basic WORKING os starter

hazardoxide · Post by **hazardoxide** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:48 am

Hello all. I was wondering if there is a very basic working os w/ linker, kernel and everything that i can use to study and build upon. i already have grub, rawwrite, bochs, and a c/c++ compiler. but i can learn a lot more if a had a working bootloader/linker/kernel, that all accually worked together.

JamesM · Post by **JamesM** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:55 am

How would giving you the code on a plate help you to learn?

Depending on what you *ahem* need, these tutorials may help (has sample code):

http://www.jamesmolloy.co.uk

Combuster · Post by **Combuster** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 5:14 pm

If you really want something that works, get linux. (http://www.gentoo.org)

Maybe it would help if you looked for the answers yourself. A list of sample OSes can be found in the wiki (Resources), as well as information on how to get a working toolchain (GCC Cross-Compiler).

djnorthyy · Post by **djnorthyy** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:30 pm

Also check out Brans Kernel Development Tutorials. This is a very nice intro tutorial. It certianly help me stand on my own two feet. As for bootloaders, use grub to start with, then work you way up to building you own.

If you lack development experince then try building a few tools that would help your development process. For example if you had a network up and running of development computers you could build a tool that updates all of the code and binary files on all of the computers once you had finished editing it.

Harry.

packet50071 · Post by **packet50071** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 6:48 pm

http://www.brokenthorn.com/Resources/OSDevIndex.html

I combining that and http://osdever.net/bkerndev

GL hf

djnorthyy · Post by **djnorthyy** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:02 pm

How have you completed the bootloader over at BrokenThorn? I cant figure out how.

packet50071 · Post by **packet50071** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:50 pm

We are hijacking his theard but any way
I planning on doing bootloader after set IRQ and the keyboard driver. I am using grub for now

djnorthyy · Post by **djnorthyy** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:55 am

Have you got any resources for developing a bootloader?

packet50071 · Post by **packet50071** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:41 am

nothing new

djnorthyy · Post by **djnorthyy** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:22 am

Oh well, let me know if anything comes up.

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:57 am

How would giving you the code on a plate help you to learn?

uhm... it helps ALOT. can you honestly say you just magically learned how to code ANY part of an OS without looking at other people's source?

even if you could, which people obviously have, it would take 30 times as long to get basic results.

Solar · Post by **Solar** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:28 am

Source examples are useful, but only ever in pointing out how a specific problem could be solved.

The larger (and more self-contained) the chunk of code, the bigger the risk someone looks at it, thinks he understood, and merely uses the code as a black box, and starting point to all kinds of really annoying problems later on which he can't possibly solve on his own because he didn't grasp the basics.

That's why the Wiki was created, where there are explanatory texts and (links to) code pointing out how various subsystems work.

Moreover, "learning from source" is awfully close to "source is the best documentation", a statement that gives me the screaming willies.

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:39 am

@solar: I agree with steering clear of relying on source. I wasn't saying that it was something to use alot either, but it can be a great booster for people new to os devving. Getting ANYTHING to work in bochs even if it is someone elses basic kernel or not is not only a good morality booster, but then it encourages the devver to dig deeper to figure out why theirs works and not their own.

AJ · Post by AJ » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:08 am

@OP

IMHO, a user starting out in OS Dev can benefit greatly from decent tutorials with appropriately used code blocks. I would question the benefit of trying to learn from scratch by reading someone else's complete bootloader and kernel source, though. Also, OS Dev tutorials and OS source should certainly not be used as a basis for learning a programming language.

When you have followed the initial tutorials and have some kind of idea how a kernel works, I would then suggest starting from scratch, having designed your OS.

Once you are feeling more like a seasoned OS programmer, you will tend to find that reading datasheets / bits of other kernels / extrapolating from your existing knowlege then becomes a lot more useful.

Cheers,
Adam

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:35 pm

yes, datasheets are deffinately a key thing in the learning processes of the actual hardware being programmed for. tutorials are good, but I usually only go to them when im in real need or am really stuck on something. CPU manuals are another great source of info.

OSDev.org

basic WORKING os starter

basic WORKING os starter

Bran's Kernel Tutorial