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What are we doing?

Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 10:09 pm
by piranha
I mostly just was interested.

Describe your project maybe?

-JL

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:03 am
by AJ
Working alone. I have never been taught how to program and would not inflict my [probably] dire coding practices on a team :) .

Project description? Initially an x86_64 kernel and associated boot loader which I am concurrently developing for 32 bit, to test the robustness of the separation of my architecture dependent and independent code. I have thought about trying an 8 bit AVR version too, but that may be pushing it a bit!

Because the kernel was taking so much time, I have started concentrating more on the boot loader (CBoot). Version 1 required GRUB, and then relocated the kernel, set up paging and a sensible GDT, switched VESA mode and set up a physical memory stack. It also has a debug console for pausing kernel loading, switching VESA mode, examining the kernel binary etc... A stack is set up, Argc and Argv are passed to the kernel which is called at its correct entry point, meaning no ASM stub. All of this is customisable based on GRUB command line parameters.

For version 2 (my current active project), I am hoping to achieve this without GRUB and make it more versatile so that others can benefit from the boot loader too (without the use of anything which is GPL'd). Version 2 will also export a unified list of hardware on various busses on the machine. Currently I only support FAT, but hope to add support for at least Ext2/3, ISO9660 and possibly in the far future, network booting. Unfortunately, all this means the kernel is taking a major back seat and the entry point at least will have to be re-written once I have a stable 'CBoot Specification'.

Well done to anyone who read all that :wink:

Cheers,
Adam

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:58 am
by Solar
Initially my OS project was a cooperative effort. Lots of work went into infrastructure, conceptual work etc., but when we got to the point of coding, things broke apart.

Basically, I saved whatever documents and fragments of code existed, and put the project to rest, except for one sub-part - the C library, which is my "pet project" to this day.

I'm working alone. 50% because I want to avoid any licensing / legal hassles (someone sending me code he took from elsewhere, stuff like that), and 50% because it allows me to work on the project when I feel like it, without outside pressure.

Inside pressure is bad enough. Damn, it's been far too long since the last release, and I'm this close to the next one - but real life keeps me away from private coding.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 6:15 am
by distantvoices
Having a family to take care of isn't that bad either, eh?

Meh, I can't remember, when I've done just some damned coding for the heck of it the last time. 'T is been 2005 or so? dunno.

not a lot of those debug sessions darker than night around anymore ...

Sadness sometimes gets a broader meaning I reckon.

stay safe :-)

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 6:47 am
by bluecode
Solar wrote:Inside pressure is bad enough. Damn, it's been far too long since the last release, and I'm this close to the next one - but real life keeps me away from private coding.
I hope it'll be ready once pedigree is at the libc stage, since it didn't work out for my last OS (lightOS). :lol: Don't take it serious I am just joking :-) I really appreciate the effort you put into your public domain libc.

I am pretty sure that JamesM will post in this thread about pedigree and he is usually better at explaining things, so I'll just leave that to him. :D

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 8:16 am
by JamesM
bluecode wrote:
Solar wrote:Inside pressure is bad enough. Damn, it's been far too long since the last release, and I'm this close to the next one - but real life keeps me away from private coding.
I hope it'll be ready once pedigree is at the libc stage, since it didn't work out for my last OS (lightOS). :lol: Don't take it serious I am just joking :-) I really appreciate the effort you put into your public domain libc.

I am pretty sure that JamesM will post in this thread about pedigree and he is usually better at explaining things, so I'll just leave that to him. :D
Bah! You lazy German! I was going to let you have the limelight for a change.

Ah well, here goes...

Myself and bluecode are working on Pedigree - We're hoping to get an alpha release out by the end of the summer including but not limited to

* Module loading
* Network stack
* Shell
* Some* posix support
* ATA driver, and EXT2 filesystem driver

.. oh yes, and they're all going to be available on X86, X64 and PowerPC. MIPS32 maybe - it's taken a bit of a backseat to Power but I may get it up and running. Possibly. Depending on which way the wind blows ;)

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 5:04 pm
by piranha
My kernel is based of of Linux, but not a clone. In fact, now I have started to move away a little from Linux's design. It is based off of JamesM's tutorials, and I am finishing up Beta 3 of 0.02.

-JL

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 6:42 pm
by xyjamepa
Hi,

I'm working alone, I never thought about participating in a team,I just want to keep my project as a one man vision,right now my project is paused ,I'm littel busy ...but I think I'll be back coding again in a month
or a littel more.

Good to see you again distantvoices. :wink:

hi,

Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 3:51 am
by DeletedAccount
Working alone and bunking class . 8) . I have to join as an engineer in a firm as soon i complete my classes (yes i have agreed to it) . I do not think i will get time after that .

Regards
Sandeep Mathew

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:10 am
by ollie123
I am just starting to program operating systems. I program mostly as a hobby, as I don't have a job.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:16 pm
by bewing
I'd love to work with someone else, but ASM hackers are an obstinate and independent bunch, by definition. :wink: So I'm going it alone.

My OS is just a simple desktop. Visually, something like a Win98 clone. Built around a superfast hybrid modular mini/micro-kernel, and including a custom filesystem that's twice as good as Ext or Reiser.

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:31 am
by JamesM
bewing wrote:I'd love to work with someone else, but ASM hackers are an obstinate and independent bunch, by definition. :wink: So I'm going it alone.

My OS is just a simple desktop. Visually, something like a Win98 clone. Built around a superfast hybrid modular mini/micro-kernel, and including a custom filesystem that's twice as good as Ext or Reiser.
You think your FS is that good? If it is I'd love to put support for it into pedigree. Maybe you could give me a link to your specifications document?

We're supporting EDI, so any driver I write should hopefully be portable to a few (at least) hobby OS's too...

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:43 pm
by kmcguire
What is this EDI?

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:00 pm
by esa
I'm working alone on something like an exokernel with the intention of getting a small Lisp dialect running on top of it. Its only a hobby... at the office I don't have the chance to use assembler.

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:16 pm
by 01000101
extensible driver interface.