New OS: PortixOS

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:45 am

Yep, funny name, is it?

(my English is pretty bad)

PortixOS is aimed to be a very small 16-bit operating system, written in Pascal and some ASM code. Well, 16-bit... Maybe I should call it "24-bit" OS

Why? Read more!

Features (now or in future versions)
- Fits on a single floppy (can be installed on USB flash disk too!);
- Can even run on a 8086 (!!) but with some limitations;
- Can use all computer memory up to 4 GB (original 16-bit OSs can use only 640KB memory, that's because i called my os a "24-bit", even 24-bit OSs can't logically exist...

);
- some GUI to make a very little "effect" on OS;
- support for ATX electrical PC "power-boxes"

;
- and more to come - only your imagination is holding you back...

Limitations (well, much for now)
- Only FAT12 (FAT16) support - no support to install OS on hard disk;
- 640x480 and 16 colors (possible to use VESA, but not finished)
- ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT to any MULTIMEDIA,SOUND FUNCTIONS,NTFS etc. (you probably know what i am talking about...

)
- No multitasking
- Slovak language (sorry all,i am not a English guru)

It has a webpage too:
www.portixos.tk (in Slovak language)

inflater

Dex · Post by **Dex** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 4:08 pm

Well done for being differant and sticking to making the OS you want

.
I read about 48bit addressing in pascal, see here: http://www.monstersoft.com/tutorial1/

Pype.Clicker · Post by **Pype.Clicker** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:12 am

when you say "24-bit", i guess we should understand it as "running in unreal mode, 640 K of code, plenty of data", right ?

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:27 am

when you say "24-bit", i guess we should understand it as "running in unreal mode, 640 K of code, plenty of data", right ?

Wow "unreal mode"

The basic compiled kernel in text-mode has about 20 kB (including mem managment and simple device detection plus some other simple things, UPXed 14 kB).

Yes, a plenty of data; for user apps (the OS uses very small amount of BASE memory - that 640K), the extended memory is left for user apps

Right now I am debugging Dex's code to execute applications from MiniDOS to Pascal (crashing, more crashing and even more crashing of the kernel

)

P.S.:
When the OS will be in "applicable-to-run-normally

" state, it will appear on the download site (if yo want the link i can send you)

And, a little secret - I am 13 year old (!)

inflater

Dex · Post by **Dex** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:49 am

Note as it stands right now MiniDos will only load files upto 64k in size.
Also some coders want to run GEM on MiniDos
http://gem.shaneland.co.uk/index.html
I notest that some of the code for GEM is in turbo pascal, may help you with your windowing ?.

PS: 13

, i wish 13 year olds in UK where more like you and into programming, keep up the good work.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:02 am

Dex you should get out more... i know at least two whole people in the UK who were programming at 13... one being me... but come on two people.... plus you assuming you did as well... jeez.. i am up to three.. i should design some sort of linked list to hold all this data.

Dex · Post by **Dex** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:19 pm

No i started coding much latter (about 23), from my experience 13 year olds in the UK only want to be pop star's

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:06 pm

Actually i wanted to be a rock star... and still do lol (5 years on)... UK RULES WOO etc etc etc

So you see my point... programming is a dyeing art.. i took a course at college and it was so basic i wanted to cry... where are the days where the basic tasks where designing a bigger super computer than the other classes out of old school Macintosh boxes

Dex · Post by **Dex** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:24 pm

I agree its a dieing ART, as soon as people learn you can not make a XP beater in a day, they do not want to know.
But with more and more things depending on computers, it's more important that you know what's going on under the bonnet

.

PS: Collages are a wast of time in UK, they teach you to click on and open M$ Apps, and the IT teachers have not heard of linux

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:14 am

13 year olds in the UK only want to be pop star's

I agree with this,someone wants to be popular - but me? a star? ugh

:D
It is even so booooring...

I started using computers when I was 6 year old, i played DUKE NUKEM 3D on trusty old 486

. When I was 10, I started fiddling with Visual C++ 5.0 - i did not like that language so much. And, when i was 12, i started programming in Delphi. I do this now too, but I am now debugging kernel of my OS made in Pascal. (The Code Completion in Delphi is absent in Pascal for me...

)

Collages are a wast of time in UK, they teach you to click on and open M$ Apps, and the IT teachers have not heard of linux

I agree with this COMPLETELY. My friend (24) has finished exams on high school (Slovak Republic). I asked him how the "learning process" for the whole 4 years was. He said completely the same than you. Crappy stuff,know-how for using Microsmeg Windoze. Or programming some high math equations - well, i didn't require some hi-tech complexed logaritmic functions in my OS...

:lol:

inflater

Candy · Post by **Candy** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:14 am

inflater wrote:
Collages are a wast of time in UK, they teach you to click on and open M$ Apps, and the IT teachers have not heard of linux
I agree with this COMPLETELY. My friend (24) has finished exams on high school (Slovak Republic). I asked him how the "learning process" for the whole 4 years was. He said completely the same than you. Crappy stuff,know-how for using Microsmeg Windoze. Or programming some high math equations - well, i didn't require some hi-tech complexed logaritmic functions in my OS... :lol:

You don't have to have a driving lesson to rent a race track and a porsche, and to beat the time the people before you established. To beat them properly and without reinventing drifting and so on, you'd better get a few driving lessons.

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:27 am

you'd better get a few driving lessons

That's true, but he didn't used the logical math functions in practical programs. Just like in grade school: you'll learn many things and you will many things forget in future.

inflater

Candy · Post by **Candy** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:01 am

inflater wrote:
you'd better get a few driving lessons
That's true, but he didn't used the logical math functions in practical programs. Just like in grade school: you'll learn many things and you will many things forget in future.

I'm not saying you're not doing any good. Compared to people taking race driving lessons and then sitting in a managers chair relaxing knowing they could race, you're actually establishing lap times. Also, most of the time, the stuff you learn is pointless, but at some elementary design choices you really need the knowledge of figuring out which is better. That can be done either by history, experience or knowledge. History is looking at the past and making the same choice (reimplement unix, anybody?). Experience is trying a bunch of times and implementing what appears works best (Windows, anybody?). Knowledge is knowing beforehand how to compare them and to implement the one that's best (most university projects, although they're usually stopped because the guy got headhunted and then assimilated into a corporation).

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:36 am

I've added English language to webpage of my OS:
www.portixos.tk

Feel free to visit!

inflater

Ben Clarke · Post by **Ben Clarke** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:00 am

Hmm... Looks pretty good... Could do with a little more functionality though.

You're 13? Ha! I'm 12 and programming my own OS! Beat that!