Small Operating System

[boku]

I have been doing a lot of research lately on operating systems, but I thought I would still check in a question here.

Does anyone know of a really small operating system, like really small.

I want it to basically load up only the bare essentials so I can install a program (.exe) from cd, then set it so that program loads when the os has loaded.

I do not want to strip down XP myself or use linux, as it has to run an exe built in XP

[Hack]

Is this exe a Windows application?

[boku]

yes it is mate

[visualAd]

Have a look at nLite and vLite, it allows you to strip down the Windows XP operating system to just the bare essentials. If you want something even smaller then I would go down the route of Damn Small Linux or just a Linux Kernel

[boku]

Have a look at nLite and vLite, it allows you to strip down the Windows XP operating system to just the bare essentials. If you want something even smaller then I would go down the route of Damn Small Linux or just a Linux Kernel

Ok, the problem with LINUX is that i want a simple way of running one single WINDOWS built exe ... I have looked at nLite, but I don't really want to have to go through all that effort to rip a version of xp down if someone has already done it. I mean litterally down. I don't think nLite can even remove all the stuff I want it to... like the welcome screen, and even the load up before that. I litterally want it blank... just maybe a blank colour wallpaper ... remember the old 98 green colour?

[visualAd]

Already done eh? Usually I would say you were lazy, but I it has already been done. Have a look at TinyXP

[boku]

hmmm hopefully, i can rip even more out of it with nlite

Edit:

Just done the above, still too big for what I need it to do, Hack, you know anything?

[RobDog888]

Probably to get really small you would have to dump windows and use DOS. Granted your funcitonality will be reduced from windows but you can still load CDROM drivers, copy files, run your program etc.

[visualAd]

hmmm hopefully, i can rip even more out of it with nlite

Edit:

Just done the above, still too big for what I need it to do, Hack, you know anything?

TinyXP is only 55MB. How small do you want it exactly?

[boku]

Probably to get really small you would have to dump windows and use DOS. Granted your funcitonality will be reduced from windows but you can still load CDROM drivers, copy files, run your program etc.

That's what I was starting to think. Do i have to install DOS like windows though? I've never used a DOS only system. I think DOS would be exactly what I want, I don't want anything, litterally except to launch a program..

[RobDog888]

You would need QBasic perhaps or find the command syntax for starting your system and load DOS from your windows install. Its been a really long time since I have done any DOS or QBasic stuff.

[sessi4ml]

Mate, I use DOS / Qbasic all the time. What are you writing? What do you need?

[penagate]

Already done eh? Usually I would say you were lazy, but I it has already been done. Have a look at TinyXP

I Googled it briefly but couldn't find anything useful at all. Do you have a link for it?

[penagate]

That's what I was starting to think. Do i have to install DOS like windows though? I've never used a DOS only system. I think DOS would be exactly what I want, I don't want anything, litterally except to launch a program..

What type of system are you planning to run this on? Some details like the processor architecture and so on would help us a lot. You may be able to use an embedded version of Windows.

[boku]

Its an Intel system, x86 ... I havent (in all my searches) heard of QBasic, but I will look it up now...

Basically I want to run my app, in all its dll, graphics, key, mouse and screen glory, with printing and networking of course .... but thats it...no windows welcome/loading screens

It I feel will have to be some sort of embedded windows, like you see in phone boxes etc ... I did download one version, but now as my knowledge has increased on the subject I think I downloaded the wrong version.

Maybe one of these do you think?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/emb...e/default.mspx

[visualAd]

I Googled it briefly but couldn't find anything useful at all. Do you have a link for it?

Well, I have seen it in real life. Someone I know was using it; he said the MS sold it. I can only find references to torrents on-line which have since gone. Looks like it may have been some kind of illegal offering

Can anyone shed some light?

[penagate]

Well, I have seen it in real life. Someone I know was using it; he said the MS sold it. I can only find references to torrents on-line which have since gone. Looks like it may have been some kind of illegal offering

Can anyone shed some light?

I think it may have been a pre-packaged XP trimmed down using nLite in which case its distribution is certainly in violation of the Windows EULA.

I have seen other pre-packaged XP and Vista offerings, mainly on torrent sites. All are illegal since they contain activation cracks or remove the licensing subsystem.

[AsmIscool]

Last time I saw something like that it was a copy of 3.11. It came from Microsoft with a very unpleasant price tag and was designed for mission critical applications. No notepad, no calculator, no nothing.

[Lord Orwell]

well what program did you write your program in? If it was written in vb6, you can run it on win95. That requires very little system resources.

However you have numerous modification options for xp. You can change the shell in system.ini (or is it win.ini?) file to load your program instead of explorer.exe, for example. You can also replace the task manager with your own program launched with ctrl-alt-del.