OSDev.org

This is a simple question is your OS new or improved
by improved I mean your basically trying to make something compatible, even if your improving a lot.. and new is something really not based on anything

I was going to say "clone", but your definition didn't allow for it... I would call my OS more of a "Frankenstein" than a clone or something new. It's a bunch of different ideas from all over the place smushed into a microkernel. I have no intention of trying to port existing apps to it (I think I'll get bored of it and start another one before then).

Plain Vanilla For Dummys

My kernel's a perfectly new design. Which means it might suck, but it will accomplish something while sucking.

My OS is more of a clone of UNIX than something new, although that wasn't the intention to start with. I wanted a familiar base from which to experiment and explore. My goal is to create something like QNX or Plan 9, UNIX like, but with it's own character and uniqueness.

This is actually something I was thinking about the other day, most popular Open Source OS projects seem to be a clone of something else, Linux wanted to recreate UNIX, ReactOS windows, Haiku BeOS, AROS Amiga OS, and so on.

I wonder if the reason of their popularity is clear direction (ie we want to create this, as opposed to, we want to create something new, but we don't really know what it is yet), then there is the nostalgia thing that some can bank on, and the already won supporters of dead commercial operating system left in the cold (what would a Mac OS zealot do if Apple goes broke)

I wonder about SkyOS, I don't know much about it, but it appears to be something newish, how did it attract a following, and how did it keep people interested beyond the "lets download this thing and give it a go" then moving on straight away.

Popularity was never a goal for me, I wanted to create an OS that I could use, if others wanted to get involved then great, but I didn't care if they didn't. Now that I am a few months away from my first useful release (ie self hosting..) I'm starting to think it might be nice if other people were interested, and trying to think what can I give (besides an operating system) that might arouse interest or perhaps in the future some sense of loyalty.

Just some thoughts..
Andrew

Well, I initially wanted to create something really new, but since it was my first OS and I knew it would suck really hard, I started a unix-clone project so that I can learn and then design my new OS with less errors from the start.

actually I started an OS with a n00bish sence of how to do stuff in C(just finished my hello world) and with the only asm I knew was mov and int-- way of making an OS I do strongly not recommend...
when I was going to start an OS I wanted for my OS to be something new, tired of the 4 OS choices in the world, BeOS,Windows,*Nix, and amiga. plus I have yet to see even a minority OS that supports event driven stuff at kernel level

My OS (kernel) is going to be a distributed system based on thread migration, rather than messaging. As for the OS itself... I haven't had time to think about that

The poll isnt really obvious about what it wants you to answer... A lot of people, including me, pick a bunch of good ideas and stuff them together, which would mean nothing is going to be totally new.
(if i would've polled, i'd ask for clone/compatible/custom)

That aside, I'm definately NOT cloning anything, or programming with the intent to make it dos/win/posix compatible.

And since i'm basing my os on a lot of things that have already been done, i'm not supposed to tick 'new' either, but i'm going to vote that anyway

Well What I would like to say that I postponed all design issues for my OS and prefered to do all hardware,low level memory management and low level multitasking and device drivers.

but since it was my first OS

I wounder if we can do more than one OS. or a new version of this OS ???
And till now I am lazy to do even virtual file system.

I wounder if we can do more than one OS. or a new version of this OS

Well, I guess one can never _finish_ his/her OS, but it is likely that you get tired of it because it has got too messy, or that you start over again with a different design. Then I would call it "the next OS", even when the last one was never close to being finished.