OSDev.org

Hi,
I am in a bit of a dilemma with my os. I'm good with writing code, but I need some help for decisions.
NOTE TO MODS: Please move if you feel this is in the wrong place.
I save a snapshot of the development of my os very early on, because back then I was afraid of losing my precious code, and I got stuck with a part of my os so far, and decided to try and make a v86mm. I did it. Yay. But now the decision is this - shall I go back and forget about my v86mm or ditch my current os and stick with the new fork? It would take me a year to re-implement my os, because even if i copy my old code over, i will be bored for a year at least trying to make it work. They are completely different - they handle things like the GDT and IDT differently, and one has no concept of hardware abstraction (the whole point was it to be a v86mm!) while the other separates the cpu-specific code from the rest of the kernel. One has the ability to have a GUI if i make one, while the other doesn't. Which one should I pick as the one I will continue? I can't do both, because it will slow down the development and I cant exactly make 2 versions of my os which are completely different (mainly because I don't want to)! Please help me decide.

Thanks,
souradipm

Decide which one you like better. Then take the other one, ZIP it up, and tuck it away somewhere safe. That way, once you're ready to start implementing features from the one you didn't continue with, you don't have to start over from the beginning. You will already have half of the work done, and so the only work needed would be getting the code to play nicely with the rest of the project. I don't really have the knowledge to help you decide which to continue, though.

souradipm wrote:Which one should I pick as the one I will continue? I can't do both, because it will slow down the development and I cant exactly make 2 versions of my os which are completely different (mainly because I don't want to)! Please help me decide.

You could always set your focus on one OS, and release the other one as open source -- eg put up a small website with the code somewhere, and let others know. Someone else may take up the code and continue it, so at least your work wouldn't go to waste!

M