OSDev.org

Hey,

I know there is a reasonable selection of documents available on here, BonaFide and other OS dev sites, however they barely scratch the surface and over time I'm sure we've all managed to trawl the net and different resources to find many specifications and guides. It would be useful for us all to "compare notes" so to speak and setup a single central store (on the wiki perhaps?) of all the latest specs we have.
I know for example that a few of the references I have cannot be shared freely as they're commercial/copyright etc, but we could at least compile a central list (link those that are free) and leave the rest up to individuals to purchase or negotiate with vendors.

Anyone think this is a good idea?

Just to start it off here are a few of the docs I have:
ACPI Specification 3.0b
AGP v3.0 Interface Specification
Programming Interface for BUS Mastering IDE Controller 1.0
ATA/ATAPI-7 V3 all 3 volumes
(All the up to date intel manuals including x2APIC/HPET)
Intel 8255x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller Family Open Source Software Developer Manual January 2006
Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family and Intel® G35 Express Chipset Graphics Controller PRM Programmer’s Reference Manual (PRM)
Intel Integrated Graphics Device OpRegion Specification Driver Programmer’s Reference Manual October 1st, 2008 Revision 1.0
PCI Local Bus Specification
PCI BIOS Specification v2
PCI System Architecture (Book)
PCI Express System Architecture (Book)
BIOS32 Specification 0.4
PnP BIOS Spec v1.0a
PnP External Serial v1
ESCD v1.02a
Serial ATA specification 1.0a
AHCI specification v1.3
SMBUS specification v2.0
VBE3 Specification
USB 1.1 Specification
USB 2.0 Specification
HID Specification 1.1
(USB in a nutshell guide)
HPET Specification v1.0
Intel® I/O Controller Hub 8 (ICH8) Family Specification Update
Intel I/O Controller Hub 7 (ICH7) AC97 Intel High Def. Audio
AMD/ATI M56 Register Reference Guide
AMD/ATI RV630 Register Reference Guide
PNP Parallel Specification v1.0b
EDD1.1 and EDD3.0 specifications
BIOS 13h Extensions Document

PCI and USB device ID List (we could ratify based on linux list?)

I think it's a good idea. I personally have a collection of documents (PDF's) that took me a while to find. I think if Chase or someone would be willing to provide the space for free documents it could be a big help in finding things. We could integrate the local resources of the PDF's into the wiki with direct links.

I have some spare* bandwidth on my webhost and would be willing to spend a few mins writing a simple interface for searching/indexing the docs if wanted.

-B

*Meaning, I don't currently use ANY of my bandwidth.

Sounds good!

I think its one of the biggest stumbling blocks in OS development.
A number of people are discouraged by the fact that they might start something and not be able to get very far due to lack of reference even if they're capable of delivering something really great.
I know its been an issue for me in that why should I write any code at all if I know come time I won't be able to implement a sound card driver or network interface for a specific piece of gear etc.. or be able to fully implement a usb host driver and device drivers etc (especially for the generic stuff like HID's)...

Additionally, it should be possible for us to at least document and detail one more of each category of devices.. especially the intel and ati stuff. The documents are very detailed but perhaps with a joint effort we could provide additional guides to accompany them that act as more of a programming guide. Like how to initialize video mode, enumerated modes, support dual-head and so on. Obviously it would be quite advanced and assume your kernel and pci/e setup was in place and working.

Once we have the hosting up and a location I'll start putting my docs up.

John

Hi

earlz mentioned in a post about a month ago that he had bandwidth and storage to spare (http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=19099&hilit=bandwidth). Maybe he likes this idea.

clange

I have a huge collection of documents myself (around 700 MiB worth of files) describing everything from algorithms to techniques and hardware. I am pretty obsessed with having the official documentation for everything so it's pretty much top quality stuff. A lot of the stuff is very hard to find and some is actually impossible to find anymore. I'd be glad to share my collection but some of the stuff is under copyright so I doubt that's a very good idea. That also goes for most of the documents that the OP was talking about. I don't think we're allowed to distribute PCI documentation, for instance.

No you can't, there can't be any illegal distribution in these forums. That said, there are other places where you can get those documents for free, but they need a bit of a search. (I found a few in places your webbrowser won't take you...)

Obviously I wasn't offering to do any illegal redistribution.
But mirroring of documents we are legally able is ok with me.

I can put up a mirror - nice fast connections for the Aussies on this board