OSDev.org

Required Knowledge

If you think you can skip this, it's probably just for you.

Writing an OS is not a beginner's task. In fact, writing an OS is considered the most difficult programming task by many people. You will need to have developed your programming skills to an above average level before considering the task. Failure to comply will make you look silly. Some things you will need to know are:

* Basic Computer Science: You'll need to know hexadecimal, binary and boolean logic (at least!) inside out. It doesn't matter if you are self-taught. Rest assured, you will need it.
* Assembly: You should have knowledge about the low-level language Assembly. Read a book. Take a course at school. At least read some tutorials, and write some code. You WILL need it, even if you plan to write most of your operating system in another language.
* C / C++: Most of the operating systems featured on this site are written in C (or C++), and a good understanding of this is required. Even if you choose to use another language like FreeBASIC or Pascal, code on the Internet is almost always in C (which can be considered the lingua franca of programming).
* Programming experience: Learning a language with OS development is considered a bad idea. You should know the language in which you will be developing inside out, which means you should have written quite a few programs in that language successfully.
* Linux / UNIX experience: You will soon notice that many of the tools used in OS development are developed for Linux, and later ported over to Windows. The Linux kernel is often used as an example, and many of the hobby operating systems have some resemblance to Linux. Having installed Linux and played around with the command line is barely a minimum.
* Your Toolchain: You must know the behavioural details of your compiler, assembler, linker, and make utility. Read the documentation of the tools you use. Rest assured that the people on the forum have possibly answered any possible beginner's question about GCC, GNU as, NASM, GNU ld, and GRUB twice over. Asking them again would be an invitation for trouble.
* Exectuable Formats: Kernel space programming has many additional requirements unknown to application development. Make yourself familiar with Executable File Types and their internal structure. Learn about linker scripting and about how your linker generates "flat binary" files.
* The platform: You should have studied the manuals for the processor you will be programming for. They contain the information you need to design your kernel in the first place. Asking for information that is contained in these documents will only give cause to the hostile "Read The (...) Manual", or simply RTFM.

The first thing to understand is that hackers actually like hard problems and good, thought-provoking questions about them. If we didn't, we wouldn't be here. If you give us an interesting question to chew on we'll be grateful to you; good questions are a stimulus and a gift. Good questions help us develop our understanding, and often reveal problems we might not have noticed or thought about otherwise. Among hackers, “Good question!â€

AJ wrote:Do you already have an idea how to write a general OS? If not - you need to read the intel manuals, see the wiki and see osdever.net and do lots of research first. Can you even program?

What hardware do you want to display information for?
What information do you want to display for each device?
How do you want information displayed - do you want some kind of TUI/GUI?
Are you wanting a simple PCI listing, or do you want specific info for each device - in which case you will also need drivers for each device?

AJ wrote:The problem is your question is extremely general. You seem to want a PCI device listing.