OSDev.org

I am wondering, how important it is for people:

- to actually create an OS, that might draw users and developers;

- how much of the motivation comes from the fun of OS-level coding itself;

- how much the learning about hard-code programming is the driving force behind projects.

For me, "Making a better OS" deteriorated in importance as I realized no-one would be really taking part in my project any time soon, and am looking for the "right" motivation...

..

Hi,

My primary motivation is to create a commercial quality OS. I don't do it because it's fun, rather I get a sense of accomplishment when I create something complex that works flawlessly. It's this sense of accomplishment that drives me further. For me, learning is a means to an end (although valuable in it's own right).

Solar wrote: For me, "Making a better OS" deteriorated in importance as I realized no-one would be really taking part in my project any time soon, and am looking for the "right" motivation...

I've been involved with a few OS projects (including an attempt at managing my own public OS project), and watched more from a distance. From this I've learned that it's best to prevent volunteers from assisting until there's solid documentation and a working kernel, API, CLI and/or GUI, example software, etc. The design documentation would include details on how different bits of software interact (for e.g. the interfaces between hardware device drivers, filesystem & network code, the OS/kernel and applications). Further, source code for many different programs & drivers should be ready for demonstration purposes.

If the design hasn't been fully documented (and mostly implemented) you'll have endless discussions about how things could/should be implemented, and nothing much will get done. Without interface documentation and example code new programmers won't know how to code for your environment, and will either write inapropriate code (and become frustrated) or not write anything. Without a basic working OS there's nothing to inspire developers.

If all of this is done well I believe people will become interested. There's too many OSs that get a quarter of the kernel done and disappear, so most potential volunteers wait until the OS is mostly usable before deciding it might be worth spending time on.


Cheers,

Brendan

Making a better os? *rofl* me is not a genious, so let's leave the 'better' away. Just: writing an os. that's my goal. with small nifty user space tools spinning around a kernel and its services/drivers. That's what I want.

My goal is to create/write a slightly unix-like OS, which also features calls for multithreading and so on - without being absolutely POSIX conform. (a call to spawn a process out of any thread of a process will come too - I've encountered logical problems when attempting to spawn off a process by a thread)

As I enjoy working on something which evolves (like writing a book or an OS) the work on this project will surely keep me busy for the next few years. I'm not the one who abandons things quickly because it doesn't work like I want. Sure, there may come other plans, projects, long term intentions.

It is not a public project althou I present it on my web - and there it's only a subset of the whole thing - and I don't intend to call out for co-developers. If it's 'finished' to some state, I might set up a dedicated subdomain for it. Neither do I intend to make a commercial project. It is in this sense for my own private studies - because me learns better with something to put hands on.

stay safe ...

I know how you feel. Working alone is a big ask (i'm looking for a dever myself at the moment). I find that to get the motivation to actually move on a step, you have to set a small goal that is acheivable in a short space of time (a few days). The problem comes when you get a bug or there isn't another small step to take. I have to pause for a few months occaisionally due to these things.

Good Luck!

Pete

what about "being able to sleep without being haunted with design ideas" ?

saying "making a better OS" may sound arrogant or something, but that's probably how i feel the most about it. I've said too many times "blah! *** really sucks in ***. That's not the way things should be done! In clicker it would be better because ***"

I'm *trying* to make this "better" a reality. Perhaps it just can't or perhaps i'll be the only one to find it better ... but at least i'll have used my energy in a constructive fashion rather than just ranting ...

Pype: I feel very much alike. I just hoped, when I started, that I'd be able to communicate my ideas so clearly, and that my ideas would be so appealing to others, that in fact my project would become an alternative within... oh, say, 10 years or so. I consider that aggressive scheduling when it comes to creating an all-new OS.

But that vision didn't materialize. As Brendan said, before you didn't cut the path, people will just stand at the sides making snide comments on how to cut a path, in which direction to cut it, and whether you should prefer your popcorn buttered or salted.

And even with something as clear-cut as the PDCLib, people really willing to dig deeper into the subject than writing a couple of superficial code lines are few and far between.

For me, that means "Making a better OS" might be a dream, but it can't motivate me anymore since I know it for the vain dream it is.

So I'm sitting here, and with every line of code I'm writing I'm asking myself, "what for?", and wanted to know what's driving other people once the initial drive of enthusiasm ebbed.

Sorry if I'm sounding depressed. I just hate to see great dreams die in the cold. :-/

I beleive that given enough work any project could become mainstream. I don't think many projects would exist without that dream. If you've lost the dream then maybe you should think about some of your ideas more clearly and persuade yourself that they're BETTER than existing solutions. Maybe that'll motivate you.

Pete

my primary motivation is curiosity. i want to write code. i have ideas. ill never have a working os. but thats not my goal.

a working os

This is another problem. What is a working OS? At what stage can you say I have a working OS?

Pete

I'm creating an OS, because I, I may sound a bit too arrogant, want to write a "better" OS... for me....
It doesn't have to be a "better" OS for you, my effort to create one, was meant for me
My motivation is that, when my OS is really useful
And I'm creating one because I like to know what the internals are in an OS

@solar:

No. Not abandoning: I have another project stalled - its a book with the working title 'the faery'. Simply that. In the middle of the story, after quite a lot has happened in it, I've decided to study IT to change my profession and make some dream real. It is work to make dreams become reality.

Now, this project is stalled, I've got another idea for a thrilling story in mind and - I 'm doing OSDeving for it's interesting and thrilling to feel the brain actually working for the sake of it. Once I've caught that spark of inspiration, I couldn't stop doing it. Seldom one gets such a high inspiration so used shall it be for driving an endeavour further.

Have I said that Inspiration and some endeavours are things which canna be shared easily? may be by this:

"Wenn Du ein Schiff bauen willst, lehre die M?nner nicht, wie man s?gt, rechnet und baut. Lehre sie die Sehnsucht nach dem grossen weiten Meer." (approx. Antoine de St. Exupery)

I for one have never done project things to come out great or to show off. I just do them for the sake of it. To do it. LIke writing books/stories/operating systems. Painting pictures. Doing the carpenter thing. what so ever.

Often one has asked me in former times: What do you think you are that you are doing this? What are you doing this for?
Response see above.

You may ask how one keeps the spark of inspiration alive - for say 8 years? It's not easy and it is boud to much of what is called dedication/determinedness. Walking a chosen path consequently. You need egoism for that and stubbornness.
But look at the reward: The lots of aha-experiences, the light of knowledge/satisfaction inside you - elucidating the inner paravent with pictures of joy and happyness.

Boah. I'm starting to talk like an oddball. ) Nay, not like a tarball. stay safe and don't let it take you down.

Pete wrote: If you've lost the dream then maybe you should think about some of your ideas more clearly and persuade yourself that they're BETTER than existing solutions.

I don't have to persuade myself, I know my ideas are good and sound.

It's just that I fully realize that, without help, those ideas won't be turned into useable code any time before my, uh, 70th birthday or something.

Hi,

Solar wrote: But that vision didn't materialize. As Brendan said, before you didn't cut the path, people will just stand at the sides making snide comments on how to cut a path, in which direction to cut it, and whether you should prefer your popcorn buttered or salted.

For me, that means "Making a better OS" might be a dream, but it can't motivate me anymore since I know it for the vain dream it is.

So I'm sitting here, and with every line of code I'm writing I'm asking myself, "what for?", and wanted to know what's driving other people once the initial drive of enthusiasm ebbed.

I'm motivated because I honestly believe that once I've cut my path people will see what's at the end of it and gasp in awe. This may not be an entirely sane belief, but that's life . I guess that in around 4 years I shall find out, yet if in 4 years people aren't gasping in awe then I'll probably spend another year or 2 (or 3, or more)...

Occasionally I also get disenchanted with my works. During these times I go off and do little side projects (last one was a programming language, and before that it was a 3D polygon renderer). After a while I inevitably become annoyed with the OS I write the side project for (windows and/or linux) and think how much easier/better it'd be under my own OS. The side project ends up in the trash, and my OS source code gets put back on the desktop and off I go again. I guess the moral of this story is that taking a break isn't unusual, but NEVER delete your OS.

I also have a habit of checking out other OS projects and comparing them with mine. If the other project is really good I'm motivated to make mine better to catch up. If the other project isn't as good as mine I think "FIG JAM" and the resulting pride motivates me more .

My problem at the moment is that I have too much motivation, and have fell behind in other areas of my life because of it. The tax collector will be knocking on my door soon, scythe in hand...


Cheers,

Brendan

bah. don't worry too much... if you feel yourself like a path-cutter, do a path you find nice and you'll find many people being ready to follow that path when time will come.

Being a leader means being alone as the leader needs to be a few steps ahead of the team ... Collective leadership is an utopia, in Open Source aswel as in real life (as i just discovered recently)