Want to Write an Operating from Scratch

[Furqan_Ullah]

Hi,

I want to write an operating System from scratch. I have just read some info and faq about the OS and got some idea. I want to write Boot Loader, Simple Scheduler, File manager, memory manager and a simple shell. I have a book that is Operating System Concepts, 5th Edition. But the main problem is, that book is havily based on heavy theories and there is no such path to follow.

I have a basic idea about the OS Concepts but I want the book which actually shows and follows the real implmentation of the code. Which discuss about the things in a practicle manner.

Please let me know if you have any faq, tutorial and other useful stuff about OS Development. I will be very thankful to all of you. I really need help at this point.

Regards,
Furqan Ullah
Final Year Student
Computer Systems
Sirsyed University of Engineering and Technology

[Chris Giese]

>I want to write Boot Loader, {snip}

NOOOOO! Writing a good bootloader is almost as hard as
writing the entire OS. Boot from DOS, or use GRUB:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub

>But the main problem is, that book is havily based on heavy
>theories and there is no such path to follow.

Yeah, college was like that. WEEKS spent on swapping
algorithms, which is really a very small (and very
optional) part of an OS.

>I have a basic idea about the OS Concepts but I want the
>book which actually shows and follows the real
>implmentation of the code.

I am trying to put something together here:
http://www.execpc.com/~geezer/osd

[Furqan Ullah]

But the boot loader is included in my project, so it means that I have to make it.

I already went to the OSD site, it's great and helpful. but more help is required.

Thanks.

Furqan Ullah
SSUET

[Dori_k]

Try this book:
http://www.sensorypublishing.com/mmurtl.html
It's got what you need. It explains the types of multitasking, memory management and all the stuff that an os could have. This is the first part. The second part brings trough a sample os that the author wrote. I's 32 bit multitasking and is one of the most complete and simple os examples you could have the book is also affordable. $ I think. Originally it was called: Developing your own 32 bit multitasking os. Now it's called MMURTL v1.0.

good luck,
Darie

[Furqan_Ullah]

Yeah, that book is really great, I have already read its chapter 1 and Table of Contents. Thanks.

One more thing, do u have the idea that this book contains the boot loader also??

My development environment will be Windows XP, and Borland Turbo C with MASM or TASM Assembler. I dont want to install linux and to develop my OS on it, I want to use Windows instead. Any openion anout it.

But it seems that many things are present which are designed according to Linux e.g: GRUB, as it will only install on Linux and requires GCC and GCCUTILS. But I want to do all of my OS development work on Windows. Any help and openion will be very appreciated.

Thanks Again

Furqan Ullah
SSUET

[df]

use a plain old dos fat12 boot disk with grub on it, works for a all of us.

[dorip]

Yes it has boot sector code. It uses it's own C compiler(nothing to do with linux) and assembler. It has the perfect tools and base for a real os. My only problem is that I want to make a C++ os, but if u don't need that, that is THE MOST PERFECT THING THERE IS! for what u wanna do. It is very modular. Each file handels something: kernel,video,keyboard,memory,filesys,interproc.comm., so on
good luck

[Chris]

I plan on writing an os with the same concept as yours. Maybe we could help eachother out?? Email me with an answer please. Thanx!

[Randall Houser]

hey, writing a boot sector isn't very difficult, but you must get the asm working well, and that will take some research. i have written a couple of them, but that doesn't mean i am skilled, only learning. i've been toying around with OS dev for a while (don't ask) but i have fun doing it. so far all i have is a boot sector and a simple 32-bit pmode c kernel that basically prints to the screen and i can type in simple commands that don't do anything yet, except respond with a goofy message using a polled keyboard setup. (getting the keyboard working was HARD!!!). Linux is an excellent dev environment, but is not always practical for everyone. If you are dev-ing under Windows, (I do a little of both for my os), I would suggest using DJGPP and NASM. most of the tutorials out there use these and it is not difficult to use them. also if you are looking for an editor that will do syntax hilighting for both c/asm(nasm) get TextPad. my next challenges are implementing fat12 and 32-bit IDT (polling sucks). the biggest difficulty i am having here is that i DO NOT want to use any 16 bit code beyond the boot sector (no V86 mode int's please, NO 16 BIT CODE!!!)

as far as setting up djgpp in XP, i downloaded what i wanted to work with as though i was using win98 and made a batch file that set up my environment variables then jumped to a prompt in my dev direcotry. also, make sure that you get the nasm for djgpp, it has some file format stuff you'll need if you follow a lot of the tutorials out there.

another couple of suggestions is get rawWin (rawWrite for windows), learn the copy /b command in win/dos, and get BOCHS so you can test your OS without having to restart your computer or launch from DOS (if you are using windows, it won't like launching anything from dos). BOCHS is a pc emulator software that is free and is made exactly for this sort of thing. you can even run Linux/Windows under BOCHS and the os won't know the difference.

I personally didn't think that MMURTLE was very good, but i would suggest a refference for hardware programming. it's not exactly perfectly up to date, but is VERY usefull

The Undocumented PC: a programmer's guide to I/O,
CPU's, and Fixed Memory Areas
by: Frank van Gilluwe

I found it at books a million while i was just looking around and picked it up. i don't even know for sure if it is still in print, but it is worth a look. it has all kinds of info from bios int's to exact memory areas, and detailed descriptions of the functions that the hardware performs and how.



WOW, i'm long winded aye??? ...sorry...

If you have questions or know of tutorials that may help me email me at [email protected]

[Pype.Clicker]

- MMURTL has not a really good reputation, but at least it does exists. 'OS: Design & Implementation' tends to have a better score @MT. THough i haven't read any of these ...

<timbot> u.s.e. c.y.g.w.i.n. </timbot>

really. DJGPP is *not* suited at all for windows NT/2000/XP (and i guess you're not developping on a DOS-based system, are you ?)

Moreover, cygwin has a more "clean" interface to system commands like perl, grep, etc. which you'll love as soon as you'll consider compiling under something else than windows ...

[Slasher]

Contrary to what most people think, I believe that actually writing a bootloader that sets the system to pmode really clarifies your understanding of the GDT,IDT,selectors etc that are required in OS development.
(I dont use Grub and I dont think I will)
Lets not discourage people from doing what they want, but instead give them all options for them to choose one that suits them.

[Solar]

Could we add some witty phrase to the timbot that we can cite whenever the discussion "bootloaders are a nuisance" / "bootloaders are educational" pops up? :-\

[Candy]

Could we add some witty phrase to the timbot that we can cite whenever the discussion "bootloaders are a nuisance" / "bootloaders are educational" pops up? :-\

Why don't we add TimBot to the OSFAQ and link to that?

[Pype.Clicker]

Actually, TimBot is a Frequently Replied Answers but indeed that could come as a part of the FAQ ;D

[Therx]

How come this thread came back to life?

Pete