OSDev.org

When I first started programming in Assembly my intentions where to create an Operating system one day; I started with the Art of Assembly book by Randall Hyde and then went to the Intel’s manuals. It has not been a while since I have decided to start my own operating system project and since this is what I have been planning for a long time, it would definitely not be just a way to spend time for me and I would be totally serious about it.

Unfortunately, after looking for resources on the internet for a while now, I decided to ask a question in this forum as in “Is there really a good tutorial that walks you through different stages of the creation of an operating system with examples?” I really like to know if there is a tutorial that *describes* why this or that or etc not “Ok this is GRUB, go a head and do this and don’t ask why”. I mean if I want to create my own operating system why would I want to use GRUB? Suppose you want to build your OS and you know Assembly quite well and also have an adequate knowledge about programming in C. Which tutorial would you read? What would you do?

P.S: I am not at all good in Protected Mode and Intel’s manuals, although very clear about the point, are confusing more than they guide me because I still see everything as asse:mbly.

And oh yeah, I’ve already read the novice-related posts on this forum.

Have you tried the tutorials at www.osdever.net? Their tutorials seem to thoroughly explain the process of beginner OS Dev. Maybe you should take a look at the Getting Started, Protected Mode, and Bootloader(if you don't want to use GRUB) sections first. The site really helped me when I started.

I first started with reading the 'mega-tokyo' faq, which I found one day from google. Then, they've changed it to osdev.org, However. I've read tutorials from Bona Fide's site and many more.

Actually, you must experiment with these things. No matter how many tutorials you've read, you must trust your own experience. However, the tutorials are good in other way: they tell you how to do it and why to do it. They don't tell you to do it.

I think, your ask here, 'What should I do in the first place?" Well, if that's your question, you should start with Boot Loader. There is much info about boot loaders, what they do, how they look like if you want...
You must start also of thinking the design of your system: ask yourself some questions and try to answer them...

Probably the first thing you need to do is sit down and think what the components of an operating system are, and how they will need to fit together. One of Tanenbaum's books is probably as good a way as any of beginning to get a handle on that. That will help you decide what needs to be written first.

With most programs, as long as you have got some idea of where you are going, design can be done largely on the fly. Don't even think of trying to do that with something as complicated as an operating system. There are so many things which have got to fit together, and work properly, that you will almost certainly fail if you do. So the first thing you need to think about is the overall architecture of your operating system, and only then can you even begin to think about writing it.

What will the file system look like? How will the kernel interface with the device drivers? What are the implications, for the kernel functions you need to have available, of the user interface you have in mind? Do you want installable device drivers? Installable file systems?

Irrespective of whether or not you are going to try and market it commercially, what will be the unique selling point of your operating system?

I guess my biggest problem is with protected mode and besides, I have almost no experience at all in creating operating systems. So, I guess that I will be asking a lot of questions in here in the future. Thank you everyone for your help. Appreciate it.