MSVC Kernel Framework

[Kevin McGuire]

I have visited the site and thought I would throw back up a old framework. I had extended this framework into a almost complete kernel. I still think could be very useful to someone who wants to jump right into developing a kernel using bochs under windows with MSVC 6 or MSVC Express. I have also updated the archive to include a BATCH file so as soon as you unzip it you can run the kernel in bochs! No crazy stuff. No complex commands. Its easy. Also you can simply open the solution file and start tinkering with the kernel, if you screw it up delete it and reunzip the kernel. The kernel included has nothing but a initialization and then displays letters across video memory just to show that it booted correctly.

You may find the most recent zip amoung other related things on this UNSTABLE link. :-X
http://mcguire.sytes.net:8080
You may always find the older zip(see below) here.
http://www.freewebs.com/kmcguire/hod/fi ... svcoek.zip
-Freewebs does not allow hotlinking. So paste that in a new explorer window.

As for the older version on freewebs.

I was playing around making sure everything worked and I noticed that global varibles were not working and returning the value 0x00. Im not sure for the cause but the work around is as following.

Edit the 2ndstage.cpp
Find the line that says:
hod_Relocate(0x900, 0xFA000);
Change that line to:
hod_Relocate(0x900, 0x1FC000);

You can try lower values or different. It seems the memory area at 0xFA000 is speacil in bochs and possibly on other systems. Sorry.


If anyone has ANY problems downloading and using this, please, let me know I promise I won't get mad.

[Candy]

As for the older version on freewebs.

I was playing around making sure everything worked and I noticed that global varibles were not working and returning the value 0x00. Im not sure for the cause but the work around is as following.

Edit the 2ndstage.cpp
Find the line that says:
hod_Relocate(0x900, 0xFA000);
Change that line to:
hod_Relocate(0x900, 0x1FC000);

You can try lower values or different. It seems the memory area at 0xFA000 is speacil in bochs and possibly on other systems. Sorry.


If anyone has ANY problems downloading and using this, please, let me know I promise I won't get mad.

Yes, that would be a part of your FLASH ROM on your mainboard which you need to boot. All memory between 0xA0000 and 0xFFFFF are reserved for stuff like videomemory(graphical at 0xA0000, text at 0xB0000 or 0xB8000), video rom(0xC0000), other roms(after the video rom, usually 0xD0000 +), boot rom (0xF0000, sometimes including 0xE0000).

[Kevin McGuire]

You guys can download a free evaluation for MSVC EXPRESS that lasts one year as far as I know from Microsoft's website. Its almost the complete C++ library with it. If you do not have MSVC to use the framework with.

[Cjmovie]

You guys can download a free evaluation for MSVC EXPRESS that lasts one year as far as I know from Microsoft's website. Its almost the complete C++ library with it. If you do not have MSVC to use the framework with.

Yes, but the way you worded it sounds kind of....vague. To be a little better with wording: You can download it until around november of next year, but once you download it it never stops working (even after november).

Also, I beleive although it does not come with MSVC, you can download them seperately and use them.

[Kevin McGuire]

Thanks, Cjmovie. I have problems with not proof reading, writting clearly, and putting all relavant information in my ports, but I am working hard to get better.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

[JAAman]

its really not vague -- its quite the opposite, its very explicit (it must be for legal reasons -- just pay attention to the meaning of the words used, and the grammer):
you can download it anytime between now and nov 6 2006, and like any software, you can use it as long as you have it (be it 1 month, or 10,000 years) -- for those not capable of understanding clear english, the FAQ does a better job of explaining it


MS has always given their compiler away free, (although they often dissabled optimization), but this is the first time they've given the IDE away free (to non-students anyway, my brother can get the whole VS PRO suite free, because he is a student at a MSDN member university -- any school or company which pays the subscription fee (about $10,000/yr i think -- could be multiple plans though), all employees (and students) get most MS software free -- both at home and at work, he also picked up (free and legal -- pro, not education, versions) winXP, XP-64, visio -- office is not included though)

[kataklinger]

God belss Microsoft
Is's just great to be student, you can get most tools for free

[Candy]

its really not vague -- its quite the opposite, its very explicit (it must be for legal reasons -- just pay attention to the meaning of the words used, and the grammer):
you can download it anytime between now and nov 6 2006, and like any software, you can use it as long as you have it (be it 1 month, or 10,000 years) -- for those not capable of understanding clear english, the FAQ does a better job of explaining it


MS has always given their compiler away free, (although they often dissabled optimization), but this is the first time they've given the IDE away free (to non-students anyway ... )

God belss Microsoft
Is's just great to be student, you can get most tools for free

Can you say "Vendor Lock-In" ?

[Cjmovie]

its really not vague -- its quite the opposite, its very explicit (it must be for legal reasons -- just pay attention to the meaning of the words used, and the grammer):
you can download it anytime between now and nov 6 2006, and like any software, you can use it as long as you have it (be it 1 month, or 10,000 years) -- for those not capable of understanding clear english, the FAQ does a better job of explaining it

Usually I consider that if I had trouble understanding what it meant with the first read, there will be some who understand it fine, and yet others who will get the wrong meaning out of it. Never hurts to make sure .

[Kevin McGuire]

I actually did word it wrong.

When you download it you can use it FOREVER. However, you will not be able to DOWNLOAD it FOREVER. I am glad Cjmovie corrected me, because someone might have read it and thought, "Hmm, Why do I want to use this framework? The MSVC download is evaluation only and will expire.." thus it equals no one making use of the framework which is not why I posted it.

For JAAman's defense:
What I wrote was not vague, instead it was explicit, but incorrect.

Just download it and tell me if it helped you in kernel development. I would rather hear about that. ;D

[kataklinger]

Can you say "Vendor Lock-In" ?

Vendor Lock-In? What that would be? ???

[Kemp]

That's where they get everyone to use their products early on so that that's the only stuff they know how to use later in life. I personally don't mind it in this case as I can upgrade my XP Pro to "legal".

[Candy]

That's where they get everyone to use their products early on so that that's the only stuff they know how to use later in life. I personally don't mind it in this case as I can upgrade my XP Pro to "legal".

More like, how they use their ownership of one product you like to help you use more of their products. All of their products work together nicely, but completely fail with other people's products. They are not just incompatible (which is what you'd logically expect) but also idealistically different in so far that most of what you'd learn in a Microsoft environment would be pure waste in a different environment, and of course the other way around.

If you can use windows, visual studio, wmp, msn messenger and IE, how easy is it to switch away from any of these? Let alone all of them? So effectively, when Microsoft says "You can't use VS Express anymore, pay for a home developer license" all you can do is either nod and pay up, or be stuck with worthless knowledge not knowing your way around anything else, and thereby becoming probably quite sad. So, you'll nod and pay up. You'll hate them, but you'll pay. Next step, you need a new windows version to run your old software because Microsoft has deprecated your Windows XP. Too bad, that's another bunch of cash. You'll need to buy your MP3's and DivXes as DVD Video's as well, since they enforced DRM in Windows XP+1.



Moral: Vendor Lock-In is good for the vendor and not forbidden by law. It's the reason Microsoft is as big as they are now and why they won't shrink anytime in the near future. By using stuff that's free but within their lock-in range, you're effectively helping them by using something that's free. Gives me an awkward feeling to have it installed here, but I'm using it only for one project - the installer of my OS to be run from Windows.

[Kemp]

Personally if MS say I can't use something of their's anymore I give them the finger and remember I never gave them my hard earned pennies in the first place. I've switched away from a few of their products (Internet Explorer mainly) because the competitors offer things I want, but overall I find MS products to be some of the best around (with a few terrible exceptions).

I do agree with you in principle, but to be honest it's not that big of an issue for me.


Disclaimer Edit:
The above stated views are not necessarily the views of Kemp, I do not endorse piracy in any fashion and would never use pirated software.

[kataklinger]

I have no problems with that, and if I did I couldn't see solution? GCC? Nop, I don't think so. Reivent the world? That would be great, but what are the chances?
And I changed my compiler (for OS development) two times DJGPP->MSVC++->Intel C++, and without major problems (maybe I lost few hours, but thats ok).