87ASC wrote:What are some good recommendations on OS Tools that are a must have?
I can't find a linker ethier. I tried installing DJGPP but it don't work for me. I was wondering if DEV-C++ is any good for OS's. Also NASM or any other assembler I can't get it to install etheir.
Did you read the instructions on installing DJGPP, like the DJGPP environment variable and so on?
Since it seems you haven't gotten DJGPP or NASM to work, do you know about things like what a PATH environment variable is? Essentially it's a list of directories that you keep programs in, so that when you type in a command or program name, the O/S knows where to look for it so you don't have to type in the full path name to it. For example, "C:\Program Files\Some Company\Some Product\product.exe" can be replaced with just typing "product".
For NASM, just download the binary for your O/S if one exists. If you're using Windows, unzip it somewhere, cut and paste the nasmw.exe and ndisasmw.exe into a convenient location like C:\bin. Then put C:\bin in your PATH. Then you can launch cmd.exe and wherever you are just type nasmw [options] asmfile.asm.
What O/S are you using?
For O/S development, it is a lot easier to use a UNIX-like system. You get much more control and normally a standard distribution will already come with all the tools you'll need pre-installed. On Windows, you can certainly use DJGPP if you like, but Cygwin is better in my view.
You can use DevC++ if you like. But there are no project templates for an O/S, so you'll still have to use the command line and eventually a Makefile and linker script, perhaps. DevC++ uses GCC and parts of binutils.
Hope this helps out for a start... let us know how you go.
