)
+    );
+}
+
+pub unsafe fn to_supervisor() {
+    asm!(
         "li t0, (1 << 8) | (1 << 5)",
         "csrw sstatus, t0",
         "li t0, (7 << 0) | (1 << 3)",
@@ -45,18 +48,14 @@ unsafe extern "C" fn _start() -> ! {
         "li	t2, (1 << 1) | (1 << 5) | (1 << 9)",
         "csrw mideleg, t2",
         "csrw sie, t2",
-        "la t0, {start}",
+        "mv t0, ra",
         "csrw sepc, t0",
         "sfence.vma",
         "sret",
-
-        start = sym start,
-        init = sym init,
-        options(noreturn)
     );
 }
 
-pub fn init() {
+pub unsafe fn init() -> ! {
     let dt_addr = asm::reg!("a1") as *mut u8;
     let hart = csr::hartid::read();
     if hart != 0 {
@@ -64,9 +63,12 @@ pub fn init() {
     }
     interrupts::init();
     let fdt = FDT::from_addr(dt_addr);
-    paging::init(fdt);
-}
-
-pub fn start() {
-    main(unsafe { DT_ADDR });
+    let raw_mem_range = fdt.mem_range();
+    let heap_start = paging::init(raw_mem_range.end());
+    let heap_mem = Range {
+        start: heap_start,
+        end: raw_mem_range.end(),
+    };
+    to_supervisor();
+    main(heap_mem, fdt);
 }
diff --git a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mem.rs b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mem.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..527ccc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mem.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+use super::asm::linker_static;
+
+linker_static!(PROGRAM_END: usize, ".dword _end");
diff --git a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mod.rs b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mod.rs
index 3118c12..e0f2f3a 100644
--- a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mod.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/mod.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ pub mod asm;
 pub mod interrupts;
 pub mod paging;
 pub mod qemu;
+pub mod mem;
 
 pub fn wait() -> ! {
     loop {
diff --git a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/paging.rs b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/paging.rs
index 304db3d..c62127b 100644
--- a/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/paging.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/arch/riscv64/paging.rs
@@ -1,20 +1,15 @@
-use super::asm::linker_static;
 use crate::{
     arch::csr::{self, satp},
-    fdt::FDT,
-    println,
     util::bits::get_bits,
 };
-use core::{ptr::null_mut, slice};
+use core::slice;
+
+use super::mem::PROGRAM_END;
 
-linker_static!(END: usize, ".dword _end");
 const PAGE_SIZE: usize = 4096;
 const TABLE_LEN: usize = 2usize.pow(9);
 const TABLE_SIZE: usize = core::mem::size_of::<Table>();
 
-static mut FIRST_FREE: *mut u8 = null_mut();
-static mut MEM_END: *mut u8 = null_mut();
-
 #[repr(C)]
 pub struct Entry(usize);
 
@@ -53,19 +48,12 @@ pub struct Table {
     pub entries: [Entry; TABLE_LEN],
 }
 
-pub fn init(fdt: FDT) {
+pub fn init(mem_end: *mut u8) -> *mut u8 {
     unsafe {
-        println!("program end: 0x{:x}", END);
-        let range = fdt.mem_range();
-        let start = range.start.get();
-        let len = range.len.get();
-        let end = start + len;
-        MEM_END = end as *mut u8;
-        println!("memory range: 0x{:x} -> 0x{:x}", start, end);
-        let total_pages = end / 4096;
+        let total_pages = mem_end as usize / 4096;
         let lvl1_count = (total_pages.saturating_sub(1)) / TABLE_LEN + 1;
         let lvl2_count = (lvl1_count.saturating_sub(1)) / TABLE_LEN + 1;
-        let lvl2 = &mut *(END as *mut Table);
+        let lvl2 = &mut *(PROGRAM_END as *mut Table);
         let lvl1_arr = slice::from_raw_parts_mut((lvl2 as *mut Table).add(TABLE_SIZE), lvl2_count);
         let lvl0_arr = slice::from_raw_parts_mut(
             lvl1_arr.as_ptr().add(lvl1_arr.len()) as *mut Table,
@@ -106,10 +94,8 @@ pub fn init(fdt: FDT) {
             asid: 0,
             ppn: lvl2,
         });
-        let satp = csr::satp::read();
-        println!("satp: {satp:?}");
-        let end = lvl0_arr.as_ptr().add(lvl0_arr.len()) as *mut u8;
-        FIRST_FREE = end;
+        let table_end = lvl0_arr.as_ptr().add(lvl0_arr.len()) as *mut u8;
+        table_end
     }
 }
 
@@ -128,11 +114,3 @@ pub fn virt_to_physical(table: &Table, addr: usize) -> usize {
         addr
     }
 }
-
-pub fn first_free() -> *mut u8 {
-    unsafe { FIRST_FREE }
-}
-
-pub fn free_len() -> usize {
-    unsafe { MEM_END.offset_from(FIRST_FREE) as usize }
-}
diff --git a/kernel/src/dev/mod.rs b/kernel/src/dev/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c20360
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kernel/src/dev/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pub mod uart;
diff --git a/kernel/src/dev/uart.rs b/kernel/src/dev/uart.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/kernel/src/fdt.rs b/kernel/src/fdt.rs
index a8a82c3..77c680c 100644
--- a/kernel/src/fdt.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/fdt.rs
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
-// NOTE: basically none of this is safe rn, ideally it's eventually made safe / able to recover
-// also, I do a ton of slice.try_into and then transmuting which I'm pretty sure is bad and
-// I really should be transmuting into references but I cannot be bothered rn
+// garbage .1% finished FDT implementation
 
 use crate::{
     println,
     util::bits::{u32_from_bytes, Be},
 };
 use core::{
-    mem::{size_of, transmute},
-    slice,
+    fmt::Debug, mem::{size_of, transmute}, ops::Range, slice
 };
 
 const MAGIC: u32 = 0xd00dfeed;
@@ -161,12 +158,12 @@ impl FDT {
             }
         }
     }
-    pub fn mem_range(&self) -> MemRange {
+    pub fn mem_range(&self) -> FDTMemRange {
         if let Some(node) = self.into_iter().find(|n| n.name.starts_with("memory@")) {
             let prop = node.find_prop("reg");
             if let Some(prop) = prop {
-                for d in prop.data.chunks(size_of::<MemRange>()) {
-                    let d: [u8; size_of::<MemRange>()] = d.try_into().unwrap();
+                for d in prop.data.chunks(size_of::<FDTMemRange>()) {
+                    let d: [u8; size_of::<FDTMemRange>()] = d.try_into().unwrap();
                     // just return first one for now
                     return unsafe { transmute(d) };
                 }
@@ -177,11 +174,38 @@ impl FDT {
 }
 
 #[repr(C)]
-pub struct MemRange {
-    pub start: Be<usize>,
+pub struct FDTMemRange {
+    pub start: Be<*mut u8>,
     pub len: Be<usize>,
 }
 
+impl FDTMemRange {
+    pub fn start(&self) -> *mut u8 {
+        self.start.get()
+    }
+    pub fn len(&self) -> usize {
+        self.len.get()
+    }
+    pub fn end(&self) -> *mut u8 {
+        unsafe { self.start().add(self.len.get()) }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Debug for FDTMemRange {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut core::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> core::fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{:?}..{:?}", self.start(), self.end())
+    }
+}
+
+impl Into<Range<*mut u8>> for FDTMemRange {
+    fn into(self) -> Range<*mut u8> {
+        Range {
+            start: self.start(),
+            end: self.end(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 pub struct Node {
     pub name: &'static str,
     pub strings: &'static [u8],
diff --git a/kernel/src/main.rs b/kernel/src/main.rs
index d1e4c4b..6edf2fc 100644
--- a/kernel/src/main.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 #![feature(naked_functions)]
 #![feature(fn_align)]
 
+use core::ops::Range;
+
 use fdt::FDT;
 
 extern crate alloc;
@@ -14,10 +16,16 @@ pub mod fdt;
 pub mod log;
 pub mod qemu;
 pub mod util;
+pub mod dev;
 
-pub fn main(dt_addr: *mut FDT) -> ! {
+pub fn main(heap_mem: Range<*mut u8>, fdt: FDT) -> ! {
     println!("we out here vibin");
-    allocator::init_heap();
+    println!("memory range: {:?}", fdt.mem_range());
+    println!("heap range: {:?}", heap_mem);
+    for node in &fdt {
+
+    }
+    allocator::init_heap(heap_mem);
     let mut test = alloc::vec![1, 2, 3];
     test.push(3);
     println!("{:?}", test);
@@ -25,6 +33,10 @@ pub fn main(dt_addr: *mut FDT) -> ! {
         let x = *(0x3000 as *const u8);
         println!("{}", x);
     }
+    for i in 0..10000 {
+        let test2: alloc::vec::Vec<i32> = alloc::vec::Vec::with_capacity(10_000_000);
+        println!("{}", i);
+    }
     // for _ in 0..40000000 {}
     // let x = unsafe { *(0x10000000000 as *mut u8) };
     // println!("we got {x}");
diff --git a/kernel/src/util/bits.rs b/kernel/src/util/bits.rs
index 237aba2..f07001c 100644
--- a/kernel/src/util/bits.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/util/bits.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-use core::mem::transmute;
+use core::{
+    fmt::{Debug, Display},
+    mem::transmute,
+};
 
 macro_rules! get_bits {
     ($name:ident[$high:expr,$low:expr]) => {{
@@ -38,6 +41,24 @@ impl BeRep for usize {
     }
 }
 
+impl BeRep for *mut u8 {
+    fn _from_be(&self) -> Self {
+        (*self as usize).to_be() as *mut u8
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T: Debug + BeRep> Debug for Be<T> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut core::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> core::fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{:?}", self.get())
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T: Display + BeRep> Display for Be<T> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut core::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> core::fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{}", self.get())
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn u32_from_bytes(bytes: &[u8]) -> Option<u32> {
     if bytes.len() < 4 {
         return None;
diff --git a/runner/src/main.rs b/runner/src/main.rs
index a431ebf..2d38e87 100644
--- a/runner/src/main.rs
+++ b/runner/src/main.rs
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ fn main() {
 fn run_qemu(target: &Target, gdb: Option<Option<u16>>) {
     let mut qemu = target.qemu();
     qemu.args(["-d", "guest_errors"]);
-    qemu.args(["-m", "4G"]);
+    qemu.args(["-m", "1G"]);
     qemu.args(["-monitor", "telnet:127.0.0.1:1235,server,nowait"]);
     if let Some(port) = gdb {
         let port = port.unwrap_or(1234);