OSDev.org

We all are coding our own OS, which are at different levels of maturity. My suggestion is , cant we make a group and think of something new, innovative ?

Hey sorry...
I dont know how this thread split into two ???.

Hi,

viral wrote:We all are coding our own OS, which are at different levels of maturity. My suggestion is , cant we make a group and think of something new, innovative ?

Try it.

The first step would be to determine the "management model".

I've seen groups try to operate in a "democratic" way where it takes over 6 months for everyone to agree on the basic design - half of the people leave once they realise it's not going to be exactly how they would have done it, and the other half leave when they realise it's taken over since months and nothing got done.

Another alternative is to have a firm leader who makes all descisions. This isn't really any different from the many individual projects that people are already doing, where no-one will help until the hard work is done. This is partly because usually there's no documentation that describes exactly how everything should work, so figuring out how to help is difficult.

The last alternative is to make a clone of an existing OS. This saves all the hassles involved in making descisions and gives people a design they can follow. It's also the most pointless.


What I'd like to see is a web page that lists all of the OS projects. That way anyone can add their OS to the list, and anyone who wants to help an OS project can look through the list and find a project that they like the most.

The page would have categories (for e.g. "monolithic, micro-kernel, other"), and the entries would be sorted alphabetically. Each entry would contain the name of the OS, a web site for the OS, a general description of the project, current status, where to download documentation and source, a link to a page containing screenshots, a list of jobs that need doing, and contact details.

There would also need to be some ground rules. For example an OS must be more than "Hello World" before an entry is created, any entry that hasn't been updated in a year may be removed, all entries must be less than a specified size, and images (.bmp, .jpg, .png, etc) aren't allowed.

It'd also need some publicity, so that these volunteers can find the page in the first place. Without this it'd be useless. IMHO the OS development Wiki would be a good place for it - it allows changes, it's already known and anyone who looks through the list and decides to start their own OS project instead will be in a good place for it.


Cheers,

Brendan

Regarding the list of OSes I think that's what "OSID" did but that seems a little dated. I could however write an updated version and allow all current projects to reregister. I'm pretty skilled with PHP and could get a basic version up in a few days.

Nelson wrote: Regarding the list of OSes I think that's what "OSID" did but that seems a little dated. I could however write an updated version and allow all current projects to reregister. I'm pretty skilled with PHP and could get a basic version up in a few days.

it'd be nice

Honnestly, i fear we can't. First because of management problems brendan has spotted, but also because we do not even agree on the most basic choices such as whether C or C++ should be used, or whether GPL is a GoodThing or SomethingEvil ...

Since we all have our own ideas, trying to say "hey, this is what i want to build, come and follow me" usually work poorly. The best way to take advantage of this forum to get code written i found so far is to stay alert of open-source projects other people are working on, see whether they have something you need and don't feel like coding yourself, ask politely the guy to see if he minds sharing code ... then find the time to port the code to your own system ...

viral wrote: Hey sorry...
I dont know how this thread split into two ???.

double hit on the button ? anyway, locked the other one. poll results were
   
Yes        1 (20%)
No        1 (20%)
Not Intersted        3 (60%)
       

C and C++ can be mixed. For example I'd use C++ for a driver interface while using C for the core things. I simply like C++ for it's OO for things like a GUI and drivers.

But as for management problems we'd need to find something everyone agree's on quickly but even then it can't be assured after all this planning that this will even get off the ground.

Edit: I agree with Pype, instead of us all working together how about we work seperately.. but together. Haha, but yea we can all keep a Wiki (^ Hint hint) of collected information and to anyone who is interested they can work together on porting it to thier system.

Well, you could very well use your "NickName" page on MT wiki to tell what _you_ achieved (e.g. we have a wiki page named "AGP information", if you have code that supports AGP in your os, just link to AGP information on your NickName page so that when someone will look at the back links of "AGP information", he'll be pointed to your own page).

Hello...
So there is mixed response in this. Anyways We can discuss some management issues for some time (like for a week) and then can select most agreed one.
For other issue like FREEWARE we can form a Company which will initially code this thing and later can decide to make it free.
I would like to see the interest of people in different languages. Ofcourse assembly is required but we can have several options:

1. Assembly
2. C
3. C++

As per my view we can have C++ with some fine pieces of C.
I found that some guys in Microsoft were dev an OS in C#. We can also have such language if it provide some advancements.....

By the way how you describe a future OS?

hi
in my opinion if u insist on creating an os by the mega-tokyo community, it should be an educational one.
since this is one of the aims of mega-tokyo.

So you want to start yet another OS project. Kudos to you, that's why we all are here.

The question you should ask yourself is, what would make your project to qualify as "the Mega-Tokyo OS"? What would make it stand out so that this project (and not Clicker, Blue Illusion, Brendan's tutorial or any of the other projects) is the thing so that it deserves carrying that name?

I, personally, think there should be no such thing, as this forum as well as the Wiki is about helping others to build their OS of choice, instead of "force-feeding" them whatever code we came up with. Working on a "community OS" will most likely just leech working hours away from answering questions and extending the FAQ.

As a start, try people to agree on:

• GRUB or homebuild bootloader;
• C or C++;
• inline assembly or linked assembler;
• microkernel or monolithic;
• GPL or PD or other;
• POSIX or not;
• DJGPP, stock GCC, GCC cross-compiler.

If you manage to assemble a majority of MT regulars under one selection from the above, you're basically a genius already.

GRUB, Both, Public Domain, Posix (not full but some), Cross compiler

PD ftw!

Hi,

viral wrote: So there is mixed response in this. Anyways We can discuss some management issues for some time (like for a week) and then can select most agreed one.

No-one can agree to anything until there's something to agree with.

Therefore, I would suggest that people submit proposals that can be considered. These proposals should include details on the proposed OS design and management structure.

I would give people one week to create the proposals, then I'd allow another week to consider all proposals before voting starts. Voting should also take one week, so it'll take three weeks before anything is selected.

The proposal with the most votes would be selected. Once a proposal has been selected people can decide if they wish to take part in the selected project or not.

To get things started, I have attached my own proposal for consideration. If there's any comments, questions or suggestions on this proposal, please feel free to mention them here, or send me a PM or email.


Cheers,

Brendan

It is impossible, only a myth - nothing more. Last time I tried multiple people typing on the same keyboard it did not work, or did I ever try that?