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I was wondering if anyone has written or know where to get an OS that has a lot of basic stuff completed.

I am looking for an OS that can already boot up, initialize the gfx to a 16 or 32bit resolution (preferably 1024x786), keyboard+mouse and perhaps sound. File IO to the HD, USB, floopy or w/e would be nice too.

I heard grub can boot up and init the gfx to the resolution i want. If thats true there are several of you who has an os i want? If it helps i have an intel mac mini. I heard EFI is nice so maybe a lot of hard work is done in that case?

The simplest thing to do is reverse-engineering Windows. (Or Linux).

I've heard of MenuetOS, SkyOS and ReactOS. MenuetOS and SkyOS are independent operating systems with vesa gui, multitasking, drivers, etc., and ReactOS is aimed as a Windows 2000-compatible OS.
They aren't using GRUB though... Even my OS isn't using GRUB. Is it a big problem? Just modify the boot code.

//EDIT number X: If you want to switch graphic resolutions, it is better to do that in real mode, and after that, jump to pmode -or- switch from pmode to RM, do the screen thingies, and jump back to protected mode.

inflater

if you want to switch to graphical mode i think the easiest way to do it in boot loader before running to protested mode.

My boot loader which is 99% in real mode do this using visa.

other stuff are sequential processes just put plan. decide priorities for these tasks.

ces_mohab wrote:protested mode

quite apt

But seriously, mgdt, you're really asking for quite a lot. What you describe as "basic stuff" such as graphics and hdd i/o actually requires an awful lot of code due to the need to support all the different types of hardware out there unless you just wish to stick to supporting vesa and ide, or just using real mode bios functions. In that case you might want to consider modifying a large os project to your needs or asking if you really need a new os at all for what you're trying to do.

Regards,
John.

mgdt wrote:I was wondering if anyone has written or know where to get an OS that has a lot of basic stuff completed.

I am looking for an OS that can already boot up, initialize the gfx to a 16 or 32bit resolution (preferably 1024x786), keyboard+mouse and perhaps sound. File IO to the HD, USB, floopy or w/e would be nice too.

I heard grub can boot up and init the gfx to the resolution i want. If thats true there are several of you who has an os i want? If it helps i have an intel mac mini. I heard EFI is nice so maybe a lot of hard work is done in that case?

Linux can do all of that

mgdt wrote:I was wondering if anyone has written or know where to get an OS that has a lot of basic stuff completed.

I am looking for an OS that can already boot up, initialize the gfx to a 16 or 32bit resolution (preferably 1024x786), keyboard+mouse and perhaps sound. File IO to the HD, USB, floopy or w/e would be nice too.

I heard grub can boot up and init the gfx to the resolution i want. If thats true there are several of you who has an os i want? If it helps i have an intel mac mini. I heard EFI is nice so maybe a lot of hard work is done in that case?

FOAD. Don't even try pinching other people's hard work.

Crazed123 wrote:

mgdt wrote:I was wondering if anyone has written or know where to get an OS that has a lot of basic stuff completed.

I am looking for an OS that can already boot up, initialize the gfx to a 16 or 32bit resolution (preferably 1024x786), keyboard+mouse and perhaps sound. File IO to the HD, USB, floopy or w/e would be nice too.

I heard grub can boot up and init the gfx to the resolution i want. If thats true there are several of you who has an os i want? If it helps i have an intel mac mini. I heard EFI is nice so maybe a lot of hard work is done in that case?

FOAD. Don't even try pinching other people's hard work.

Erm, isn't the point of open source to be able to change software to how you like it?

TomB wrote:

Crazed123 wrote:

mgdt wrote:I was wondering if anyone has written or know where to get an OS that has a lot of basic stuff completed.

I am looking for an OS that can already boot up, initialize the gfx to a 16 or 32bit resolution (preferably 1024x786), keyboard+mouse and perhaps sound. File IO to the HD, USB, floopy or w/e would be nice too.

I heard grub can boot up and init the gfx to the resolution i want. If thats true there are several of you who has an os i want? If it helps i have an intel mac mini. I heard EFI is nice so maybe a lot of hard work is done in that case?

FOAD. Don't even try pinching other people's hard work.

Erm, isn't the point of open source to be able to change software to how you like it?

Not if you're on an OS Development forum asking for everything to be done for you ... it sounds like he just wants to create applications instead...

Daedalus wrote:Not if you're on an OS Development forum asking for everything to be done for you ... it sounds like he just wants to create applications instead...

I'm going to have to agree with you, It's clear this person wants someone to do the work for him and then build on top of it.

I just don't see why he doesn't just build a GUI or w/e on top of something already available considering he seems unwilling to do the work himself.

Haiku used NewOS for their kernel.. I suppose he could use that and build upon it.

http://newos.org/

Or he could always make a Linux distribution or something

Brynet-Inc wrote:Or he could always make a Linux distribution or something

That's just fun. Really. It has no functional purpose, but it is just a wonderful thing to do. I'm not really sure why.... However, I have not even gotten something booting yet, but nonetheless.

Maybe you should try it sometime if you've got nothing better to do.

Or even better, you could create a new FreeBSD distro.

Alboin wrote:Maybe you should try it sometime if you've got nothing better to do.

Or even better, you could create a new FreeBSD distro.

I don't use Linux or FreeBSD, And I think the concept of "BSD" distributions is appalling.. Unlike Linux.. Traditionally BSD derivatives have always used completely separate kernels and user land utilities.

inflater: Holy sh*t MenuetOS is written in 100% asm wow. I wouldn't be able to mess with that confidently. SkyOS is closed souce and ReactOS doesnt seem to be something that i want but looks to be my best choice (beating linux).

Not using GRUB is not a problem. I just heard that grub does a lot of things i want. if it boots up on efi or my hardware with good video resolution & input its fine.

ces_mohab: visa? did you mean vesa?

jnc100: yes, i want to stick to supporting vesa and ide ;p. What large os do you suggest?

B.E: yes it can. But linux has a lot of stuff i don't want. The shell, scrips and such. I am afraid if i take a lot of the shell out i wont be able to get high resolution video. I hope it is not the case and i am doing research on that. I have the linux kernel source and will look at it when i get off of work this week.

Crazed123: STFU

Daedalus: Pretty much. I want to write the OS, not the OS loader. Currently i have the OS running on a console which is nice since people who want to make games with them wrote libs to assist with the loading, bios use and input. I still have to initialize video and write multithreading for it. I would like my OS to run on a machine that has a keyboard and doesn't have a tiny screen.

Brynet-Inc: NewOS looks very good. It may be exactly what i wanted and more (TCP support) . Looks like i will be looking into that instead of linux this week. Thanks

mgdt wrote:Daedalus: Pretty much. I want to write the OS, not the OS loader. Currently i have the OS running on a console which is nice since people who want to make games with them wrote libs to assist with the loading, bios use and input. I still have to initialize video and write multithreading for it. I would like my OS to run on a machine that has a keyboard and doesn't have a tiny screen.

I think you're getting mixed up on what an OS actually is.

The OS is what you're asking for - the kernel, the thing that does all the low level hard disk access, console IO, video IO, mouse & keyboard input, task scheduling, etc.

What you're asking for is the bulk of what the forum is all about. Getting to that stage involves quite a lot of work.

It's hard to understand you

ReactOS is open source, It's under the GPL last time I checked
(But the design of NT is horrible.. I agree )

In any sense.. Daedalus seems right, You don't seem very clear on what an operating system is (nor the work involved in making one..).

Hehe, thanks Brynet!

Back on topic, I don't hide the fact that I used Chris Giese's Borealis OS as a base for my OS.

However, it is far from complete, and I took steps to make it (in my eyes) better.

For example, Borealis comes with the following features:

• Custom bootloader
  Loadable programs (loaded by said bootloader)
  Loadable kernel modules
  Virtual consoles
  Pre-emptive multitasking
  Keyboard input
  A few text-based games

I used that as a base for my OS adding the following:

• Inter-process communication
  Ps/2 mouse support
  VGA graphics
  Program states for more responsive multitasking
  Shell
  System topography (running programs) viewer

I'm working on adding a lot more.

I do use someone else's OS as a base, but I am writing drivers, modifying the kernel, etc to make it a more complete OS.

If you want to just create programs, Windows, Linux and BSD are all stable and ready for you